The Megalithic Cultures in India

Lesson 9 of 9 • 44 upvotes • 8:33mins

Abhyudaya Kelkar

Megaliths are one of the important chapters of Ancient Indian History. Although it had a parallel existence with Iron Age, it is being covered in this part on two accounts. Firstly, these megaliths were unassociated with the other prevailing civilizations to a large extent. Secondly, extensive use of stones and rocks being the dominant feature of these cultures made it suitable to place them alongside the Stone Age topics. In the previous lesson, we saw that Chalcolithic cultures used Copper along with stones. Here we will see the use of iron along with stones. The use of stone was however limited to ceremonial purposes and not for tool-making. Nevertheless an association with ’stones’ can be argued as a reason to put this lesson in the very first part. We will encounter a similar problem while placing the Sangam Age as well. Students are advised to watch the pictures and maps very carefully and separately, if required. Perhaps no description will be enough to explain the concept of Megaliths, unless we use pictures and maps.