An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s17.84

v1.c9.s17.84

4.17.8 *Lower Deccan.* Karnataka forms the n.-w. part of the vast s. Indian megalithic zone. As early as 1851 Meadows Taylor discovered megalithic burial sites in Dts Gulbarga and Bijapur and investigated some of those at JEWARGI, ANDOLA, CHIKANHALLI and HAGARATGI, all in Dt Gulbarga. From 1868 to 1946 a number of other sites were discovered in the hilly areas of Dts Belgaum, Bijapur, Raichur, Bellary, Chitradurga, Hassan, Coorg, Bangalore and Kolar by Cole, Mackenzie, Burgess, Foote, Munn, Krishna and others (for bibliography, Ramachandran, 1971). But it was only in 1947, when six cists and four pit circles were systematically excavated at BRAHMAGIRI and related to the neighbouring habitation site (Wheeler, 1947-8), that a clearer picture of the megaliths, their builders and chronology started to emerge. Subsequent excavations at SANGANAKALLU, PIKLIHAL and MASKI generally confirmed the Brahmagiri sequence. At the last site new types of pit burials were revealed, one of them being at the habitation site itself. Further excavations of different types of megaliths, such as four sarcophagus circles at JADIGENAHALLI, Dt Bangalore, three previously disturbed passage chambers of Greek or Latin cross and circular passage chambers at TERDAL and HALINGALI, passage chambers at HUNUR and the cist and pit circles at HEGGADADEVANAKOTE and KUDIGE, both in Coorg, and also of the habitation sites at T. NARSIPUR and HALLUR have revealed regional variations in the monuments and in the material equipment of their builders. Surveys by the ASI from 1957, the State Dept. of Arch., the Deccan College and Cambridge Univ. have brought to light megalithic remains in hundreds of localities all over Karnataka. Excepting Bidar and n. Kanara all Dts are found to have such remains in about 480 localities, the largest being in Kolar (numbering 117) and Mysore (110). The remains are thickly spread in Raichur-Bellary-Chitradurga-Dharwar and the s. parts of Belgaum-Bijapur-Gulbarga areas but are sparse elsewhere; a few sites have more than 1000 megaliths. Comprehensive studies of the remains in s. and n. Karnataka augmented by field explorations have respectively been published by Seshadri (1971) and Sundara (1972, 1974, 1975).