Deccan Region Research Articles

Classification and Characterization of Landscapes in the Territory of Adilabad District, Telangana, Deccan Region, India

We are in the Anthropocene and recent studies have revealed that conventional land management strategies diminished natural landscapes and created anthropogenic ones. The classification and characterization of landscapes, therefore, provide a mechanism for quantifying anthropogenic changes to the landscape systems in the Anthropocene. This study was aimed at classifying and characterizing landscapes in the territory of Adilabad District, Telangana, Deccan region, India, which was selected as the area of case study. It was a multi-method approach, where ecogeographic and environmental data were gathered using user/visual-based approach, while socio-economic data were gathered through direct observations, interviews, focus group discussions, questionnaires and literature surveys. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study was undertaken by National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Regional Station, Rajendranagar in collaboration with Vegetable Research Station, Rajendranagar during 2010-2012. In the District, a very wide range of land use types was observed. In the last 60 years, the District’s landscape has undergone a remarkable transformation and fragmentation as a consequence of anthropogenic activities like deforestation, agriculture expansion, intensive agriculture, transport infrastructure, urbanization, trade, tourism and recreation. The results revealed that there is a growing body of evidence supporting the hypothesis that the geographical space, which is a mosaic of natural and anthropogenic landscapes (semi-natural and artificial landscapes), is limited in the District. Hills, valleys, forests, rivers, streams, waterfalls and lakes were certain natural landscapes with little or no human impact found in the District. Traditional land management strategies including burning and clearing practiced by indigenous tribal communities, the native inhabitants of the area, have diminished natural landscapes and created semi-natural and artificial landscapes. Complex interactions between humans and nature resulted in a rich amalgam of anthropogenic landscapes and new ecosystems and habitats were created in urban, rural and tribal areas. The artificial landscapes are classified into three main categories: urban, rural and tribal landscapes based on the dominant human societies inhabiting them in the District. Our study identifies the same importance to all types of landscapes: thus natural, semi-natural, tribal, rural, urban landscapes are the key factors in cultural identity of the District. Our work on landscape analysis as a tool for the strategic assessment of the case study area enabled us to use user/visual-based approach based on the assessment of the visual fields of the District.

Beyond Borderland: Claiming a Conceptual Space for Early Deccan Buildings

Ever since the publication of the first architectural histories of South Asia, scholars have explained the celebrated formal eclecticism of the Deccan region as the natural result of its location between North India and South India. This “borderland” view is still applied to the region’s earliest surviving stone temples, which are dated from the sixth to eighth centuries and classified into Nagara (North Indian), Dravida (South Indian), and “hybrid” styles. Taking the temple cluster at Pattadakal as an entry point, this paper will highlight the weaknesses of this now canonical taxonomy—and the conceptual fragmentation it engenders—of the Deccan’s dense temple clusters. Rejecting the tower form as the sole basis for classifying temples and analyzing hitherto unexamined formal features, such as architectural representations and tower projections, I will argue that Deccan builders not only deployed forms from multiple building traditions but also combined, translated, and reconstituted them in meaningful ways. I will thus foreground human agency and the formal distinctness of the Early Deccan temple, and also make possible the reexamination of a corpus of nearly two hundred structures.

Local diversity in settlement, demography and subsistence across the southern Indian Neolithic-Iron Age transition: site growth and abandonment at Sanganakallu-Kupgal

The Southern Indian Neolithic-Iron Age transition demonstrates considerable regional variability in settlement location, density, and size. While researchers have shown that the region around the Tungabhadra and Krishna River basins displays significant subsistence and demographic continuity, and intensification, from the Neolithic into the Iron Age ca. 1200 cal. BC, archaeological and chronometric records in the Sanganakallu region point to hilltop village expansion during the Late Neolithic and ‘Megalithic’ transition period (ca. 1400–1200 cal. BC) prior to apparent abandonment ca. 1200 cal. BC, with little evidence for the introduction of iron technology into the region. We suggest that the difference in these settlement histories is a result of differential access to stable water resources during a period of weakening and fluctuating monsoon across a generally arid landscape. Here, we describe well-dated, integrated chronological, archaeobotanical, archaeozoological and archaeological survey datasets from the Sanganakallu-Kupgal site complex that together demonstrate an intensification of settlement, subsistence and craft production on local hilltops prior to almost complete abandonment ca. 1200 cal. BC. Although the southern Deccan region as a whole may have witnessed demographic increase, as well as subsistence and cultural continuity, at this time, this broader pattern of continuity and resilience is punctuated by local examples of abandonment and mobility driven by an increasing practical and political concern with water.

Prehistoric Mortuary Practices and the Constitution of Social Relationships: Implications of the First Radiocarbon Dates from Maski on the Occupational History of a South India “Type Site”

In 1954, B K Thapar excavated the multicomponent site of Maski (Raichur District, Karnataka) to establish an archaeological sequence for the southern Deccan region of India. Thapar identified four major periods of occupation, now known as the Neolithic (3000–1200 BC), Iron Age (1200–300 BC), Early Historic (300 BC to AD 500), and the Medieval periods (AD 500–1600). Renewed research at the site by the Maski Archaeological Research Project (F.1/8/2009-EE) has investigated the development of social differences and inequalities in south Indian prehistory. This article reports the first ever radiocarbon assays from habitation and megalithic burial contexts in the vicinity of Maski. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates of charcoal sampled from exposed occupational strata on Maski's Durgada Gudda hill and subsequent Bayesian analyses indicate that the site was extensively occupied during the 14th century AD, corroborating interpretations of numismatic and inscriptional materials. Associated artifacts with these 14C samples have significant implications for recognizing late Medieval period ceramics and occupation in the region. AMS assays of four charcoal samples from exposed megalithic burials just south of the Durgada Gudda hill, similar to those recognized by Thapar, indicate that burial practices commonly attributed to the Iron Age predate the period, and thus are not precise chronological markers. However, the results also suggest that megalithic burial practices became more labor intensive during the Iron Age, creating a cultural context for the generation of new forms of social affiliations and distinctions through differential participation in the production of commemorative places.

Money use in the Deccan, c. 1350–1687: The role of Vijayanagara hons in the Bahmani currency system

This article examines the interactions between two distinct currency systems that dominated the Deccan during the period c. 1350–1687—that of the Bahmani sultanate and its successor states, and that of the Vijayanagara kingdom and its successors. Based on a GIS database of over 300 reported coin hoards containing material issued by either state, the study demonstrates that while the Bahmani currency was limited in circulation to Bahmani territory, the coinage of Vijayanagara in contrast enjoyed wide circulation throughout the entire Deccan region. This was evidently due to a high demand in rural areas for the small, conveniently-sized gold coins of Vijayanagara known as hon, since gold coins of similar weight, purity and fabric had customarily been used throughout the Deccan to pay agricultural taxes since the late tenth century. By the opening years of the sixteenth century, agricultural and commercial taxes within the Bahmani territory were being assessed and collected in Vijayanagara-issued hons. The Vijayanagara hon circulated in such great numbers in Bahmani territory that it became an integral part of the economy of the Bahmanis and their successors, prompting Firishta to note (in 1607 CE) that ‘even up to the present day, that same infidel coinage is current among the Muslims’.

Birth is but our death begun: a bioarchaeological assessment of skeletal emaciation in immature human skeletons in the context of environmental, social, and subsistence transition.

The second millennium BC was a period of significant social and environmental changes in prehistoric India. After the disintegration of the Indus civilization, in a phase known as the Early Jorwe (1400-1000 BC), hundreds of agrarian villages flourished in the Deccan region of west-central India. Environmental degradation, combined with unsustainable agricultural practices, contributed to the abandonment of many communities around 1000 BC. Inamgaon was one of a handful of villages to persist into the Late Jorwe phase (1000-700 BC), wherein reliance on dry-plough agricultural production declined. Previous research demonstrated a significant decline in body size (stature and body mass index) through time, which is often used to infer increased levels of biocultural stress in bioarchaeology. This article assesses evidence for growth disruption in the immature human skeletal remains from Inamgaon by correlating measures of whole bone morphology with midshaft femur compact bone geometry and histology. Growth derangement is observable in immature archaeological femora as an alteration in the expected amount and distribution of bone mass and porosity in the midshaft cross-section. Cross-section shape matched expectations for older infants with the acquisition of bipedal locomotion. These results support the hypothesis that small body size was related to disruptions in homeostasis and high levels of biocultural stress in the Late Jorwe at Inamgaon. Further, the combined use of geometric properties and histological details provides a method for teasing apart the complex interactions among activity and "health," demonstrating how biocultural stressors affect the acquisition and quality of bone mass.

Near N–S paleo-extension in the western Deccan region, India: Does it link strike-slip tectonics with India–Seychelles rifting?

This is the first detailed report and analyses of deformation from the W part of the Deccan large igneous province (DLIP), Maharashtra, India. This deformation, related to the India–Seychelles rifting during Late Cretaceous–Early Paleocene, was studied, and the paleostress tensors were deduced. Near N–S trending shear zones, lineaments, and faults were already reported without significant detail. An E–W extension was envisaged by the previous workers to explain the India–Seychelles rift at ~64 Ma. The direction of extension, however, does not match with their N–S brittle shear zones and also those faults (sub-vertical, ~NE–SW/~NW–SE, and few ~N–S) we report and emphasize in this work. Slickenside-bearing fault planes, brittle shear zones, and extension fractures in meso-scale enabled us to estimate the paleostress tensors (directions and relative magnitudes). The field study was complemented by remote sensing lineament analyses to map dykes and shear zones. Dykes emplaced along pre-existing ~N–S to ~NE–SW/~NW–SE shears/fractures. This information was used to derive regional paleostress trends. A ~NW–SE/NE–SW minimum compressive stress in the oldest Kalsubai Subgroup and a ~N–S direction for the younger Lonavala, Wai, and Salsette Subgroups were deciphered. Thus, a ~NW/NE to ~N–S extension is put forward that refutes the popular view of E–W India–Seychelles extension. Paleostress analyses indicate that this is an oblique rifted margin. Field criteria suggest only ~NE–SW and ~NW–SE, with some ~N–S strike-slip faults/brittle shear zones. We refer this deformation zone as the "Western Deccan Strike-slip Zone" (WDSZ). The observed deformation was matched with offshore tectonics deciphered mainly from faults interpreted on seismic profiles and from magnetic seafloor spreading anomalies. These geophysical findings too indicate oblique rifting in this part of the W Indian passive margin. We argue that the Seychelles microcontinent separated from India only after much of the DLIP erupted. Further studies of magma-rich passive margins with respect to timing and architecture of deformation and emplacement of volcanics are required.

Critique of the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill

The first hue was raised when the BT Cotton was approved as a commercial GM crop in India. The events that followed (mass farmer suicides, farmers’ unrest and resistance all over the Deccan region) ensured that it was the first and the last GM crop to be approved and adopted. Therefore, the pressing need of the hour is to have a proper mechanism to regulate this sector, which affects not only health of individual citizens, but of the entire country as a whole.Therefore, the Parliament seeks to form a new regulatory authority, the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI), which would single-handedly be responsible for the entire regulatory system, from research, transport, import and export to manufacture and use of GM organisms throughout India.

DNA Repair Gene Polymorphisms at XRCC1, XRCC3, XPD, and OGG1 Loci in the Hyderabad Population of India

DNA repair is one of the crucial defense mechanism against mutagenic exposure. Inherited SNPs of DNA repair genes may contribute to variation in DNA repair capacity and susceptibility to cancer. Due to the presence of these variants, inter-individual and ethnic differences in DNA repair capacity have been established in various populations. India harbors enormous genetic and cultural diversity. In the present study we aimed to determine the genotypes and allele frequencies of XRCC1 Arg399Gln (rs25487), XRCC3 Thr241Met (rs861539), XPD Lys751Gln (rs13181), and OGG1 Ser326Cys (rs1052133) gene polymorphisms in 186 healthy individuals residing in the Hyderabad region of India and to compare them with HapMap and other populations. The genotype and allele frequency distribution at the four DNA repair gene loci among Hyderabad population of India revealed a characteristic pattern. Comparison of these gene polymorphisms with other populations revealed a distinctiveness of Hyderabad population from the Deccan region of India. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of such DNA repair gene polymorphisms in the Deccan Indian population.

87Sr/86Sr and major ion composition of rainwater of Ahmedabad, India: Sources of base cations

Rainwater samples from Ahmedabad, an urban site in India are analysed for their chemical composition and Sr isotopic ratio. Dominance of Ca in the cation budget indicates its importance in the acid neutralization whereas SO4 and NO3 dominate the anion budget. The major ion concentrations measured in this study are on the lower side of the range reported in the previous study (Rastogi and Sarin, 2007) from the same site. Na and Cl show very good correlation with ratio similar to the seawater ratio, implying their marine origin. Na concentration in these samples has been used as a proxy to calculate the non sea salt fraction of other major ions. Non sea salt Ca and Mg vary from 99.0% to 99.6% and 24.6% to 89.1% of the measured Ca and Mg respectively whereas non sea salt component of SO4 and HCO3 contribute 84.3% to 98.9% and 99.1% to 99.9% respectively. Sr concentrations in these rainwaters vary from 32 to 191 nM and 87Sr/86Sr ranges from 0.70878 to 0.71027. Sr concentration shows a very good correlation (coefficient 0.93) with the non-sea salt component of Ca and Mg indicating their continental sources and having similar provenances. Carbonates and basalts seem to contribute significantly to dissolved base cations of the rainwaters. The basalts from Deccan region, which is isotopically indistinguishable from the African basalts and the silicate and carbonates from African region along with the sediments from the Ganga plain (which is originated from the Himalayan lithologies) could be potential dust sources for this particular site. The sources of dissolved base cations deduced from Sr isotope composition of the rainwaters are consistent with wind back trajectory data obtained from NOAA HYSPLIT model.

Pedalium murex Linn.: An overview of its phytopharmacological aspects

Pedalium murex Linn (family: Pedaliaceae) ( P. murex) commonly known as Large Caltrops and Gokhru (India) is a shrub found in the Southern part, Deccan region of India and in some parts of Ceylon. Different parts of the plant are used to treat various ailments like, cough, cold and as an antiseptic. Interestingly, P. murex is reported traditionally to have an excellent cure in patients with reproductive disorders which are mainly impotency in men, nocturnal emissions, gonorrhoea as well as leucorrhoea in women. The plant has also benifited in complications like urinary track disorder as well as gastro intestinal tract disorders. Phytochemically the plant is popular for the presence of a considerable amount of diosgenin and vanillin which are regarded as an important source and useful starting materials for synthesizing steroidal contraceptive drugs and isatin alkaloids. Other phytochemicals reported in the plant includes quercetin, ursolic acid, caffeic acid, amino acids (glycine, histidine, tyrosine, threonine, aspartic acid and glutamic acid) and various classes of fatty acids (triacontanoic acid, nonacosane, tritriacontane, tetratriacontanyl and heptatriacontan-4-one). Pharmacologically, the plant have been investigated for antiulcerogenic, nephroprotective, hypolipidemic, aphrodisiac, antioxidant, antimicrobial and insecticidal activities. From all these reports it can be concluded that the plant were found to have a better profile with potential natural source for the treatment of various range of either acute or chronic disease. The overall database of our review article was collected from the scientific sources in regards with all the information of the research article for P. murex published so far.

Mah Laqa Bai and Gender: The Language, Poetry, and Performance of a Courtesan in Hyderabad

Shi`i devotion and Urdu poetry both flourished in unique ways in the Deccan region, but did these cultural phenomena allow new creativity for women? This question can be addressed by examining the courtesan Mah Laqa Bai (AH 1181–1240/1768–1824), one of the most powerful figures in the court of the second Nizam of Hyderabad, Nizam `Ali Khan (r. 1762–1803), and the third Nizam, Sikandar Jah (r. 1803–29), as well as being mistress to their prime ministers of Iranian descent. She was one of the first women poets to compile a full divan of Urdu ghazals and was adept at music and dance. This essay examines the issue of gender in her poetry and personality. It argues that she wrote as a woman but in the poetic male voice. She wrote at a time when Urdu in the Deccan region was being altered to conform to Mogul standards with heavy “Persianization” of its diction. The essay asks whether Deccani Urdu was a feminine language before this reform, as argued by some literary historians of the Deccan. It then asks whether Mah Laqa Bai had a feminist agenda as a women poet of the eighteenth century, as charged by some feminist scholars of the Deccan. The essay concludes that Mah Laqa Bai's concept of the feminine was shaped by her role as a dancing female devotee of Imam `Ali, rather than by linguistic structures or political ideologies.

The High Deccan duricrusts of India and their significance for the ‘laterite’ issue

In the Deccan region of western India ferricrete duricrusts, usually described as laterites, cap some basalt summits east of the Western Ghats escarpment, basalts of the low-lying Konkan Plain to its west, as well as some sizeable isolated basalt plateaus rising from the Plain. The duricrusts are iron-cemented saprolite with vermiform hollows, but apart from that have little in common with the common descriptions of laterite. The classical laterite profile is not present. In particular there are no pisolitic concretions, no or minimal development of concretionary crust, and the pallid zone, commonly assumed to be typical of laterites, is absent. A relatively thin, non-indurated saprolite usually lies between the duricrust and fresh basalt. The duricrust resembles the classical laterite of Angadippuram in Kerala (southwestern India), but is much harder. The High Deccan duricrusts capping the basalt summits in the Western Ghats have been interpreted as residuals from a continuous (but now largely destroyed) laterite blanket that represents in situ transformation of the uppermost lavas, and thereby as marking the original top of the lava pile. But the unusual pattern of the duricrusts on the map and other evidence suggest instead that the duricrusts formed along a palaeoriver system, and are now in inverted relief. The two interpretations lead to different tectonic histories. Duricrust formation involved lateral material input besides vertical elemental exchange. We may have reached the stage when the very concepts of laterite and lateritization are hindering progress in regolith research.

Rhenium and osmium isotope and elemental behaviour accompanying laterite formation in the Deccan region of India

This study presents major-, trace-element and Re–Os isotope data for two laterite profiles from the Deccan region in India. The first profile from Bidar developed upon Deccan basalt itself, the second from Goa formed on an Archean greywacke. Both profiles show the typical changes in mineralogy and chemistry accompanying laterite formation; from little altered parent rock at depth, to altered saprolite (depleted in mobile elements), to a highly altered, Si depleted, Fe-rich laterite capped by an iron-rich crust at the surface. Rhenium and Os concentrations show a systematic enrichment with increasing degree of alteration, where the highest concentrations are found in the Fe-rich laterite crust. The level of Os enrichment is greater than that of Re, and as a consequence 187Re/ 188Os ratios are lower in the laterite than the parent rock. With time this leads to the development of 187Os/ 188Os ratios that are also less radiogenic than the parent rock, and this relationship holds irrespective of rock type or age or the time of laterite formation. The marked enrichment of both Re and Os, and the patterns of change above and below the paleowatertable, indicates that both elements are highly mobile. High Eh and low pH conditions facilitate Re and Os dissolution, and redistribution occurs via groundwaters, whereas with increasing pH (higher in the profile) both elements are scavenged out of solution and precipitate either as PGE-rich alloys or are strongly partitioned into oxides or oxyhydroxides. Nevertheless, the isotope and elemental data for both profiles suggests that at least some of the Re and Os must be externally derived, either from aeolian deposition or from the lateral movement of solute-laden groundwaters. Given the high levels of Os in laterites, their extensive geographical coverage of the continents, and their active role in the surface water cycle, it seems likely that they will exert a significant influence on the continental flux of Os to the oceans, that will, in turn, be sensitive to tectonic or climatic change.

Toward a Political Ecology in Early South India: Preliminary Considerations of the Sociopolitics of Land and Animal Use in the Southern Deccan, Neolithic through Early Historic Periods

The archaeology of southern India has long been dominated by cultural-historical paradigms, which have more recently become reliant on environmental stimuli to explain ''culture change.'' This interpretive framework has created a relatively fixed set of relationships between the environment and past human societies that oversimplifies issues of agency and causation in largely deterministic terms. At issue here is a lack of adequate treatment for the sociopolitical complexity of human-environment relationships. In this essay we examine the relationships between emerging social differences and both stable and dynamic aspects of land use throughout the South Indian Neolithic (3000–1200 B.C.), Iron Age (1200–500 B.C.), and Early Historic (500 B.C.–A.D. 500) periods in the southern Deccan region of South India. In an effort to contextualize land use in wider sociopolitical realms, we focus on the empirical components of three aspects of the archaeological record—animal use, agricultural regimes, and monument production and maintenance—through a lens of political ecology. Accepting that land use is socially and culturally mediated, we suggest how sociopolitical distinctions emergent during these periods could be viewed in relation to the production of a landscape that differentially included wild and domesticated animals, cultivars, water reservoirs, irrigation agriculture, and monumental architecture. In this sense, we argue that the landscape itself could be seen as a social product through which sociopolitical differences were experienced and perceived, and that the historical development of the landscape is both the artifact and medium of sociopolitics in early South India. As such, the determinants of social history remain in social and cultural fields of action, though not removed from the ecological-material world of which people are a part.

Biogeographical distribution of meliolaceae members in India

This paper gives an account of 533 taxa belonging to the meliolaceous genera: Amazonia (27), Appendiculella (8), Armatella (12), Asteridiella (60), Irenopsis (27), Meliola (397) and Prataprajella (2) known from India. Biogeographically, India has been classified into ten regions. Of these, the Trans Himalayan, Desert, Semi Arid and Coastal vegetations are apparently devoid of meliolaceous taxa. The Western Ghats is presently represented by 488 taxa (Amazonia 24, Appendiculella 5, Armatella 12, Asteridiella 54, Irenopsis 26, Meliola 365 and Prataprajella 2), and the Himalayan region 12 taxa (Amazonia 1, Appendiculella 1, Asteridiella 1 and Meliola 9). Deccan region 16 taxa (Amazonia 1, Appendiculella 1, Asteridiella 1 and Meliola 13), Gangetic plain with 39 taxa (Amazonia 1, Appendiculella 4, Armatella 1, Asteridiella 5, Irenopsis 1 and Meliola 27), northeastern India with 7 taxa (Amazonia 1, Meliola 6) and all the Islands represent three species (of the genus Meliola). Bio-geographically, most of the fungi are restricted in their distribution to a particular region, but there are a few which are common to Eastern and Western Ghats, Western Ghats and Himalayan region, Eastern Ghats and Himalayan regions and Western Ghats and the Islands.

How Ancient Agriculturalists Managed Yield Fluctuations through Crop Selection and Reliance on Wild Plants: An Example from Central India

The use of “average” yields to formulate models of premodern agriculture obscures the dynamic components of agricultural decision-making. Using colonial documents and archaeological data from the Deccan region of central India, this paper illustrates the complexities of how ancient peoples mitigated fluctuations in agricultural yields. Nineteenth-century documents show striking differences in yields from year to year, and illustrate the way in which people compensated for those fluctuations by using wild foods and cultivating alternate crops that were less palatable but more reliable. Archaeobotanical, archaeological, and textual data from the Chalcolithic to the Early Historic periods (c. 1500 B.C. to 300 A.D.) indicate similar adaptive strategies, in which the early inhabitants of the region managed resources at the household level to provide subsistence security as well as the steady provision of a tradable surplus. Les analyses d’agriculture prémoderne, fondées sur un modèle de récoltes “moyennes,” cachent les complexités de l’usage de plusieurs stratégies d’agriculture ainsi que de ressources naturels. Ici, l’économie de l’Inde centrale dans les premiers siècles de notre ère est établie par les données de la paléobotanique et d’archéologie, une perspective augmentée par l’étude des documents du dix-neuvième siècle. Ces documents indiquent une grand variation de récoltes d’une saison et d’une année à l’autre, et que les agriculteurs balançaient leurs besoins de soutenance physique et sociale avec plusieurs stratégies parmi lesquel l’usage des produits forestières étaient très important. L’inclusion des ces paramètres pour la période premoderne nous permet de reconstruire non seulement les activités agriculturels, mais aussi l’impact de ces activités sur les activités économiques et sociales outre du foyer domestique.

Big is ugly? How large-scale institutions prevent famines in Western India

Summary For centuries, recurrent droughts have caused severe famines in the Deccan region of western India. By 1920, large-scale institutions integrated this region into an industrial and globalizing world—ending famines and causing a rapid decline in mortality rates, hence a rise in human welfare. These results are contrary to the “small is beautiful” discourse of some anti-globalization theorists. Yet, as these theorists suggest, big institutions also often make inefficient use of vital resources. Institutions such as the Deccan irrigation canals can be essential to survival yet require careful redesign to ensure future food security.

Landscape and Cosmology in the South Indian Neolithic: New Perspectives on the Deccan Ashmounds

The ashmounds of the central Deccan Plateau remain one of the most enigmatic features of the South Indian Neolithic. While Allchin proposed a primarily ritualistic interpretation for the large mounds of burnt cattle dung, more recent discussion has often stressed more prosaic understandings, underlining the adaptive or economic significance of the ashmounds as indicators of pastoralism or stressing the possibility that they represent accidental or sanitation-related fires. This article argues for a return to more symbolic perspectives on the ashmounds, and offers further support for a ritualistic reading based on evidence relating to the landscape context of ashmounds and other Neolithic remains in the central Deccan region. The article explores the landscape associations of ashmounds in the Bellary District of Karnataka, and in particular draws on new discoveries at the sites of Kudatini and Toranagallu in order to reconstruct aspects of a Southern Neolithic ‘world view’ or cosmology. The article also explores the implications of the ashmounds to subsequent developments in the Indian subcontinent, particularly those relating to the symbolic importance of cattle, dung and ash in Hindu practices, and argues for long-term continuities in certain prehistoric material symbols (though not their associated meanings). In addition, the article takes a wider comparative approach, and explores the implications of South Indian Neolithic practices for our understanding of the Neolithic ‘process’ in general, and in particular the emphasis on transformative processes that appears to distinguish Neolithic approaches to the material world from those that preceded them.

Subsistence Strategies and Burial Rituals: Social Practices in the Late Deccan Chalcolithic

Shifts in subsistence strategies during the transition between Early Jorwe (1400- 1000 B.C.) and Late Jorwe (1000-700 B.C.) periods of the western Deccan region of India have been the focus of much archaeological research. This article reviews the various theories proposed by researchers to explain transformations in subsistence practices at this time and suggests that these changes had multiple repercussions in the realm of social organization. These changes contrast markedly with a continuity in infant burial practices. Reconfirming burial traditions may have served to counterbalance the changes that occurred in daily practices. Even though burial practices were upheld over time, individuals and groups varied slightly in their interpretation of burial tradition, as well as their desire and ability to perform burial rites according to tradition.