6th century Gold Coin Discovered in Southern India

The Times of India reports that a sixth-century gold coin measuring less than one-half inch in diameter was unearthed in the Agaram neighborhood of southern India’s city of Chennai.

One side of the coin bears a U-shaped symbol called a Naaman, a religious mark usually placed on the forehead, he explained. This side of the coin also bears an image that looks like the sun, with a figure of a lion below it, he added.

According to the leading Tamil weekly magazine, ‘Anantha Vikatan’, the gold coin found during the excavation seems to be 6th century AH coins.

In Keezhadi, the outskirts of Madurai and the border of Sivagangai district, now the 6th phase of excavation is going on, this was inaugurated by the state Chief Minister Edapadi Palanisami before lockdown on February 19, 2020. 

During the lockdown period, the excavation work was halted which has been now started again. 

Archeological activist Gemini Ramesh told the Tamil weekly that 6th Century Syrian Gold Coin was found under the earth at Elandhakkarai near Kalaiyar Koil, Sivagangai district of Tamil Nadu. 

The unearthing of the gold coin shows the advent of Islam very early in the Madurai area.

The Keeladi findings have led academics to describe the site as part of the Vaigai Valley Civilization. Pieces of evidence of civilization before 2300 years have been found here in Keezhadi a few years back. That is why the excavation has been going on since 2015.

Mohamed Yusuff, Madurai resident who is a lawyer by profession, told Times Now that Islam arrived in Madurai even before Malik Kafur’s invasion of Madurai in the 14th century.

Quoting History professor R Venkataraman,  Yusuff said even before the advent of Islam, Arabs maintained trade links with South India, especially for the pearls the Madurai Pandya Kingdom was famous for.

“Sufis, Muslim saints, started coming to Tamil Nadu by 900 AD. The entry of Islam to the region was peaceful as Sufis conceived God as love,” he said.

 According to Venkataraman, the short-lived Madurai Sultanate and Islamic influence did have their impact on the city, especially on warfare and town planning.

“Muslim rulers introduced arch construction they learned from the Romans. It changed the style of architecture here in a significant way.”

Yusuff further said that his home is situated at the riverbank of Vaigai and the excavation sites his not far away from his locality.

Meanwhile, the excavation work has been revived after the lockdown was lifted in the area. He hoped that many things related to Islam’s early presence would be uncovered during the excavation.

A 500-year-old temple submerged in the Indian state of Odisha’s Mahanadi river resurfaces.

An old temple was found in Mahanadi in Odisha, experts who lead a documentation project for heritage sites throughout the river valley.

Approximately 500 years old, the 60-foot temple was recently held during a workout in the framework of the project, according to Anil Dhir, project coordinator of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) in Odisha.

It was found in the middle of the river near Baideswar in Cuttack’s Padmavati region, he said on Sunday.

The temple dates back to the late 15th or early 16th century, considering the construction style of the Mastaka and the materials used for the construction, Dhir said, adding that INTACH would approach the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to take steps for relocating and restoring the temple.

We will soon write to the ASI requesting it to take steps to relocate the temple to a suitable site. They have the required technology to do it. The state government should also take up the matter with the ASI, he said.

Stating that INTACH has so far located as many as 65 ancient temples in the Mahanadi river during its documentation project, Dhir said many of the temples in the Hirakud reservoir too can be dismantled and reconstructed.

INTACH’s project assistant Deepak Kumar Nayak, who with the help of a local heritage enthusiast Rabindra Rana located the temple, said he was aware of its existence.

The temple was dedicated to Gopinath Dev, he said. The region used to be known as “Satapatana” in the early days. However, with the river changing its course due to catastrophic floodings, the entire village was submerged, Nayak said.

In the mid 19th century, the deities of the vulnerable temple were shifted and installed in a safer and higher place, which is presently the Gopinath Dev temple of Padmavati village, he said.

Dhir said INTACH Odisha had launched its project on the documentation of the heritage of the Mahanadi valley early last year.

A systemic survey of all the tangible and intangible heritage of the entire length of the Mahanadi, from the source to the sea, covering a distance of nearly 1,700 km, is in its final stage of completion, he said.

A multi-volume report of the nearly 800 monuments that have been documented will be released next year, he added.

Amiya Bhusan Tripathy, the state convener of INTACH, said this will be the first of its type study on any river in India and is the pilot project of the trust.

A comprehensive survey of the heritage, on either bank, has been undertaken in the nine districts through which the Mahanadi flows, he said.

Dhir, who had earlier led the Old Jagannath Sadak and the Prachi valley documentation projects, said the richness and diversity of the Mahanadi valley have not been studied properly to date.

He lamented that many of the ancient monuments have been destroyed, or are in a state of advanced decay.

Farmer finds pots filled with gold silver ornaments while tiling his land in India, telangana.

On Wednesday, farmers in the Sultanpur village of Vikarabad in Telangana district find two pots with gold and silver ornaments. A total of 25 gold and silver ornaments were found in the pots, according to the reports.

A Mohammad Siddiqui had bought the land two years ago. With the monsoon approaching, he had started tilling the land for farming.

While ploughing the field he had suddenly stumbled on the pots. He had reportedly informed the government authorities.

As per the report, most of the ornaments in the pot included large-size anklets.

The officials from the revenue department reached the spot and had taken control of the findings. A goldsmith was called to check the ornaments for their gold or silver content.

Mandal Revenue Officer, Vidyasagar Reddy was quoted by the New Indian Express as saying, “The place doesn’t have any history of finding such treasure. We will inform the archaeology department about it.”

Soon, news spread in the village about the artefacts and locals started descending on his home to take a look at them.

The pots contained almost 25 ornaments, including chains, rings, anklets and traditional utensils. Speaking to Express, Mandal Revenue Officer Vidyasagar Reddy said, “The village does not have any historical significance. We will inform the Archeology Department about the findings.”

Over 25 ornaments found 

The pots contained almost 25 ornaments, including chains, rings, anklets and traditional utensils.

Police and revenue officials reached the spot to inspect the treasure. A goldsmith was asked to verify if they were actually made of gold and silver

Medieval Sugarcane crusher Found in Northern India

The archaeology department of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has excavated a “stone sugarcane crusher” of the late medieval period.

AGRA, INDIA—The Times of India reports that a stone sugar mill has been unearthed on farmland in northern India.

Manvendra Kumar Pundhir of Aligarh Muslim University said medieval sugar mills were comprised of a mortar and pestle to crush sugarcane and extract sugarcane juice.

The recovered piece of this mill measures about 12 feet long and about eight and one-half feet in diameter. Geared sugar rolling mills came into use in the seventeenth century.

According to Prof Manvendra Kumar Pundhir of AMU’s history department, the huge stone object was unearthed during the excavation of agricultural land in Dhanipur village in the district.

“The stone object appeared to be a stone sugar mill or a sugarcane crusher. The length of the discovered object is approx. 3.75 meters and its diameter is 2.6 meters.

During the medieval period, sugarcane crushers were made of two parts – mortar and pestle.  Indians knew the art of extracting sugarcane juice to make jaggery and sugar since ancient times,” he explained.

He said that the sugar industry progressed greatly in medieval India.

Irfan Habib, professor emeritus, AMU, has written in his Economic History of Medieval India (1200 A.D.-1500 A.D.),  that “Sugar mills appeared in India shortly before the Mughal era.

Evidence for the use of a drawbar for sugar-milling appears at Delhi in 1540, but may also date back earlier, and was mainly used in the northern Indian sub-continent.

Geared sugar rolling mills first appeared in Mughal India, using the principle of rollers as well as worm gearing, by the 17th century.”

Abul Fazl in his Ain-e-Akbari describes various techniques used in Mughal-era karkhanas (workshops).

One of them was the gear mechanism, which enabled the conversion of circular motion in vertical and was used in water-lifting devices, the sugarcane industry, and the oil pressing industry. IANS

Mount Kailash in Tibet is actually an ancient manmade pyramid that is surrounded by smaller pyramids and is linked to pyramids in Giza and Teotihuacan.

Words do no justice to the untouched beauty of this far corner of the earth. A vastly mysterious and sacred place. Embraced and protected by miles of immovable mountains.

Monasteries built many hundreds sometimes thousands of years ago, stand in defiance of the elements, precariously placed among the clouds.

Many of these very ancient structures are said to have been built on the remnants of once even grander and very ancient buildings, structures many religions attribute to the gods. Among the seemingly endless mountain ranges, lay one mountain which is different, one which is special.

It is believed by most of Tibet, and even further afield, that the god Shiva lay buried within this sacred mountain. According to ancient beliefs, this enigmatic Tibetan mountain represents the axis of the world.

The stairway to heaven.

In many eastern countries, Mount Kailash is considered the holiest place on Earth. Some ancient sources even suggesting it is where one could find the mysterious city of the gods.

It is said, all who attempt to scale its sacred faces of Kailash, will either be met with failure and death.

It is indeed regarded within the climbing world as unascendable, a route has never been located and probably never will, few have been brave enough to even go near this place in the past century.

There may be some profound reasoning behind these ancient clusters of human beings, regarding this particular mountain over all others as sacred, and as the resting place of a god. There may however be ulterior motives at play when it comes to the discouragement of climbers in attempting the peak.

A team of Russian scientists, intrigued by the history, and a possible suppression of its true nature, have suggested after covert explorations, that the top of Mount Kailash is not a natural formation, it is actually the remnants of a giant man-made pyramid of great antiquity,

Just how old this pyramid could be, currently remains unclear.
What also remains unclear, as if the entire mountain is a man-made pyramid?

Disguised by the erosion of many millennia?

The Research teamed Claimed, quote, The stratum is horizontal with the layers of stone slightly varying in colour. The dividing lines show up clear and distinct, which gives the entire mountain the facade of having been built by giant hands, of huge blocks of reddish stone,”

A mysterious claim put forward in regards to the mountain concerns rapid aging when in the area. After spending 12 hours in the region, the length of nails and hair was equal to two weeks of normal growth in some cases.

Several mystics have said that the mountain has a secret entrance within it leading to the legendary kingdom of Shambala. Legend also states that when the ice on its peak finally melts, it will reveal, “THE EYE”.

Prof. Ernst Muldashev Ph.D., a doctor, and explorer, who travelled Tibet extensively, said later in his life: quote, “There are two underground countries, the Shambhala and Agartha, which are each part of the gene pool of humanity and civilization.

Information provided by the Thule Society shows there is a higher civilization, coming from the Himalayas and divided into two branches, the Shambhala and Agartha. The former being the center of power, protected by unknown forces and energy.

An understanding of what sort of pyramid Kailash could be, or indeed just how special it is, may take several years to establish.
I will, of course, keep you posted.

A Farmer in India stumble upon something, that turns out to be a 5,000-year-old chariot

Farmers discovered fragments of pottery beside an ancient human skeleton in the village of Sinauli in Uttar Pradesh, India. The farmers didn’t know that it was an ancient burial ground dating back to the late Harappan period, about 5000 years ago. The Archeological Survey of India was quick to take up the sites for examination.

The excavations yielded findings that included 126 skeletons, bead necklaces, copper spearheads, gold ornaments, and a few anthropomorphic figures which were typical of Harappan settlements.

And since then Sinauli has been an intriguing site, as the findings can connect the dots and solve, at least, one possible shroud of the mystery of the past.

ASI has unearthed eight burial sites, the remains of two chariots and several artifacts, including three coffins, antenna swords, daggers, combs, and ornaments, among others.

Officials told The Times of India that the three chariots found in burial pits indicate the possibility of “royal burials” while other findings confirm the population of a warrior class here.

SK Manjul, Co-Director of Excavations and ASI’s Institute of Archaeology, Delhi told the publication, “The discovery of a chariot puts us on a par with other ancient civilizations, like Mesopotamia, Greece, etc. where chariots were extensively used. It seems a warrior class thrived in this region in the past.”

The findings of the Copper-Bronze age dating back to 2000-1800 BC, have opened up further research opportunities into the area’s history and culture.

The chariots and the coffins particularly intriguing as there have never been findings that dated this long ago. Further, the discovered coffins were found to be decorated with copper motifs, which has never been seen before.

“For the first time in the entire subcontinent, we have found this kind of a coffin. The cover is highly decorated with eight anthropomorphic figures. The sides of the coffins are also decorated with floral motifs,” Manjul said.

Combined with this, the swords, daggers, shields, and helmet seem to suggest the existence of a warrior class with expertise in sophisticated craftsmanship.

While it is difficult to ascertain the new findings unlike the 2005 ones, Manjul asserted that the chariots and coffins did not belong to the Harappan civilization.

He said the similarities could have been an outcome of the migration of the Harappans to the Yamuna and the upper planes during the late mature Harappan era.

In conclusion, Manjul told The Print, “The new discoveries, especially those of the chariots are a landmark moment since no such physical evidence has been found at a contemporary Harappan site.”

Cannabis preserved India’s ancient Ellora caves from decay for 1,500 years

From the sixth century AD to the 11th, in the north-west city of Aurangabad, in Maharashtra, the Rashtrakut dynasty and the Yadavs built a group of 34 Caves.

Each of these caves, made of stone, was dedicated to a religion of three, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.

Ellora has over the years been considered a legacy that reflects Indian rock cut architecture. However recent studies by Indian archaeologists have revealed a particularly interesting tradition of the Buddhist monks who prayed in these caves.

They used cannabis mixed in with the plaster that covers the shrines painted walls and ceilings, along with some clay and lime, to preserve the structure to the best of their capabilities. And it turns out that the cannabis present in the earthen mix seems to have played a key role in preventing the UNESCO World Heritage site from decaying over the 1,500 years of its existence. You can’t help but wonder whether these marijuana plants were used for medicinal purposes too all those years ago. We are lucky to have it supplied online today! In fact, it is amazing to see how far cannabis has come over the years, and how far back it goes. It shows what type of early ‘businesses’ did, whereas now they use companies like CannaSeeds for their supply so they can either grow it personally or for legal distribution.

According to Manager Rajdeo Singh, an archaeological chemist of the Archaeological Survey of India’s science branch (western region), and Milind M. Sardesai, who teaches botany at Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, the mixture prevented the plaster from degrading for over 1,500 years.

“The caves are breathtaking examples of rock-cut architecture that stands testimony to the imagination and artistry of its creators,” Singh and Sardesai wrote in the journal Current Science.

For the purpose of the study, they analyzed the clay plaster of the Buddhist cave 12 using techniques such as Fourier transform, infrared spectroscopy and stereo-microscopic studies.

They were able to isolate specimens of cannabis from the clay plaster and they were able to further conclude that it was the cannabis Sativa that had helped in preventing insects at Ellora. “

The cannabis fiber appears to have better quality and durability than other fibers. Moreover, the cannabis’ gum and sticky properties might have helped clay and lime to form a firm binder,” Sardesai said.

According to the researchers, the concrete-like substance that is called hempcrete would have provided the Buddhist monks with a healthy, comfortable and aesthetically pleasing living environment.

“As the hemp plaster has the ability to store heat, is fire-resistant and absorbs about 90 percent of airborne sound, a peaceful living environment for the monks has been created at Ellora Caves,” they added.

Several studies have estimated that hempcrete can last 600–800 years, which explains why the life span of these caves doubled despite damaging environmental factors, such as a growing humidity inside the caves during rainy seasons.”Ellora has proved that only 10 percent of cannabis mixed with clay or lime in the plaster could last for over 1,500 years,” said Singh.

As Mr. Sardesai has observed, “In India cannabis has gained a bad name because of its narcotic properties.” However, the artists of the sixth century were able to gauge their properties. Even to this day, scientists are still discovering new uses for cannabis. Due to its legalization in certain US states and investments in cannabis production facility design, this plant is beginning to once again realize its full potential.

The the artists of the sixth century realized that it had the ability to regulate humidity and that it would have key roles in pest resistance, fire-retardant, non-toxicity, high vapour permeability, along with hygroscopic properties- all of which have kept Ellora intact over the years. In the neighbouring Ajanta, the artists did not use hemp, which explains why rampant insect activity has damaged at least 25 percent of the paintings here.

Considering that in India, the cultivation, transport, possession, and consumption of marijuana is banned under Indian law (though things seem to be changing further up North in Uttarakhand) suffice to say that in modern-day India, it might be a long while before we decide to use cannabis for construction purposes.

Gold Coin Cache Discovered during renovation work at Jambukeswarar Temple in India

In Thiruvanaikovil, Tamil Nadu, the Jambukeswarar temple struck gold when 505 gold coins in the sealed vessel were discovered during digging.

The coins, according to officials, were in a sealed jar, which the workers found in the Akhilandeshwari shrine.

When the officials of the temple opened, 505 gold coins were found. To order to grasp their era and history, the coins will still be studied by the archeologists. The pot has been located almost 7 feet tall, according to sources.

A numismatist from the city who possesses two similar coins said those found in the temple were minted by the East India Company in the late 16th century.

On Wednesday, during clean-up work at the Arulmigu Akilandeswari Samedha Jambukeswarar temple, a closed vessel was found on an empty plot near Thayar Sanathi.

It contained 505 ancient gold coins weighing 1.716 kg. There were 504 similar coins weighing more than 3 gm and a large one weighing over 10 gm.

Following the discovery, all the coins have been kept in the government treasury in the district.

A Manoaharan, numismatist and former Railways employee from Tiruchy, told TNIE the coins date back to 1691 and minted by the East India Company.

He said, “The coin was called Pagoda’ (‘Varagan’ in Tamil). In the period, East India Company minted two types of coins, namely the single-deity Pagoda (Oru Swamy Pagoda) and triple-deity Pagoda (Moonu Swamy Pagoda). Though other coins were there for use, the Pagoda coins were specially minted for gifting purposes.”  

Single-deity Pagoda would have Tirupati Balaji on one side and granules (rough surface) on the flip side. Triple-deity Pagoda would have Tirupati Balaji along with  Sridevi and Bhoodevi and granules on the other side.

He added the coins found in Jambukeswarar temple must have been hidden by people back in the 16th century.  He said the single 10-gm coin could be from the Arcot Nawab.

He said these coins are extremely rare and their value would be five times the current gold price for each coin.

He requested the government to preserve the coins by keeping them in a museum considering their history.