An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v2.c39.166

v2.c39.166

**Maheshwar and Navdatoli**, (22°11'; 75°36'), Dt W. Nimar, twin sites on the n. and s. banks of the Narmada respectively. Maheshwar lies on a slight bend of the river at the junction of the Narmada with the Maheshwari and has been usually identified with the ancient city of Māhiṣmatī. Early Buddhist literature mentions that Māhiṣmatī was the capital of Avanti and lay on the highway from PAITHAN to UJJAIN. Inscriptions at Sanchi record donations made by the inhabitants of Māhiṣmatī and the Purāṇas and the epics refer to its association with the Haihayas. The city continues to find mention in classical, Sanskrit literature and inscriptions which testify to the prosperity of the place right down to Akbar’s times. Navdatoli, on the other hand, seems to have no such claims to literary antiquity. A thin layer of sand and gravel suggests that towards the beginning of the Christian era the site was almost wiped off by a flood; hence the silence about it in later writings. Preliminary exploration in 1950 showed a profusion of painted pottery and microliths at the site. In order to ascertain the antiquity of these two sites are revealed by painted pottery and persistent literary tradition, an expedition was organized including the Univs. of Baroda, Bombay and Poona under H.D. Sankalia in 1952-3. Encouraged by the results Navdatoli was taken up for horizontal excavation again in 1957-9. These digs fulfilled their main objective and revealed a broad sequence of cultures from the Lower Palaeolithic [4.2] to the 18th century divided into seven Pds.