An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s1.18

v1.c9.s1.18

The megaliths of n.-w. and n. India [4.17.1, 2] are isolated and inadequately studied; those of Chota Nagpur and e. India [4.17.4, 5] have an additional disadvantage in that megalithism is still a living tradition in these regions. Those of the Vindhyan region [4.17.3] do not present a uniform picture in that some have been regarded as Chalcolithic and others as belonging to the Iron Age. The c. Indian megaliths [4.17.6] have vague links with those of the Deccan and s. India [4.17.7-10], which are the main zone of the Megalithic culture in the 1st millennium B.C. References to megalithism in early Tamil literature (Srinivasan, 1946, pp. 9-16) lend it a historical aspect in its dying phase, but the major part of its life falls in the realm of prehistory.