chandore – The Metrognome

Season one of excavation at Chandore, which is in Konkan, revealed some intriguing artefacts, ceramics and sculptural elements early this month.

by Shubha Khandekar

As the second (annual) season of archaeological excavations at Chandore, near Mangaon in the Raigad district of coastal Maharashtra draws to a close, this tiny, idyllic village has increasingly begun to look like a key hub where international trade flourished under the Shilahara kings about a 1,000 years ago, and continued up to the Maratha period in the early 19th century, through the pre-Shivaji Bahamani regime and the rule of the once pan-India Peshwas, before they suffered a decisive defeat at the hands of the British in 1818.

Facets of the history of the Shilahara dynasty that ruled the entire seacoast from Sopara in the North to Savantwadi in the South, through the 11th to the 14th century, are unfolding slowly but surely with the excavation, undertaken jointly by the Centre for Extra Mural Studies (CEMS), University of Mumbai and the India Study Centre (INSTUCEN), under Dr Kurush F Dalal, the Field Director, who teaches Archaeology at the CEMS.

This makes Chandore a crucial site, demanding extensive and long term historical, ethnographic and archaeological investigation to ascertain the antiquity, the cultural sequence and nature of the settlement at Chandore and its environs, that would shed light on hitherto unknown aspects of the history of the region for the past 1000 years and more.

This was acknowledged, endorsed and emphasised by the presence of all the bigwigs present on site on a Sunday drenched in welcome rain early June: Dr Rajan Velukar, Vice Chancellor, Dr Naresh Chandra, Pro-Vice Chancellor, and Mugdha Karnik, Director, Centre for Extra Mural Studies, Mumbai University, Dr A P Jamkhedkar, former Director, Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Maharashtra, Dhananjay Karnik, Drs Samuel Nazareth and Suraj Pandit, all Directors, India Study Centre (INSTUCEN), Dr Kurush F Dalal, Field Director of excavations at Chandore and Suresh Bhosale, President, Mahad Manufacturers’ Association, which came forward to finance the initial phases of this year’s excavation. In addition, Pallavee Gokhale from Pune, NR Swamy from Bangalore (Genesys International) and Vaidyanathan from Mumbai joined hands to do a GIS based study of the vast expanse over which the ruins are strewn.

While Dr Velukar committed the University’s support to the excavation, Dr Jamkhedkar interacted with the villagers of Chandore at a public meeting and explained to them the historical importance of the site, the need for conservation of the remains of the past, if possible through the establishment of a small local museum and the prevention of their pilferage, and the critical role that the villagers must play in the process.

Where is it?
Chandore is located on a ridge running north-south along the Arabian Sea coast, about 30 km to its west, a location that had carved out a unique role for the village in the political, economic and religious life of the Konkan region.

The first season of excavation revealed a rock-cut stepped reservoir, with images of Hara-Gauri (a form of Shiva and Parvati), embedded in a niche in one of its walls. Stylistically the image has been dated to the Shilahara period by Drs Arvind Jamkhedkar and Suraj A Pandit. This reservoir was adjacent to a Shiva temple, whose only extant remains consist of a sunken sanctum and a Nandi placed in the temple’s courtyard, a hopelessly crumbling image of the divine bull that one is afraid to touch for fear that it will completely disintegrate.

Excavations at the site have so far revealed plans of at least three temples, built as per the local traditions during the Bahamani period, which preceded Shivaji by about two centuries.

This kingdom had later split into five, including the Adilshahi out of which Shivaji carved out his swaraj.

Other finds from the excavation consist of a silver gadhiya coin from the 11th century, glass beads and bangles, and monochrome glazed ware potsherds typical of the 14th century.

Historically important
Chandore was incredibly active between the 8th century and 1818 when the Marathas lost the final battle against the British (Third Anglo-Maratha War). The local towns of Mangaon and Goregaon have historically been very important places on the internal highway and have both been feeders to the port of Mhasala, especially during the Maratha, Bahamani and Adilshahi phases. Both the traditional routes passed Chandore and it is only now that the route from Goregaon has bypassed Chandore, the Mangaon-Mhasala route still goes past Chandore.

The Chandore-Mhasala stretch is also a part of the Mangaon-Goregaon-Mhasala-Borli-Diveagar-Shrivardhan route. Thus Chandore lies on a critical route between the hinterland and the ports of Mhasala and Diveagar.

The surroundings of Chandore too are replete with hero stones, locally called veergals (see pic on right) , and sati stones, which together narrate a story of valour and sacrifice, and reveal aspects of ancestor worship and the custom of Sati. Indravan, Nivachivadi, Govele, Kakal, Nalephodi, Mhasala, Borli Panchatan, Diveagar and Deokhol in the proximity of Chandore constitute a sprawling complex with thriving international trade and vibrant religious activity on a large scale.

There is, however, no inscription in this entire repertoire to give us any definitive names or dates for any of these locations, with the exception of Diveagar.

The earliest occupation of Chandore, surprisingly, seems be of the Stone Age when small, microlithic tools were made in a pre-metal era. This could push the antiquity of the site back by several millennia, and Stone Age experts who have visited the site have recommended a detailed study of the raw materials used for the tools, the structural and functional aspects of the tools and the geological context of the habitation.

The bulk of the original research published on the Shilahara dynasty consists of a volume of the inscriptions of the Shilaharas by VV Mirashi (Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, Vol IV brought out by the ASI in 1977). Scholars have subsequently found sporadic copper plate and stone inscriptions of the Shilahara dynasty in the Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts of Maharashtra as well as the coastal area of Goa and Karnataka, and have attempted a reconstruction of the history of the region.

A particular location at Chandore is referred to as ‘kalavantiniche gharate’– the dwelling of the nautch girl(s) – in local tradition, which comprised an essential service at a trade route hub, for merchants and traders on long journeys away from home. This yet again confirms the status of Chandore as a thriving semi-urban centre.

Also, an annual religious festival is part of a tradition from the hoary past and draws in large numbers of people surrounding areas. This calls for ethnographic enquiry and its integration with historical evidence in a holistic approach to unfold the secrets buried and forgotten since yore.

This seasons excavations have just drawn to a close and the excavation team is busy cataloguing and analysing the artefacts, ceramics and sculptural elements revealed in the course of this season’s work.

(Pictures courtesy Dr Suraj Pandit, Pallavee Gokhale and Rhea Mitra-Dalal)

Asses on stones

Markers of a distinctive, historical past, stones showing donkeys in sexual congress with a woman abound in Mumbai and Maharashtra. Sadly, they are victims of neglect.

Shubha Khandekar spoke to Dr Kurush Dalal (in pic below), who teaches archaeology at the Centre for Extra Mural Studies (CEMS), Mumbai University and who has done extensive archaeological fieldwork in Chandore (Maharashtra), Sanjan (Gujarat) and Balathal (Rajasthan), about gadhegals, which have a quaint and fascinating history.

Shubha: What is a gadhegal?

Dr Dalal: A gadhegal is essentially a three-part stone slab in which the top part shows the sun and the moon, with or without a kalasha. The middle part consists of an edict, the shilalekha, which is usually the grant of a plot of land and sometimes of a house to a benefactor. The lowest part of this stone justifies its name gadhegal: it explicitly shows a donkey in sexual congress with a woman.

S: Why such a strange depiction?

Dr Dalal: A gadhegal needs to be seen in its totality, as therein lies its importance as historical source material.

The sun and moon symbolise perpetuity, the kalasha indicates prosperity. The graphic has evoked different interpretations: some feel that anyone who dares to violate the royal decree is being threatened with the most disgusting of punishments: that his mother would be violated by an ass. Others feel that it symbolically represents Mother Earth, and the ass (the vehicle of the goddess of pestilence and plague – Sheetaladevi) represents drought, famine, desolation that would come visiting anyone who defies the royal edict. A gadhegal is thus an Ass-Curse-Stone.

S: What is its significance for the study of history of Maharashtra?

Dr Dalal: These gadhegals are the markers of the Shilahara period as, being essentially land grants, they indicate the extent of the empire of the dynasty and sub-dynasties. The Shilaharas who reigned from the mid 10^th to 13^th centuries, were the first purely Maharashtrian dynasty that ruled the coastal areas of Konkan. They were initially the feudatories of the Rashtrakutas, who were responsible for the creation of such monumental beauties as the Ellora and Elephanta caves.

The earliest inscriptions in Marathi (in Maharashtra) are seen on gadhegals. A large number of early medieval land records and place names are also found on these gadhegals. The locations indicate the distribution of the cadet branches of the Shilahara dynasty, namely the Northern, the Southern and the Kolhapur Shilaharas. The language is either heavily Sanskritised Marathi or Sanskrit.

The word ‘gal’ means a stone in Kannada and is a common term associated with hero-stones (Veergal) and Sati-stones (Satigal) which saw their probable origins in Karnataka but they abound in Maharashtra too, and have evolved in a distinctive form. The gadhegals though are unique to the west coast of Maharashtra and Goa with a single exception from Gujarat.

Related to gadhegals are the sati stones and the hero stones. These often bear inscriptions in Karnataka but sadly not in Maharashtra. That is how the gadhegals in Maharashtra have evolved from their earlier avatars.

S: Where and how many gadhegals are there in Maharashtra and how are they different from those in Karnataka?

Dr Dalal: In Mumbai itself there are/were at least 12. There are about six or seven gadhegals with the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrhalaya in Mumbai. There is one at the Ram Mandir, near Charni Road, there is one from Nalasopara, one from Powai and one from Vasai. There is one recorded from Jogeshwari which is now in Portugal, and there are probably others in the environs of Greater Mumbai which haven’t been identified.

There are many more on the Western coast. One has been reported from Porbander, Gujarat, perhaps relocated from Maharashtra. Gadhegals are strewn in the belt from Thana to Goa. A few are inland: there are two at Tuljapur, one at Satara and a couple in Kalyan.

However, this being a poorly-researched subject, who knows how many would be lurking in the fields, homes and shrines of the Konkan?

S: Which are the most famous gadhegals in Maharashtara?

Dr Dalal: Eminent Marathi scholar SG Tulpule has identified a gadhegal at Akshi (there are two here) close to Alibaug in the Raigad district as the first ever inscription in chaste, though archaic, Marathi. It is a land grant by King Keshideva. Fortunately, it has a date on it: Shaka 934, which works out to 1012 CE, which means, as of today, this gadhegal is exactly 1,000 years old! This should have been the occasion for great celebration. But instead, we see only neglect, apathy and ignorance from all quarters! Wind, rain and sun have almost completely erased the inscription today due to our apathy.

Another at Diveagar issued by King Anantadeva records the donation of land and a house. It is datable to 1137 CE. This gadhegal, whose original provenance is not known, was rediscovered and reinstated by the efforts of the Centre for Extra Mural Studies (CEMS), Mumbai and India Studies Centre (INSTUCEN) Trust. Two more in a damaged state have also been found in the vicinity.

Interestingly, a gadhegal issued by King Aparaditya I, originally at the Jogeshwari caves, was taken to Cintra in Portugal and was published from there. It has 22 lines in Nagari script which record a donation of houses to important people in the royal court.

What are your suggestions for the conservation of gadhegals?

The inscriptions are in low relief and hence they get weathered and worn out fast. Intensive conservation efforts are needed to protect this heritage. A simple initial step could be the erection of a small shed over the stones and a careful photographic recording along with their impressions.

CEMS is currently working on three gadhegals at Diveagar and another one close by at Deokhol.

For conservation it is necessary to harness popular support by making the people aware of what these gadhegals are.

Possibly with the best of intentions, the villagers often wash and scrub them, and coat them with vermilion. This has to stop. They must be told not to move them and instead erect a shed around them for protection against the sun and rain. The historic gadhegal at Akshi has weathered so much that but for a faint trace of some letters, all of it is blank!

Private agencies and the local Government must come forward to create resources for the conservation and the government must provide generous support. They are today lying in isolated places, scattered all over the countryside. We must create local museums where these artefacts are displayed. We should create fibre glass replicas for sale to generate revenue.

The tradition of gadhegals continues right up to the Bahamani period. At Dabhol has been found a gadhegal that has inscription in Arabic and Marathi, but no graphic representation.

If the local people, local panchayats and the State Government join hands and also get private agencies involved, conservation can bring knowledge, pleasure as well as revenues.

(Featured image courtesy Dr Kurush Dalal. Image shows an Akshi Gadhegal dated 1012 AD by SG Tulpule and which according to him contain(ed)s the oldest Marathi inscription in Maharashtra.)