Abstract
Megalithism is a death phenomenon, which starts from Neolithic period onwards and continues up to the historical period through the Bronze Age. It spreads widely almost all the parts during the Neolithic period. In Japan it continues up to the middle of the seventh century A.D. until the then Emperor Kotoku prohibited it. Such cultural element is not being seen, as living tradition in other parts of the world. In North East India, particularly in Manipur, it is practised as a living tradition till date by some non-Christian tribes. The Liangmai tribe is one of the indigenous and larger tribes of this state, who still continued this tradition with some modification. In this paper the author would like to document the present concept of megalithic tradition in the north easternmost part of India as far as the material allows. The main objective is to make an interpretative visualization before it dies out in course of time.
Highlights
Megaliths, which are in the past known as Rude or Rough Stone Monuments (Fergusson, 1872; Brandfield, 1873) attracted the attention of scholars all over the Eurasian landmass
The nature and conspicuousness of the megalithic monuments of India drew the attention of early European antiquarians
Though the earliest notation of Indian stone monuments is made by Colonel Colin Mackenzie, the credit is given to John Babington, who explored and excavated a megalithic site at Chataparambu, near Calicut, and in Madras Presidency, and published his excavation reports
Summary
Megaliths, which are in the past known as Rude or Rough Stone Monuments (Fergusson, 1872; Brandfield, 1873) attracted the attention of scholars all over the Eurasian landmass. The nature and conspicuousness of the megalithic monuments of India drew the attention of early European antiquarians. In Northern India and in Eastern India, this is sporadic in occurrence in comparison with that of South India. In both regions, the megaliths are associated with burials or burial monuments. The largest fields of megalithic monuments are in South India in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. In Northeast India it is distributed profusely, and continued as a living tradition till date with some modification. Each megalith in this region has a specific and unique feature regarding their typological and functional classifications. D Krishnaswamy, Vinay Kumar, etc.) observe a dichotomy in the nature of cultural elements recover from habitation sites, and those from the burial sites
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