THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WINTER SOLSTICE AND MAKAR SANKRANTI (UTTARAYAN)

 Subhashis Das  

In the Makar Sankranti/Uttarayan the ingress of the sun occurs from the Sagittarius (Dhanu) into the zodiac of Makar (Capricorn) hence this phenomenon is known as Makar Sankranti.    The assumption is that from the Makar Sankranti day the sun travels to the North (uttar) thereby increasing the length of the day and therefore this occurrence is also known as Uttarayan. 

   However 22 or 23 Dec is the date of the Winter Solstice when the sun shines on the Tropic of Capricorn travelling farthest in  the Southern Hemisphere.   For this reason the Winter Solstice day is the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere and the longest in the Southern Hemisphere.

 From the following day of the Winter Solstice, the length of the day in the Northern Hemisphere begins to increase as the sun commences its journey towards the Tropic of Cancer for the Summer Solstice. 

     

 

Stones within the very ancient megalithic complexes of CHANO and PUNKRI BURWADIH  at Jharkhand in India were positioned by prehistoric megalithic astronomers in alignment towards the Winter Solstice sunrises.

 A.   The small stone pointer inside the now demolished CHANO  megalithic site can be seen to have been positioned to accurately point towards the rising sun on Winter Solstice mornings.

B. Gathering at the CHANO MEGALITHIC COMPLEX  to view the prehistoric astronomical spectacle. 

C. PUNKRI BURWADIH MEGALITHIC COMPLEX.

D. The sun in the PUNKRI BURWADIH MEGALITHIC COMPLEX  rises from in-between the two menhirs M1 & M2  on Winter Solstice mornings.

 

   Much akin to Newgrange, Stonehenge and other megalithic sites of England and Europe  in a few megalithic complexes of Punkri Burwadih and in the now demolished  Chano of Hazaribagh, in Jharkhand the early megalithic astronomers planted their stones in alignment towards the Winter Solstice sunrises to observe the day’s sunrises in the south-east horizon. (Note in the images above)

Hence such astronomy was known as Observational Astronomy.

  However the observation of the rise of the sun from the horizon on the Makar Sankranti day of the 14 or 15^th Jan does not endorse appropriate results as the fixing of this day does not have its foundations on observation of the sun’s transit but on calculations based on Vedanga Jyotish’s Siddhanta (calculative) khagoul/astronomy when the transition of the sun occurs from the Sagittarius (Dhanu) into the zodiac of Makar (Capricorn).

Women  praying at the sun after a holy dip in the Ganga Sagar Mela in West Bengal during the Makar Sankranti. Credit: Zee 5

   Devotees during the occasion of  Makar Sankranti take a holy bath at sacred rivers  which meets other rivers or the ocean; symbolic of a Sankranti which is also suggestive of the ingress of one zodiac into another.

   This siddhanta or calculation astronomy is on contrary to the Observational Astronomy prevalent during the prehistoric era of the non-Vedic megalithic times.

PRABHAT KHABAR publishes my write up on the ASI excavated Buddhist Monastery at Setagarha in Hazaribagh

 

The Fascinating Megalithic Town of Chaibasa

 Subhashis Das

I stare at a few tall Ho birdiri menhirs

The Ho even dead does not desert their family. They become bongas and protect their families remaining a part of their families. Hence many times they are cremated and their ashes and bones are buried in their courtyard which are covered with sasandiri megalithic burial slabs as in the photograph here.

This post in actuality is a tribute to Chaibasa, a town in Jharkhand of East India which is perhaps one of the few last remaining towns of India where megaliths can be witnessed all over and where megalith building is a living tradition. You see tall menhirs dotting the countryside as you begin to approach the region of Singhbhum. Their density augments as you begin to enter the town of Chaibasa.

           The startling white biridiri menhir

Some tall menhirs

This is Ho country. Anthropologically speaking Hos are proto austroloid Kolarian people; a sister tribe of the Mundas and they are a megalithic lot too. They are believed to have entered the region of Singhbhum in South Jharkhand pretty late. Therefore their monuments, the megaliths are assumed to be relatively newer, not going beyond 500/600 years.

An anthropomorphic structure

Ho homes are pieces of art…thoroughly whitewashed and half of it from the bottom donning beige or black colour produced from seeds. The floors too are painted from the extracts of various seeds. The village women toil to paint their homes every 15 days to keep them sparkling! These white homes dazzle in the sun in the Singhbhum landscape like jewels.

                      I gaze at some enormously large biridiri menhirs

The unique fact about Chaibasa and its environs is that majority of the homes of the Hos have megalithic burials  called sasandiris in their courtyard, it is a living tradition here. 

Their departed ancestors though are dead they yet remain a member of their family so their remains are buried in the courtyard. The cremated ash of the deceased is inserted into funerary pots and  thereafter buried in the courtyard over which the sepulchral slabs or the sasandiris are placed. Later in their memory the tall menhirs or the birdiris are erected in the sacred land of the village. 

So profoundly megalithic are the Hos that they would raise menhirs to commemorate any event; a major victory in a football game or the birth of girl child or a significant meeting that may have been held or perhaps even for the formation of the Jharkhand state.

If I had it my way I would have had Chaibasa be declared a heritage town not only for the innumerable megaliths that the region houses but also for continuing the tradition of megalith making since unknown times in an uninterrupted manner.

 My new write-up on the large Chokahatu megalith hargarhi site published in the Hindi daily PRABHAT KHABAR of  2.1.22

Equinox in the Punkri Burwadih megaliths of Jharkhand. India.

 Subhashis Das

The sun in the megaliths of Punkri Burwadih rises from the due east from between the two precisely positioned menhirs (marked M1 & M2 by me)  on equinox mornings. 

The megaliths of Punkri Burwadih at Hazaribagh in Jharkhand

  झारखण्ड के मेगालित्स पर पिछले 25 वर्षों से रिसर्च करते हुए पंकरि बरवाडीह की इक्वीनोक्स पॉइंट को मैंने लगभग 2002 में खोज निकाला। 

  इस अति प्राचीन मेगलिथि स्थल में छुपे हुए खगौल को खोजने में मुझे कई वर्ष लगें।  और तब मैंने पाया कि प्राचीन मेगालिथिक architects ने इंग्लैंड के Stonehenge की भाँती पंकरि बरवाडीह के इस मेगलिथि स्थल पर इक्वीनोक्स के अलावा इन लोगों ने Winter और Summer Solstice के सूर्योदय को  देखने के लिए भी पत्थरों को सटीकता से गाड़े हैं। 

  पर ऐसा इन लोगों ने किया क्यूँ ? 

  इसे जानने के  लिए आप सब को मेरी 2019 की पुस्तक THE ARCHAEOASTRONOMY OF A FEW MEGALITHIC SITES OF JHARKHAND पढ़ना पड़ेगा। इसकी प्रकाशक हैं नई दिल्ली कि Niyogi Books.   

   यह पुस्तक आपको Amazon, Flipkart इत्यादि on-line मिल जायगा। 

My book THE ARCHAEOASTRONOMY OF A FEW MEGALITHIC SITES OF JHARKHAND. Published by Niyogi Books. New Delhi. Avaliable on-line.

 I discovered the astronomy dormant in the megalithic complex of Punkri Burwadih near about in 2002. 

 In the process I discovered that the stones in the Punkri Burwadih megalithic complex were accurately positioned by the ancient megalithic architects aligning to the notches and crevices of the encircling mountain range and the cardinal points. 

                                      I stand inside the megaliths

  I also discovered that the site was aligned to the sunrises not only that of the Equinox but also that of the Summer and Winter Solstices.

 But why did the ancient megalith makers use such astronomy and geometry in the construction of the megalithic complex of Punkri Burwadih?

  I am not revealing much here. I have opened this up in my 2019 book THE ARCHAEOASTRONOMY OF A FEW MEGALITHIC SITES OF JHARKHAND published by Niyogi Books. New Delhi. 

  You may, if you wish order the book from the publisher or could purchase it on-line from Amazon and Flipkart etc.

SPRING HAS ARRIVED IN JHARKHAND

 Subhashis Das

Plate 1. The woods in Jharkhand deck up in  myriad of colours in spring time.

Plate 2.Saal trees bloom in spring time beckoning the fertility of Mother Earth.

Now with the coming of the spring season, bouquets of cream-coloured saal flowers have bloomed on the tall saal trees in its full glory gesturing the fertility of the Mother Earth (Plate 2). The mahua too has flowered and so have the mango trees. The woods have decked up with the fiery orange colour “Flame of the Forests”; palashes and simuls (Plate 3, 4 & 5).

Plate 3. The Palash flowers bloom in spring

Plate 4. The Palash

Plate 5. The Simul also blooms in spring in Jharkhand

The budding manjars of the fruits in mango trees have let out a fascinating sweet scent in the air, the intoxicating aroma of the ripe mahua flowers fill up the air and the women have gone to the woods to collect the fallen mahua flowers under the mahua trees (Plate 6).

Plate 7. Village women gather to collect fallen mahua flowers.

The exotic aroma of these flowers is ubiquitous in the air while the small shinning yellow-green leaves that peep out of the dark branches of the various deciduous trees complement with the newly budded orange and the off-white flowers create a magical colourful ambiance in the forest in the spring (Plate 1).

While you take a walk in the thick woods in the full moon night during this hot spring season with the curious yet the magical fragrance all around you, and the wild you may coerced to sing Tagore’s , “Aaj jyotsna raatey sobai gechey bone...”(in the full moon to-night every one has gone to the forest)

 

Mahadeo Temple. Ichak. Hazaribagh. Jharkhand.

My sketch of Mahadeo Temple of Ichak. Hazaribagh. Jharkhand.

 

Heritage Trees of Hazaribagh. Jharkhand

 Subhashis Das

Please take a dekho of the photographs of a few such trees of Hazaribagh (although there are certainly more) that can easily be ordained with the heritage status. Gradually more such trees would be added in this post.

                              Plate 1. The Bishungarh Banyan

   Hazaribagh has several trees that are old and enormous in size. Spread to a large area of land, many such giant banyans and peepals were felled in the process of the construction of the 4-lane highway. But thankfully several such giants remain. The peepals and the banyans inside the city and the hinterlands of Hazaribagh can be seen spread to a large area.

   The above described banyan (Plate 1) is located on left flank of NH100 outside Bishungarh towards Bagodar. The enormity of the tree and the falling roots (as seen in the lower photograph of Plate 1 surely suggest in ancientness. 

Plate 2. The iconic Maulshree tree in the campus of the Mazaar/Peer Baba shrine.

   The thick bushy tree in the campus of the Mazaar/Peer Baba shrine in the Court Road has many myths surrounding it. 

    One legend is that centuries ago a fakir or a sufi saint arrived here beside the then Old Benares Road (the area must have been quite wooded in those days). Here he began practicing his faith and singing to his heart's glory, as all sufis do. He was known as Daata Baba or the sage who "gives".

   To clean his teeth in the mornings he would use twigs of branches or datun/datwan  (there seems to be a relationship between his designation of "data baba" and the datun/datwuns). The myth goes that the baba threw the chewed datwans at one particular place. And it was here after his demise did this tree grow (Plate 1).

    As no one had seen such a tree earlier they held that it had grown magically from the fakir's datwan dump after his death; it was therefore a  magical tree. Many believed that this "datwan" tree is very rare but one such tree has been spotted on the G.T.Road in Bihar. 

   However this is quite a well known tree called the Molshree or the Bakul Tree (Mimusopos elegni) (Plate 1). It is a dense evergreen tree and can be seen planted mostly beside highways and roads as its thick bushy leaves provides a good shade to wary travellers. The tree blooms into small fragrant white flowers. Molshree is sacred to the Hindus and is associated with vastu and being a medicinal plant it has much use even in ayurveda.  

Plate 3. Saal trees (shorea robusta) are indeed heritage trees

Plate 4.The enormous sacred banyan of Balbal Duari apparently is one single tree that has spread to such a large carpet area.

The above banyan of Balbal Duari (Plate 3) is huge. It has spread to a large area. Once lightning had struck on a portion of this old tree and the burnt chunk had fallen on the ground, yet the banyan displays its enormous size.

Plate 5. The iconic Jamun (Syzygium cumini) tree of the Police Line.

Jamun trees also known as the Malabar or the Java Plum is a long lived tropical evergreen tree. This tree is receding in numbers as people are felling them for its timber as this wood does not rot in water.

This jamun tree of the Police Line is a favourite of the youngsters who love the fruit that ripes during the summer and the monsoon months. The children love the jamun for its sweet taste and also for the purple colour that carpets their tongue.

The fruit also invites numerous birds and squirrels.

Plate 6. The famous large imli or teetaria or the tamarind tree (tamarindus indica) of the Majar road next to the Data Majar. 

Plate 7. The huge banyan is located in Dipugarha. 

 On the right side beside the road to the Kanary Hill stands a large Babyan Tree (Plate 5) with much pride. The red strings wrapped around the girth of the tree gives evidence of the tree being worshipped by the womenfolk during Vat-Savitri. The tree was once planned to be felled by the land mafia so that the land could be sold off. But public awareness protected this tree.

Plate 8. The large banyan tree too is a single tree that has spread to such a large area and it does seem to be quite ancient.

 Credit: Zamir Arif

Plate 9. This very large and ancient Banyan  is one tree.

  This enormous banyan tree is actually a sacred grove known as Daroga Gosaiwn. Such groves are also known as Mandars. This apparently is a single tree that has shot so many roots and has spread to such a large area which suggests that this tree is indeed quite ancient. 

    The Daroga Gosawin banyan has a myth that is quite popular among the villagers. The deity of the Mandar is believed to be a very powerful oracle granting wishesd to all its devotees. 

     Devotees come from far and wide for having their wishes granted. If anyone distrusts the spirit of the tree who is an old baba is bound to suffer hardships and bad luck. It so happened that one Britisher distrusted the deity of the tree holding it as superstitious and he fired many several bullets at the tree. The villagers speak that nothing happened to the tree but the Britisher died a cruel death.

Winter Solstice sunrises at the megaliths of Hazaribagh. Jharkhand. India.

 

    Subhashis Das

Images of the Winter Solstice sunrises in the prehistoric megalithic sites of Hazaribagh.
The two left vertical images are that of the Chano/Rola megaliths; The top one shows a triangular pointer within the Chano megalithic site indicating the sunrise and the bottom image shows a few onlookers observing the sunrise.
The right vertical images are that of Punkri Burwadih and the people that have gathered to witness the Winter Solstice sunrise beating the winter chill. 

The page demonstrates a few photographs of sunrises during the Winter Solstice morning in two megalithic sites of Jharkhand discovered by me some 20 years ago.

Commemorating the Solsticial and Equinoctial sunrises is a pagan festival given to fertility rituals. Megaliths being fertility burial- shrines were used to view the sunrises on these occasions to celebrate fertility festivals.

Hence a few of such megalithic burials were created astronomically to observe the sunrises of these dates to enable them to celebrate these significant days. Therefore such sites that were created by the ancient tribal megalith makers who possessed a fair knowledge of basic mathematics and astronomy thousands of years prior to the Brahmanical astronomers and mathematicians. 

PUNKRI BURWDIH

The first photograph is that of the megalithic complex of Punkri Burwadih. 
Studying the site for several years I have found it having alignment towards the sunrise of the Equinoxes and that of the both Summer and the Winter Solstices.

THE WINTER SOLSTICE SUNRISE IN PUNKRI BURWADIH

The ancient tribal megalith makers have positioned the two menhirs so accurately that standing on a particular point on the North-South axis one can view the sun rise today exactly from the gap created by the two tall menhirs M1 and M2 in the Punkri Burwadih Megalithic complex. 

THE WINTER SOLSTICE SUNRISE IN PUNKRI BURWADIH

The ancient megalith makers have positioned the two menhirs so accurately that standing on a particular point on the North-South axis one can view the sun rise today exactly from the gap created by the two tall menhirs M1 and M2 in the Punkri Burwadih Megalithic complex. 

 

Sharing a hot cuppa tea with Bubu, my wife and Shib Shankar in the foggy and shivering cold Winter Solstice morning while the megalithic site is visible in the distance

 

Bubu, Prantik, my son and I look for the sunrise in the foggy morning

CHANO (ROLA)

The Chano (aka Rola) Megalithic complex near Hazaribagh in the Eastern State of Jharkhand in India that was discovered by me some two decades ago no more exists today; thanks to the negligence and disregard of tribal megalithic sites by Hazaribagh District Administration, State Archaeological Department and the Archaeological Survey of India.

Chano was one of the most fascinating megalithic sites that was created with mathematics and astronomy in times of prehistory by the erstwhile tribes. This amazing site when it existed was aligned towards the sunrises and sets of both the Summer and Winter Solstices. 
The small triangle within the now defunct megalithic complex was positioned so accurately by the ancient tribal megalithic astronomers  that on Winter Solstice mornings the triangle points towards the sunrise of this day (as seen in the photograph).

The tiny stone triangle in the now defunct megalithic site of Chano has been planted is such a manner that the vertex points accurately towards the Winter Solstice sunrise.
(This view can never be viewed now as the site is thoroughly destroyed with the stones within the site having uprooted)

This is the perhaps the last photograph of the gathering during the Winter Solstice sunrise viewing at the Chano megalithic site.

(This view can now never ever be seen as the site is completely destroyed)

If you wish to know more of these and a few more of other archaeoastronomical megalithic sites of Jharkhand you may order  one of my earlier books THE ARCHAEOASTRONOMY OF A FEW MEGALITHIC SITES OF JHARKHAND from Amazon or other online book stores (if it is not available at a bookstore near you):

https://www.amazon.in/Archaeoastronomy-Few-Megalithic-Sites-Jharkhand/dp/9386906163