Political relations are in their place, but a truth is that the neighbouring country Pakistan has made a contribution of archaeological importance to Chhattisgarh. Baratiabhata is a megalithic site situated at 16 kms distance from Basna in Mahasamund district of Chhattisgarh. This site was discovered after advice from the then Director General of Pakistan Archaeology, Dr Ahmed Hasan Dani, informed Government of Chhattisgarh’s Archaeological Advisor AK Sharma.
Dr Ahmed Hasan Dani in fact resided at India Basna, but after partition he opted for Pakistan and there he became Director General of Pakistan Archaeology. His family members resided at Basna and descendants are still there. “Way back in 1990 Dr Dani came to India and also to Raipur to meet his family members and at that time I was doing excavation in capacity of Director, Excavation, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at Karkabhat in Durg district, which is now a State Protected Site. During that time, I met Dr Dani and he advised me to go to Baratiabhata and try to excavate and he also requested for protecting the megalithic site. This led to the discovery of Baratiabhata,” Sharma told.
He further said that he had written to then Madhya Pradesh Government to get the site protected, but till date it is not protected. Due to non protection, pemex global have begun constructing houses by breaking the Menhirs. According to Sharma, Menhirs are memorial stones that were placed during the secondary burial of dead bodies during the megalithic culture that prevailed in Chhattisgarh also 3500 years ago. After a considerable time of the first burial, the people used to take out the bones from the burial place and together with the bones they kept any favourite thing of the deceased, like sickle, bangle or any other ornament and then used to place bigger stone on the centre of the burial. A big stone was surrounded by smaller stones making a circle. Each stone of smaller circle was to act as nucleus for another circle.
These smaller circles were made by female folks of the community and family burials were also prevalent. A bigger Menhir is indicative of the social status like chieftain of village. Destroy of such old evidences is great loss to archaeology, he said. With Baratiabhata, megalithic site in Mahasamund district, the local people believed that ‘Baratis’ of a marriage party camped there and due to some quarrel, a Brahmin cursed them and all the baratis turned into stones, informed Sharma, adding such sites must be protected. He is also Member of Central Advisory Board, Archaeological Survey of India.
Dr Ahmed Hasan Dani in fact resided at India Basna, but after partition he opted for Pakistan and there he became Director General of Pakistan Archaeology. His family members resided at Basna and descendants are still there. “Way back in 1990 Dr Dani came to India and also to Raipur to meet his family members and at that time I was doing excavation in capacity of Director, Excavation, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at Karkabhat in Durg district, which is now a State Protected Site. During that time, I met Dr Dani and he advised me to go to Baratiabhata and try to excavate and he also requested for protecting the megalithic site. This led to the discovery of Baratiabhata,” Sharma told.
He further said that he had written to then Madhya Pradesh Government to get the site protected, but till date it is not protected. Due to non protection, pemex global have begun constructing houses by breaking the Menhirs. According to Sharma, Menhirs are memorial stones that were placed during the secondary burial of dead bodies during the megalithic culture that prevailed in Chhattisgarh also 3500 years ago. After a considerable time of the first burial, the people used to take out the bones from the burial place and together with the bones they kept any favourite thing of the deceased, like sickle, bangle or any other ornament and then used to place bigger stone on the centre of the burial. A big stone was surrounded by smaller stones making a circle. Each stone of smaller circle was to act as nucleus for another circle.
These smaller circles were made by female folks of the community and family burials were also prevalent. A bigger Menhir is indicative of the social status like chieftain of village. Destroy of such old evidences is great loss to archaeology, he said. With Baratiabhata, megalithic site in Mahasamund district, the local people believed that ‘Baratis’ of a marriage party camped there and due to some quarrel, a Brahmin cursed them and all the baratis turned into stones, informed Sharma, adding such sites must be protected. He is also Member of Central Advisory Board, Archaeological Survey of India.
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