Horses in Megaliths

[N. Ganesan]

When I get a bibliography from
Ms. Praveena Gullapalli/Dr. Greg Possehl, I will post that mail
too. They informed that there are horse remains and horse trappings in
Indian megaliths. References worth looking into:

a) Lawrence S. Leshnik, Some early Indian horse-bits and other
bridle equipment, Americal J. Arch., 75, 1, 141-150, 1971

b) K. R. Alur, Animal remains: B. skeletal remains (verterbrata)
(in) M. S. Nagaraja Rao, Protohistoric cultures of the Tungabhadra valley.
1971, Dharvar

c) P. K. Thomas, Horse remains from Raipur
(in) G. B. Deglurkar and Gouri P. Lad,
Megalithic Raipur (1985-1990), Poona: Deccan college
p. 133-136, 1992

d) P. C. Pant, The megaliths of Jangal mahaland the Vedic tradition,
(in) V. N. Misra, P. Bellwood,
Recent advances in Indo-Pacific prehistory, Delhi, 1985

e) A. Parpola, Arguments for an Aryan origin of South Indian
megaliths.
Madras: Govt. of Tamil Nadu, 1973

f) K. P.Rao, Interpreting animal remains in Megalithic graves.
(in) A. M. Shastri, D. Handa and C. S. Gupta.
Visvambra: Probings in Orientology, Delhi, 1995

g) V. V. Rao, Animal remains from Paunar
(in) S. B. Deo, M. K. Dhavalikar,
Paunar excavation (1967), Univ. of Nagpur, 1968

h) N. Wyatt, Asvamedha and Purusamedha in ancient India,
Religion, 1989, v. 19, 1, p. 1-11.

Regards,
N. Ganesan


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Date:         Thu, 2 Apr 1998 08:41:19 -0600
From:         "N. Ganesan" <GANESANS at CL.UH.EDU>
Subject:      Horses in Megaliths

There are about 10 references I have about the HORSES in
megalithic burials. Thanks to Prof. Y. V. Vassilkov's comment
to look for them. This is only a skimming of titles. There are many reports
titled as "Excavation: Place X"; "Megalithic Complex: Place X (Year Y)";
etc., which can be searched inside.

Prof. Gregory Possehl, Univ. of Pennsylvania, informed me
that there are horses and horse trappings in megalithic burials
and Ms. Praveena Gullapalli is working with him on this topic.
Prof. Possehl said they will send a bibliography.

I will post what I have next week. I also contacted Prof. K. Rajan,
Dept. of Archaeology, Tamil univ., Thanjavur. He got his Ph.D from
Dr. S. R. Rao. Dr. K. Rajan has worked extensively for the last 15 years
on Tamil Nadu megaliths. See K. Rajan, Archaeology of Tamil Nadu
(Kongu country), Noida: Books India 1994 . There are 72 pages full
of pictures from megaliths. When I get replies from K. Rajan, R. Nagaswamy,
or F. C. Southworth, I will post.

The 'horse-centered' Aryan texts, classical Tamil sangam texts,
sculptures from historical period (eg., Sanchi), the huge terracota horses
that potters make (prehistoric?) show horses increase manyfold
compared to IVC.

Further, Indian megalithic horse culture may be analogous to Greek
situation of texts vs. archaeology like what Dr. Thillaud says.

Regards,
N. Ganesan