{"id":29624,"date":"2017-01-15T20:34:58","date_gmt":"2017-01-15T15:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org\/?p=29624"},"modified":"2017-01-15T20:34:58","modified_gmt":"2017-01-15T15:04:58","slug":"mystery-middle-india-ancient-80-km-wall-no-one-knew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=29624","title":{"rendered":"A mystery in middle India: An ancient 80-km wall no one knew about"},"content":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s a whodunit, a jigsaw puzzle and a history lesson all in one. In the heart of Madhya Pradesh, at the very centre of India, stands a massive stone wall that\u2019s odd, as walls go. It runs straight in parts, zig-zags wildly in others, stops or branches off where you least expect. Some sections tower at 15 feet; others are a just a low stretch of rubble .
\nHistory buffs are calling it the Great Wall of India, and if it does run for 80 kilometres as they suspect (many sections <\/b>still need to be excavated), it may well be India\u2019s longest fortification and, worldwide, second only to China\u2019s. Locals however refer to it simply as \u2018diwaal\u2019, a structure that\u2019s been at the back of their villages, and the back of their minds, for as long as anyone can remember.
\nThe barrier stands halfway between Bhopal and Jabalpur, stretching from the tiny township of Gorakhpur-Deori to Chokigarh in Chainpur Bardi in the Raisen district. It cuts through Vindhya valleys, teak forests, langur domains and wheat fields. At one point, it is interrupted by a 20-year-old dam.<\/p>\n
\n

The wall zig-zags across the Vindhya mountains just north of the Bhopal Jabalpur Road in Raisen district, and alongside, a man-made pond has been discovered. (Pratik Chorge, Ashwin Patil\/HT Photo)<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Everywhere it goes, surprises follow. Discovered thus far are ruins of long-abandoned dwellings, debris from magnificent temples, fragments of statues, step wells, a pond with sandstone banks, compounds, stairs and strange snake insignias. Experts say we\u2019ve only scratched the surface of its secrets.<\/p>\n

HISTORY\u2019S MYSTERY<\/b><\/h1>\n
\n

Pharmacist Rajiv Choubey, archaeologist Narayan Vyas and Raisen history buff Vinod Tiwari have been conducting informal surveys of the wall and the dilapidated structures within it. (Pratik Chorge\/HT PHOTO)<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Raisen pharmacist, Rajeev Chaubey, 57, has been fascinated by the wall ever since he heard about it in the 1980s. He recalls riding triple-seat on a motorbike for hours to reach the ruins, packing jam sandwiches so he and his friends could spend the day exploring.
\nThen, four years ago, a hermit walked into his chemist store. \u201cHe was from Gorakhpur,\u201d Chaubey says. \u201cI mentioned the wall and he said that one end ran by his dwelling at the jungle\u2019s edge. He was keen to study it too.\u201d
\nThe 58-year-old <\/b>hermit Sukhdev Maharaj hosted enthusiasts on overnight trips, allowing them to track the wall deeper into the forest. He also guided them, barefoot, to temple relics hidden under blankets of teak leaves.
\n\u201cNo seals or inscriptions have been found, so we can\u2019t link the wall to a king or a period,\u201d admits Narayan Vyas, who made several surveys of the wall after he retired from the Archaeological Survey of India a decade ago.<\/p>\n

\n

Look closely, the two snakes are not knotted up but artfully entwined, indicating that the artist took care over the design. The icon stands at one end of the wall, near Gorakhpur. (Pratik Chorge\/HT PHOTO)<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The structure itself offers a few clues. It\u2019s made from large, evenly sized, local stones that interlock like Lego bricks, without mortar, indicating some kind of planning. At the points where steps have been found, they\u2019ve been built, without exception, on the same side of the wall, indicating an \u2018inside\u2019 zone. Well-preserved sections show a flat top wide enough to walk on, lookout points, drainage and niches to hide men or weapons .
\n\u201cIt seems like a military rampart,\u201d says Raghavendra Khare, 45, a Gorakhpur astrologer who joined Vyas on a survey last year. \u201cWhat could they have been trying to keep out in a forest in the middle of nowhere?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

PIECES OF THE PUZZLE<\/b><\/h1>\n

Answers come easier when you consider that perhaps this wasn\u2019t always a forest. Vyas estimates that the temple relics and the wall, date to the 10th or 11th century, when warrior clans ruled the heart of India.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cThis could have been the border of the Parmar kingdom,\u201d Vyas says, referring to the Rajputs that ruled west-central India between the 9th and 13th centuries. The wall would likely have marked their territory against the Kalachuris, a clan that established a capital close to today\u2019s Jabalpur, 150 km away. \u201cThey fought a lot, and the wall was probably a Parmar effort to keep them out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

In most Indian temples, elephant icons have been used at the base, their strength metaphorically holding up the stones. Could that have been the case with the temples inside Raisen\u2019s wall too? (Pratik Chorge\/HT PHOTO)<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

What they kept in was a distinctive style of architecture \u2013 a clue to its origins. While the fortification\u2019s interlocked technique matches the Parmar-era Bhojeswar temple near Bhopal, the relics strewn about inside the forest tell rich tales. \u201cParmar kings followed the bhumija pattern for their temple spires,\u201d Vyas says. \u201cThey were tapered, with rows of smaller spires, which show up among these ruins.\u201d The layout, a platform for a central structure and small shrines in the corners, mirrors the plan of Omkareshwar, a Parmar temple in the south of the state.
\n\u201cAll we need is evidence to confirm what we suspect \u2013 that we\u2019ve found the remnants of a 1,000-year-old realm,\u201d Vyas says.<\/p>\n

ON THE FENCE<\/b><\/h1>\n

Some already disagree. Rahman Ali, a historian who has written a book on the Parmar temples of MP, visited the sites in 1975 and admits he didn\u2019t study them closely. \u201cBut they don\u2019t seem to be Parmar,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is a tendency to ascribe everything old from this region to the Parmars, but the dynasty would have been crumbling in the 12th century, not building massive walls.\u201d
\nThe standardised stone barricades may be much younger, \u201cperhaps even 17th-century British-made,\u201d Ali says. \u201cBut these areas weren\u2019t important to the Raj. Why would they <\/b>build a long wall and abandon it?\u201d
\nThe questions resonate along the trail of stones. There\u2019s reason to believe the wall, now in bits and pieces, was never finished in the first place. Chaubey notes that it displays various stages of completion, including spots where stones were heaped, but never assembled.<\/p>\n

\n

Some bits and pieces of the relics strewn within the wall have been relocated so they can be studied better, and perhaps saved from theft too. (Pratik Chorge\/HT PHOTO)<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Those looking to solve the puzzle face another challenge \u2013 several relics and stones have been stolen. Jamnabai Khare, who\u2019s lived in Gorakhpur for 60 of her 80 years, recalls seeing a Sinhavahini, a goddess astride a lion, which is now missing. Chaubey has a photograph of an intact statue of Kal Bhairav, an incarnation of Shiva (others are missing heads or limbs). \u201cThe image is all that remains \u2013 the idol was stolen last year.\u201d
\nThe ASI has no plans to survey the area and chose not to contribute to this story. Official studies, when they begin, may be hampered as much of the wall is on forest land.
\nFor now, the mystery remains. Vyas says that wall has already revealed the preoccupations and skills of the people who built it. Raghavendra Khare sees it as a point of pride for locals.Raisen\u2019s former collector, Lokesh Jatav, who visited the wall at the end of his term late last year, says the stone riddle is irresistible. \u201cIf developed, it could be a great stopover for tourists visiting nearby UNESCO sites like the prehistoric art at Bhimbetka and the Buddhist stupa at <\/b>Sanchi.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a whodunit, a jigsaw puzzle and a history lesson all in one. In the heart of Madhya Pradesh, at the very centre of India, stands a massive stone wall that\u2019s odd, as walls go. It runs straight in parts, zig-zags wildly in others, stops or branches off where you least expect. Some sections tower […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[1184],"tags":[1968,1176,1969,1970,1971],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29624"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29624\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}