Early Historic Routes and Archaeological Sites in Ballia District, Uttar Pradesh

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Archaeology between Ballia and Robertsganj
in Uttar Pradesh; Notes on Some Early Historic
Routes of the Area
Dilip K. Chakrabarti & R.N. Singh
Published online: 09 Aug 2010.
To cite this article: Dilip K. Chakrabarti & R.N. Singh (1998) Archaeology between Ballia and Robertsganj
in Uttar Pradesh; Notes on Some Early Historic Routes of the Area, South Asian Studies, 14:1, 103-118, DOI:
10.1080/02666030.1998.9628553
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South Asian Studies 14 1998
Archaeology between Ballia and Robertsganj in Uttar
Pradesh; Notes on Some Early Historic Routes of the Area
DILIP K. CHAKRABARTI AND R.N. SINGH
Introduction
This tract of Uttar Pradesh lies mainly along the
northern bank of the Ganga, and also includes the
hilly tract beyond Mirzapur up to the borders of
Surguja in Madhya Pradesh to the south. Basically
it covers most of the area of the ancient kingdom
of Kasi and its Vindhyan periphery. Modern
Banaras is the focal centre of the area, with the old
British Indian districts of Ghazipur, Azamgarh and
Ballia to the north and east and with a vast tract of
the Vindhyan uplands and plateaus extending up
to the borders of Rewa and Surguja in Madhya
Pradesh in the west and south (see Map 1). In its
northeastern segment it is tied to the archaeology
of the region beyond the Ghagra which we covered
last year (Chakrabarti et al., 1997), and in the west
it is the springboard of journeys across the
Vindhyas to the Surguja and the Rewa sections of
Madhya Pradesh. In addition to the disposition of
sites, the early historic routes which we have
traced on the ground in this region are the follow-
ing: (1) the route from Pataliputra to Lumbini; (2)
the route from Banaras to Sasaram; (3) the route
from Banaras/Mirzapur to the foot of the
Vindhyan scarp, which constitutes a section of the
route from the Ganga valley to the Deccan; (4) the
route from Banaras to Surguja through
Robertsganj in the modern district of Sonbhadra;
and finally (5) the alignment of a route which
could come from the Deccan through Surguja and
move straight to Ayodhya or ancient Saketa and
beyond to Sravasti, Lumbini and Kapilavastu (see
Maps 2 and 3).
The Ballia sector
7. Barhmain or Barmayan: about 6 km to the north
of Ballia, this place was visited by H.B.W.
Garrick, in 1881-82, who reported the traces of a
Buddhist monastery with cells at the place of the
modern village temple of Kalpa Mai which has
apparently been constructed over its ruins
(Garrick, 1885, pp. 49-59, plates XII-XIV). This
mound is still c. 3 m high and overlooks an off-
shoot of Suraha Tal, the most famous watery
depression or tal of the Ballia district. The village
itself is still full of brickbats, and one notices a
mound (2 m high) of about 3 acres. This seems to
date from the early centuries A.D. with a possible
Black-and-Red Ware (BRW) antecedent.
2. Bharatpura: c. 3 m high mound of about 5
acres—basically an earthen mound without appar-
ent traces of brickbats—early historic and later. In
fact, Garrick (1885, p. 56) refers to this as "a large
kacha dih, only of clay".
3. Loriya-ka-Tila/Bhiradih: this is roughly to the
northwest of Barhmain and mentioned as Myra
Dih by Garrick (1885, p. 56) and Mira Dih by A.
Fuhrer (1891, p. 192). At the edge of a watery
depression, this covers c. 20 acres strewn with
BRW and Gupta period bricks.
4. Basantpur: this is about 8 km north of Ballia on
the bank of a watery depression and although it
measures less than an acre now, this suggests an
extensive former spread, and one notices the pres-
ence of BRW, Black Slipped Ware (BSW) and
brickbats.
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104 Dilip K. Chakrabarti and R.N. Singh
Map 1. Showing sites mentioned in the text. Site numbers have been given serially in the text.
Key to numbers
1. Barhmain
2. Bharatpura
3. Loriya-ka-tila
4. Basantpur
5. Karnai
6. Janwan
7. Bhunadih
8. Sikandarpur
9. Dharahara
10. Zirabasti
11. Bansdih Road
12. Gharauli
13. Chhatha
14. Panchmukhi
Temple
15. Ser
16. Sahodih
17. Bakwa
18. Bansdih
19. Deorhi
20. Majhol
21. Sidhauli
22. Bijalipur
23. Deokali
24. Ekail
25. Nichuadih
26. Bidahara
27. Forsatar
28. Bhimpura
29. Atrauli
30. Kandasar
31. Pakka Kot
32. Tika Deori
33. Lakhnesar Dih
34. Waina
35. Khairadih
36. Deolas
37. Nahush-ka-tila
38. Madhuban
39. Gopalpur
40. Chiraiakot
41. Raja-Bhar-
ka- kotwa
42. Kauriya
43. Bhairosthan
44. Masaon Dih
45. Johuraganj
46. Chandravati
47. Bhitari
48. Nandganj area
49. Latiya
50. Zamania
51. Ghauspur
52. Phirozpur
53-54. Akhta-
Tilmanpur-
Rajghat-Kamauli
55. Bairant
56. Ranipur
57. Aranpur
58. Dhanapur
59. Hingutar
60. Prahladpur
61. Bhuili
62. Ahraura
63. Mangraur
64. Robertsganj-
Panchmukhi hill
65. Nal-ka-tila
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Archaeology between Ballia and Robertsganj in Uttar Pradesh 105
Map 2. The general locations of ancient Benares (Rajghat area) and Sarnath areas with the sites of Akhta and Tilmanpur
(adapted from Survey of India toposheet 63/0/3; scale 1 inch to 1 mile).
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Map 3. The general alignment of some trade-routes mentioned in the text.
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5. Karnai: about 8 km northwest of Ballia on the
Ballia-Sikandarpur road, this is a small but high
mound (c. 6 m high) with a modern temple (local-
ly called Brahmasthan). The whole complex over-
looks a watery depression and may date from the
early centuries A.D.
6. Janwan: about 20 km north-northwest of Ballia
on the Ballia-Sikandarpur road, this 2 m high com-
pact mound which is full of brickbats covers about
15-20 acres. The mound which lies on the bank of
the Bahera Nala is cut by the Ballia-Sikandarpur
road and gives the general impression of being a
Buddhist monastery site of the post-Gupta period.
7. Bhunadih: this lies about 2 km to the northeast
of Janwan and lies on the right bank of the Bahera
Nala. This is a low, flat area of about 2 acres,
yielding BRW, BSW and corded ware. This site
has recently been excavated by P. Singh and his
group from Banaras Hindu University (personal
information from R.N. Singh).
8. Sikandarpur: about 28 km northwest of Ballia,
this low but extensive mound looks basically
earthen but shows some brickbats as well. It dates
from the mediaeval period (c. 15th century A.D.
and later, according to Fuhrer, 1891, p. 194) but
may be earlier.
9. Dharahara: about 7 km north of Ballia on the
Ballia-Sikandarpur road, this 2 m high mound has
a modern school on its top and covers c. 3 acres of
brickbats, BRW, etc.
10. Zirabasti: about 6 km from Ballia on the
Ballia-Sikandarpur road, this mound is much
destroyed, but a roughly circular, 3 m high portion
survives and has on it brick constructions related
to a modern rifle shooting range. This seems to
represent a stupa with traces of a settlement in the
vicinity. Fuhrer (1891, p. 195) describes it as a
large mound.
11. Bansdih Road: this is near the railway station
of the same name and shows a scatter of sherds
including BRW in the fields.
12. Gharauli: not far from Ballia, this mound cov-
ers at present only an acre of occupation dating
from the early centuries A.D.
13. Chhatha: near Gharauli, this covers about 2
acres and may date from the early centuries A.D.
Fuhrer (1891, p. 192) found an umbrella-like
ruined stupa here.
14. Panchmukhi Temple: this is near Reoti railway
station. The railway line has cut across this exten-
sive (c. 20-25 acres) mound of the early centuries
A.D. A 3 m high section is exposed with the mod-
ern Pachmukhi temple on top.
15. Ser/Barki Seria: not far from Reoti, this is a
7/8 m high mound of c. 3 acres and dates from the
early centuries A.D.
16. Sahodih: 10 km towards Bansdih from Ballia,
the entire mound has been covered by modern
remains but may date from the early centuries
A.D.
17. Bakwa: northwest of Sahodih, this circular, 4-
5 m high mound may represent a stupa but one
also notes a small habitational section yielding
BRW.
18. Bansdih: there is a small dilapidated mound
full of brickbats and early centuries A.D. pottery
near the old bazaar of this small town.
19. Deorhi: this mound near Bansdih is located
near Puni Taly an offshoot of Dah Tal. BRW and
bricks of the early centuries A.D. are seen. Fuhrer
(1891, p. 191) noticed both Bansdih and Deorhi.
He found Bansdih "clustered round high artificial
mounds."
20. Majhol: near Deorhi this 2 m high mound of c.
5 acres dates from the early centuries A.D.
21. Sidhauli/Kaithauli: there is a spread of early
centuries A.D. pottery on the bank of Suraha Tal
or one of its smaller sections.
22. Bijalipur: six km west of Maniar on the
Maniar-Sikandarpur road, this is a mound dating
from the early centuries A.D. and later and covers
about 12-15 acres at a distance of 1 km to the west
of the Ghaghra.
23. Deokali: on the Ballia-Belthara road and about
12 km west of Sikandarpur, this mound of the
early centuries A.D. and later is near a tal and has
an image of Durga on a lion, and another of Surya
in two small modern temples on its top.
24. Ekail: about 11 km west of Sikandarpur on the
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Sikandarpur-Nagara road, this is a 7 m high
mound yielding NBP, BSW and later wares over a
ground of c. 2 acres.
25. Nichuadih: this dates from the early centuries
A.D. and later and is a structural mound of c. 15-
20 acres on the bank of a tal, c. 5.5 km north of
Nagara.
26. Bidahara: this is a structural mound (c. 2 m
high, c. 2 acres) of the post-Gupta period, with a
modern Hanuman mandir on top.
27. Forsatar: about 3 km south of the Belthara
Road, this is a mound (c. 2 m high, c. 3 acres) of
the post-Gupta period.
28. Bhimpura: 14 km west of Nagara, this mound
(c. 5 m high, c. 2 acres) may date from the early
centuries A.D. and later, but interestingly, no
brickbats are visible in the exposed sections.
29. Atrauli: about 8 km northeast of Ratanpur
Railway Station, this is a mound (c. 5 m high, not
more than 1 acre) of the post-Gupta period and
may represent a temple or stupa site.
30. Kandasar: about 2.5 km south of Barawa on
Pandaha-Rajbaha road and about 1 km north of
Bahera Nala, this mound is completely covered by
a modern settlement.
31. Pakka Kot: this large (c. 30 acres), fortified
NBP-yielding site lies between the Chhoti Saryu
and the Buddhi Nala which joins the former a lit-
tle downstream. The fortified area is rectangular in
shape, with the eastern and western arms being
about double the length of the northern and south-
ern arms. The modern village of Pakka Kot lies
within the fortified area. The mud rampart clearly
shows a brick wall on top. The present height of
the ramparts is 6-8 m but the height of the towers
which lie at the four corners and at the centre of
the eastern arm is 8-10 m. The gaps of four gate-
ways, one on each side, are clearly visible. Further,
a small BRW settlement is supposed to exist on the
Buddhi Nala in the area to the east of Pakka Kot,
but this settlement could not be visited due to
waterlogging. Fuhrer (1891, p. 192) noticed the
site but did not provide any details.
32. Tika Deori: this is about 9 km to the south of
Rasra and on the northern bank of the Chhoti
Saryu, at a river crossing. The occupational
remains (BRW, BSW, NBP and later) are inter-
mittently spread for about 1 km along the river
bank.
33. Lakhnesar Dih: roughly 8 km to the southwest
of Rasra and on the northern bank of the Chhoti
Saryu, the site (8 m high, 15 acres in extent) is near
Tirahipur Ghat or river crossing (a bridge has now
been constructed at this crossing) and overlooks a
broad sweep of the Chhoti Saryu plain. The mound
has yielded, among other pottery types, BRW and
NBP. Fuhrer (1891, p. 193) refers to its "immense
piles of debris in which pieces of sculpture have
occasionally been found".
34. Waina: about 8 km to the west of Ballia on
Ballia-Mau road, this mound which has been
recently excavated by P. Singh and his group is
about 8 m high and may measure more than 15
acres. It has yielded a sequence from the Corded
Ware phase of the area to the NBP and later (P.
Singh and A.K. Singh, 1995-96).
35. Khairadih: the mound excavated by Banaras
Hindu University lies on the southern bank of the
Ghaghra, at a river crossing. The present extent of
the mound is 30-40 acres and near the river side it
is about 20 m high, with a modern Math on top.
The mound which has yielded a sequence begin-
ning with BRW has been partly cut by the river,
and brickwalls are clearly visible in the gullies.
A.C.L. Carlleyle's description of the place
(Carlleyle, 1885, p. 107) mentions it as a very
ancient fortified city, measuring 1600 ft N-S and
1500 ft E-W.
The Azamgarh sector
36. Deolas/Deokali: to the east of Azamgarh and
between Muhammadabad and Ghosi, the mound
which presently covers about 5 acres overlooks a
watery depression or tal. This yields BRW and
later sherds and is certainly structural in its upper
levels. A part of this mound is occupied by a
school.
37. Nahush-ka-tila: this mound lies at the back of
the modern Ghosi bazaar and shows a fortified
area (c. 500 m E-W by c. 700 m N-S). The ram-
part, which is basically made of mud but has a
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brick wall on top still rises c. 6 m from the level of
the fields and yields BRW and NBP from its core.
The towers are visible at the corners, and one
could clearly see those at the southwest and north-
west corners. Apparently there was one entrance
on each of the four sides. Fuhrer (1891, p. 188)
refers to the discovery of a c. 12th-13th century
A.D. inscription at Ghosi, but curiously ignores
the mound of this fortified early historic city.
38. Madhuban: between Ghosi and Azamgarh, the
Madhuban Police Station is built on a small struc-
tural mound which seems to date from the post-
Gupta period. An inscription of the 7th century
A.D. has, in fact, been found at this site (Fuhrer,
1891, p. 189).
39. Gopalpur: this mound is cut by the road from
Azamgarh to Muhammadabad via Chiraiakot. At
present this covers c. 3 acres, and is c. 2 m high,
showing structural debris of c. early centuries A.D.
One can also locate BRW.
40. Chiraiakot: near Karhi, this village partly
overlies a low mound where brickbats and pottery
of the early centuries A.D. are clearly visible.
Punch-marked coins were earlier reported from
this place (Fuhrer, 1891, p. 187). The mound has
been much destroyed since then.
41. Raja-Bhar-ka-kotwa: near the modern village
of Bhatri, this mound shows extensive (c. 10-15
acres) structural ruins near a tal. One also finds
BRW, NBP and BSW and the occupation here
continues up to the post-Gupta period. It was a
much larger site (2400 ft N-S and 1500 ft E-W)
when Carlleyle (1885, pp. 106-107) visited it. He
also noticed the ruins of a stupa nearby.
42. Kauriya: to the northwest of Azamgarh, this
high(4-5 m) and extensive (10-15 acres) mound is
under cultivation, and one sees an extensive spread
of pottery (early centuries A.D. and later) in the
fields.
43. Bhairosthan: a modern temple overlies an
extensive but low structural mound of the post-
Gupta period on the bank of a tal.
The Ghazipur sector
44. Masaon Dih: near Johuraganj and a few km
away from the bank of the Ganges, the site shows
a plateau-like formation of 25-30 acres, with a
straight drop of c. 3-4 m to the surrounding fields
on all sides. There is no visible trace of fortifica-
tion. The NBP found here is of superlative quality.
Carlleyle (1885, p. 99) found punch-marked coins
here.
45. Johuraganj: to the east of Saidpur, on the main
road between Ghazipur and Banaras, this is the
spot where Carlleyle (1885, pp. 97-105) laid
trenches and found a sequence going back to the
'mesolithic' stage and shows a small mound
straight on the bank of the Ganga. Kolhua Ghat
crossing is slightly to the east of the place.
Presently the area is occupied by an irrigation
office which pumps water out of the river and
sends it to the fields through channels.
46. Chandravati: this is a Jain sacred spot near
Johuraganj. The large "protected" mound is clear-
ly visible behind the Jain sacred area, on the river-
bank, but it was overgrown by jungle and could
not be explored. However, according to Fuhrer
(1891, p. 212), the mound is likely to be late, pos-
sibly not more than 300 years old.
47. Bhitari: on the bank of the Gangi Nala near
Saidpur, the modern village of Bhitari/Bhitri over-
lies the ancient site which clearly shows structural
mounds in places. At the entrance to the village
from the Saidpur side there is a large structural
mound topped by a mosque and a Muslim burial
ground. The famous Skandagupta pillar of Bhitari
has developed cracks in places and is slightly lean-
ing. The sculpture at the place is badly eroded and
defaced. Apparently Bhitari was a large settlement
site of the Gupta-post-Gupta period. The site of
Skandagupta's inscription has been noted by many
scholars including Alexander Cunningham, and
the results of recent Banaras Hindu University's
excavations which were conducted a little away
from this spot have remained unpublished. Fuhrer
(1891, pp. 228-230) summarizes the results of ear-
lier work at Bhitari.
48. Nandganj area: the Gangi Nala flows through
this area and minor structural mounds are fairly
widespread here, but whatever we could see was
covered by the monsoonal jungles (cf. near
Barhanpur village to the south of Nandganj, and
also reportedly near Sabua, further to the east).
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49. Latiya: a small (less than an acre) oval-shaped,
low mound containing a pillar of the Bhitari type,
i.e. of the Gupta period. The mound gives the
impression of being a structural mound. The area
is possibly "protected" but the pillar is covered by
algae and the fence around the mound and the
Archaeological Survey of India board have long
been missing (for a summary of the earlier reports,
see Fuhrer, 1891, pp. 232-233).
50. Zamania: there is a large structural mound
near the local bazaar. It is jungle-covered and gul-
lied in places. According to Fuhrer (1891, p. 237),
massive carved stones have been "frequently exca-
vated" from this mound and used in the local
buildings.
51. Ghauspur: 15 km out of Ghazipur towards
Muhammadabad-Yusufpur, this is a large structur-
al mound overlain mostly by the modern village.
Fuhrer (1891, p. 231) found this of considerable
archaeological interest, but detailed investigations
are now almost impossible here because of the
congestion of the locality.
52. Phirozpur: about 5/6 km from Ghauspur
towards Ghazipur, this is a small temple mound
topped by a modern Siva temple on the bank of the
Ganga.
The Banaras sector
53 and 54. Aktha-Tilmanpur-Rajghat-Kamauli:
the site of Sarnath is well-defined and published,
but it would still need investigation to find out if
everything about Sarnath and its outskirts is
known. The modern settlement of Aktha is to the
east of the Narokhar Nala which joins the Baruna
further to the south. Aktha is a clear 2-3 acres of
low, flattish structural mound, with a few broken
12th-13th century A.D. sculptural and architectur-
al fragments. There may be other smaller mounds
in the village which is a little more than 1 km to
the southeast of Sarnath. Tilmanpur lies in a low-
lying area with some small tals in the vicinity and
the excavations recently undertaken by Banaras
Hindu University have been at a low and small
structural mound. The issue of Rajghat and ancient
Varanasi has been well discussed, both on the
basis of archaeology and literature (M. Chandra,
1985; Narain and Roy, 1976, 1977; Narain and
Singh, 1977; B.P. Singh, 1985). The core of the
ancient city is roughly between Kasi Railway sta-
tion and the place where the Baruna Nala/river
joins the Ganga. The Sarai Mohana area immedi-
ately to the east of the Baruna-Ganga confluence
has a mound which may be an extension of the
ancient city. Mounds are visible in the modern city
too, but considering its ancient habitation continu-
ing right up to the Gahadwal period in the 12th-
13th centuries A.D., this is hardly surprising. In
fact, the Visvanath temple itself stands on a large
but slowly rising mound on the bank of the river.
Kamauli is more than 2 km to the east of Sarai
Mohana and shows a high (c. 6 m; 1 acre in extent)
and steeply sloping mound with a modern temple
on top. This looks like a stupa site which may date
from the Pala period. There is a smaller mound
immediately on the river bank. The famous copper
plate grant was discovered in the fields near this
temple, and this field is now locally known as the
field of the plate.
55. Bairant (near Ramgarh via Sakaldiha): this is
a c. 3 m high mound, about 1 km square or slight-
ly less, on what looks like an old river channel.
Part of the mound is undisturbed and structural. As
we found the rest of the mound covered by jungle,
we could not explore that. Although the site would
need far more prolonged explorations than we
were able to give it, Carlleyle's account of it
(Carlleyle, 1885, p. I l l ) deserves close attention.
"The old fort is of earth-work, but containing
many ancient broken bricks. The fort is nearly a
parallelogram, which measured about 1350 feet in
length from north to south, by about 900 feet from
east to west. Its sides consist of ramparts from 70
to 100 feet in thickness, parts of which are still
pretty high, while in some places they have been
broken down or cut through by small pluvial water
channels. There are the remains of high earthwork
bastions at three corners of the fort, namely, on the
northeastern, northwestern, and southeastern cor-
ners. The sites of ancient gate-ways can still be
distinguished in the four sides of the fort, but espe-
cially in the northern and southern sides.... the old
exterior ditch of the fort is quite plainly discernible
on the northern and southern sides."
Among other things, he found a large number
of punch-marked coins and beads of semi-precious
stones here.
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56. Ranipur: near Bairant, this is a small structur-
al mound with a modern temple on top.
57. Aranpur: this village in the same area shows a
small structural mound with a modern temple on
top.
58. Dhanapur: we found a large, jungle-covered
mound behind the local bazaar. Although
Carlleyle (1885, p. 118) refers to Dhanapur, he
could not mention anything specific about it.
59. Hingutar: a small structural mound can be
noticed in this area. Carlleyle (1885, p. 118) found
a "small oblong-shaped fort" surrounded by a
ditch.
60. Prahladpur: it lies straight on the river bank, at
a river crossing. The excavations done here
(Narain and Roy, 1968) were limited in scale, and
a part of the mound is still undisturbed.
The Ahraura-Robertsganj-Mirzapur sector
61. Bhuili: this is a painted rock-shelter site near
Ahraura which is a major place between Banaras
and Robertsganj. There are three large rocky clus-
ters within 10-15 km of the Ganga, with some
smaller outcrops near Bhuili. the outcrop area
needs careful exploration. Interestingly,
Cunningham (1880, pp. 130-132) notices the
inscriptions (Gupta period and later) in the rock-
shelter, but ignores the paintings.
62. Ahraura: the Asokan Minor Rock Edict of the
place is on the top of a hogbacked hill, in front of
a modern temple of "Bhandari Devi" in whose
honour fairs are held every winter. Not far from
the Ahraura bazaar and near the village of
Belkhara there is a broken round monolithic pillar
with a small Ganesa image attached to its base and
two inscriptions on its body. The Ganesa image
was added later and the inscriptions also could
have been incised later. One of the inscriptions
need not be earlier than the 11th-12th century A.D.
The second inscription belongs to an uncertain cat-
egory. According to the local reports the pillar was
removed from the Garai Dam area when this dam
was being built around 1954 and placed at its pre-
sent spot which is not far from the original spot
now submerged in water. This pillar appeared to
be Mauryan to us. Cunningham (1880, pp. 128-
130) noticed the pillar at Belkhara and dated the
llth-12th century A.D. inscription on it to 1196
A.D. His measurement for the broken pillar is: 11
ft 7 inches long and 15 inches in diameter.
According to Cunningham's reading of the
inscription, the pillar was erected by the mason
Jaluna in 1196 A.D. What deserves notice, howev-
er, is that round, monolithic and polished pillars of
this type were not made in ancient India after the
Maurya period and that Cunningham might have
got carried away by his reading of the inscription
which was most likely engraved much later than
the initial establishment of the pillar. Despite such
a weighty opinion as that of Cunningham in this
matter, the possibility of Mauryan affiliation of
this pillar should not be ignored.
63. Mangraur: on the eastern bank of the
Karmanasa, this mound (7-8 m high in places, 5-6
acres still extant) has been much destroyed by a
road which cuts through it and by the modern vil-
lage which overlies most of it. BRW and early
centuries A.D pottery were picked up from the
surface.
64. Robertsganj-Panchmukhi hill: this hill, the site
of at least two painted rockshelters, shows archi-
tectural fragments of the Gupta period and later.
This hill lies by the side of the road which leads to
the Son, and it is remarkably interesting that from
the undetermined period of the prehistoric paint-
ings to the temple of the Gupta and post-Gupta
periods there is an apparent continuity of reli-
gious/cult occupation at the spot.
65. Nal-ka-tila: recently excavated by Rakesh
Tewari of the U.P. state directorate of archaeology
(Tewari and Srivastava, 1996-97), this large
mound on a small river bank has yielded a rich
BRW and NBP occupational phase where iron has
been dated around 1300 B.C. (calibrated radiocar-
bon).
It is also worth mentioning that between
Robertsganj and Mirzapur there is a major site of
c. llth-12th century A.D. at Siudwar which, apart
from sculptural fragments of this period shows a
settlement fortified by a brick-and-stone wall with
a ditch all around. One can see the traces of a cen-
trally located structure in this fortified complex.
The modern Siva temple of the place, which is
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locally famous, lies outside this ancient fortified
area but one hears reports of the discovery of many
sculptural pieces in the fields near it.
Discussion on sites
Although we have studied 65 sites in the area
between Ballia and Robertsganj, the total number
of sites in this area must indisputably be consid-
ered much more than this number. Ballia is domi-
nated by the valleys of the Ghaghra and Chhoti
Sarayu, and here Brahmanand Singh's earlier
exploration (B. Singh, 1995-96; P. Singh et al.,
1994-95) resulted in the discovery of 75 sites of
different periods, beginning with BRW. However,
as we noticed earlier, limited excavations by P.
Singh and his team at Waina (Singh and Singh,
1995-96) discovered the earlier corded ware phase
as well in this region. The sequence is divided into
4 main periods: IA pre-Narhan as cord-impressed
pottery, IB, Narhan, with BRW, BSW, 2. NBP, 3.
Sunga-Kushan, 4. Gupta. Although the cord-
impressed ware phase of Waina was not noticed in
the Chhoti Saryu valley of Ghazipur, Mau and
Ballia, 54 sites belonging to the later phases,
including the Gupta and mediaeval period, were
discovered in the area.
However, we do not doubt the occurrence of
cord-impressed ware in this area too, because this
ware has been found in Period I of Nal-ka-tila or
Raja Nal-ka-tila in Robertsganj which lies in the
western segment of our study area. The archaeo-
logical richness of the Robertsganj area has been
well brought out by Rakesh Tewari and his team
(Tewari, et al., 1996-97). Secondly, we hypothe-
size that the sequence of the whole area should be
earlier than the pre-Narhan phase or the phase of
the cord-impressed ware. It may be worthwhile at
this point to remember that Carlleyle (1885, p.
102) dug down to a depth of 33 feet below the top
of the mound of Johuraganj which, as we have
noticed, lies straight on the river-cliff of the
Ganges between Ghazipur and Banaras. His
description leaves no doubt whatsover that he
found microlithic cores and flakes at that depth:
"Lower down in the same excavation at
Joharganj, in the Ghazipur District, I also obtained
a core, of apparently some kind of black jasper,
having five facets on it, from which flakes had
been struck off; also, a thick flake of dark silicious
stone, with three facets on it, from which three
smaller flakes had been struck off; also a small,
long, thin or narrow-shaped, core, of greyish white
jasper, with seven facets on it, from which small
long narrow flakes had been taken off; also, sever-
al worked flakes of agate, one of which appeared
to be the point of an arrowhead (Carlleyle, 1885, p.
102)."
Two more facts are noteworthy. As we noticed
in the Gorakhpur sector last year, this area too con-
tains a large number of horse-shoe lakes or marshy
depressions known locally as tal. Although no
mesolithic level has yet been found on the banks of
the depressions of this area, the possibility of find-
ing such a level on their banks remains high.
Secondly, between Johuraganj and Banaras the
site of Kamauli on the river-bank yielded years
ago a stone flake artefact in the brief excavations
there (Indian Archaeology—A Review, 1963-64,
p. 58). A parallel-sided chert blade was found here
in association with an ochrous red ware with
incised designs. It is clear that not everything is
understood about the archaeological sequence of
this part of the Gangetic valley.
Thirdly, apart from the ancient Varanasi or the
Rajghat area of modern Banaras, there are at least
5 fortified city-sites in this area: Pakka Kot,
Khairadih, Nahush-ka-Tila, Masaon Dih and
Bairant. Their ancient names remain unknown. As
far as the major unfortified sites are concerned,
Loriya-ka-Tila, Tika Deori, Lakhnesar Dih,
Waina, Chiraiakot, Raja-Bhar-ka-Kotwa and Nal-
ka-Tila may claim an urban status because of their
comparatively large size in the context of the local
settlements. The boundary between the ancient
kingdoms of Kosala and Kasi are not easy to deter-
mine, but the Ghaghra seems to provide a clear
demarcating line, and the present stretch between
Ballia and Robertsganj seems to mark a kind of
base-line of the Kasi kingdom. One of the worry-
ing points is the location of Bairant on the other
side of the Ganges near Banaras. It is about 20 km
to the southeast of Banaras, and the location of this
ancient historic settlement along a dried-up river
channel is very clear. It is almost as large as the
ancient Banaras. This is one of the sites of the
present area, which needs urgent archaeological
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excavations. The location of Nal-ka-Tila near
Robertsganj is less perplexing, because this seems
to be the only major early site in the Robertsganj
area and from this point of view, may be the cen-
tre of the agriculturally prosperous belt at the foot
of the Bijaygarh hills which are clearly visible
from the site.
Another point to take note of in the present
context is the relationship between the location of
some ancient settlements and ferry crossings.
Johuraganj and Prahladpur are two such settle-
ments on the Ganga, and one further remembers
the sites like Tika Deori and Lakhnesar Dih on the
Chhoti Saryu. Pakka Kot is another settlement
related to a ferry crossing. One crosses the Ganga
near Buxar and Pukka Kot lies a little beyond this
crossing. The villagers of the modern village of
Pukka Kot say that, while standing on the ramparts
of the ancient city in clear nights, one can see the
lights of Buxar.
The issue of routes
This brings us to the issue of some early historic
routes touching this sector of the Ganga valley.
Our first route in this context is the one from
Pataliputra to Lumbini, and as we shall see, Pakka
Kot is related to this in a big way (Map 3). We are
not convinced that the Mauryan route from
Pataliputra to Lumbini, which Asoka must have
followed, went via the sites of Asokan pillars in
north Bihar: Vaisali, Lauriya Areraj, Lauriya
Nandangarh and Rampurwa. The alignment up to
Rampurwa is clear but the point is that the
Rampurwa pillars point toward the Kathmandu
valley and not towards Lumbini. The reason why
the location of pillars at Rampurwa could not have
anything to do with the journey to Lumbini is that
between Rampurwa and Lumbini there is a mas-
sive and difficult range of the Nepal Siwaliks. A
little beyond Rampurwa is the Bhikna Tori pass,
through which lies one of the ancient routes to
Nepal. There has to be a straighter and easier route
to Lumbini from Pataliputra during the early his-
toric period when Lumbini must have been a major
place of pilgrimage. Our reconstruction is the fol-
lowing.
The first sign-post after Pataliputra in this
regard is Masarh, which is only an easy march
away from Pataliputra. We consider this a sign-
post because this yielded the fragment of an
Asokan pillar capital (Gupta, 1980, pp. 88-89).
The nature of the present mound at Masarh has
been commented on in one of our earlier publica-
tions (Chakrabarti, et al., 1995). Proceeding
beyond Masarh, the Lumbini route had to cross the
Ganga at some point. Now, a little before Buxar
there was a major ferry point across the Ganga,
and the modern railway bridge to the Ballia side
follows broadly this ferry alignment. If this was a
ferry point in the ancient context, there should be
an ancient site on the other side of the Ganga in
this direction. Pakka Kot clearly fits the bill of
such an ancient, settlement. Beyond Pakka Kot the
two sites of Tika Deori and Lakhneswar Dih, both
on the Chhoti Saryu, deserve notice. Both these are
early historical sites, and taken together with
Pakka Kot, suggest the general significance of this
sector in the early historic context. The next fixed
point, before one crosses the Ghaghra at Turtipar,
is Khairadih, a major early historical settlement.
On the other side of the Ghaghra is Bhagalpur
where a standing, broken and presumably
Mauryan pillar (uninscribed) can still be seen
(Chakrabarti, et al., 1997).
Having crossed the Ghaghra at Khairadih, the
route possibly followed for some time the align-
ment of what is locally known as "Ram-Janki
road" along the Ghaghra towards the west. At
some point it branched off the Ram-Janki road
(according to the local tradition, the route followed
by Rama and Janaki to reach Ayodhya from
Mithila) and moved towards Kopia which is a for-
tified early historic city site, passing Sohgaura, an
indisputably Mauryan administrative centre on the
way. The fixed point in the direction of Lumbini
beyond Kopia is Bansi which yielded a fragment
of an Asokan pillar capital (Gupta, 1980, p. 27).
The place where this fragment was discovered lies
a little outside the modern Bansi bazaar, which
still remains the most convenient stopping place
before proceeding to modern Birdpur, Kapilavastu
and Lumbini.
Thus, at every stage of our suggested
Pataliputra-Lumbini route there are clear archaeo-
logical sign-posts, and having travelled all along
this way, we are in a position to claim that this was
the most direct route that Asoka could have adopt-
ed for going to Lumbini. There were two major
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river-crossings on the way, one over the Ganga a
little to the east of Buxar, and the other over the
Ghaghra at Turtipar/Khairadih.
The second old route that we take up for exam-
ination here is that between Banaras and Sasaram.
This must have been a well-frequented route of the
Mauryan times. The relevant archaeological sign-
posts are Sasaram itself and Ahraura, both of
which possess Minor Rock Edicts and lie almost in
a straight line. Ahraura is easily accessible from
Banaras, but it is not necessary that the Sasaram-
Ahraura line had to turn towards Banaras; that
could have joined via Ahraura, as we shall see
later, the route to Surguja in central India and the
main Deccan Road going (in the first instance) in
the direction of Rewa. It is the Ahraura-Sasaram
alignment which is important. We have explored
this alignment which passes through modern
Chakia. The most important archaeological mark-
er here is the site of Magraur or Mangraur which
lies on the bank of the Karamnasa. Beyond the
Karamnasa the road goes in the direction of
Bhabua near Sasaram. The offshoots of the
Kaimur range intrude in the landscape here, and it
may be noted that the famous post-Gupta temple
of Mundeswari lies on a hill top precisely in this
area. When we visited Mundeswari, we could not
understand the significance of its location, but
having travelled along the Ahraura-Chakia-
Bhabua alignment this season, we now understand
that the location of the temple of Mundeswari is
very much a part of this route. In fact, the BRW
sites and some painted rock-shelters that Kumar
Anand of the Bihar State archaeology directorate
recently reported and the cluster of BRW and later
sites that B.P. Singh of Banaras Hindu University
published in the general area of Senuwar near
Sasaram seem to be spread along this route.
As far as Banaras is concerned, Ahraura has a
traditional significance. First, Banaras is linked by
a straight road with Ahraura via Bhuili, the last
outpost of the painted rock-shelter sites in the east.
Thus, the location of a painted rockshelter site at
Bhuili may have something to do with the road
coming from Banaras to Ahraura. Secondly, D.L.
Drake-Borckman's gazetteer of the old Mirzapur
district in 1911 has the following to say about
Ahraura:
"The chief local industry is sugar-making, and
the lacquered wooden articles known throughout
India as "Benares toys" are also manufactured
here. Formerly the weaving of tasar silk was car-
ried on to a considerable extent; but the industry is
now almost extinct, though tasar thread is still
spun from the cocoons which are brought here in
large numbers from the south" (Drake-Borckman,
1911, p. 258).
The important thing to note here is that the
spinning of silk thread in an area close to Banaras
and its easy access to a rich supply of cocoons may
have something to do with the emergence of
Banaras as a centre of silk industry.
Our third major route in the present context is
the one which goes from the Banaras-Mirzapur
sector to the Rewa region in Madhya Pradesh on
its way to Malwa and the Deccan. This is a crucial
part of the major Gangetic valley-Deccan route.
Mirzapur—or rather, the Mirzapur area—was a
major node of this route. An unambiguous piece of
evidence comes from the late eighteenth century:
"before 1781 the principal merchants with the
Deccan were of the Sannyasi sect; these resided at
Benares and transported their goods to Mirzapur,
there to sell them to other members of their own
sect who came annually from the Deccan to buy
them" (Drake-Borckman, 1911, p. 352). The mod-
ern route goes from Mirzapur to Drummondganj
via Lalganj, and ascends the Vindhyan scarp a lit-
tle beyond Drummondganj. Having ascended the
scarp at Bhainsaur, one finds oneself on a table-top
plateau, and on the route to Hanumana on the way
to Rewa across this plateau, there are a few paint-
ed rock-shelters within easy distance of the route.
However, those familiar with the steepness and
general height of the scarp beyond Drummondganj
will immediately realize that this could not have
been a route suitable for pack bullocks or bullock-
carts used for transport in early trade. The early
route must have climbed the scarp at a different
place, and some local investigations soon settled
the point. Up to Lalganj from Mirzapur the route
was the same in both ancient and modern periods.
About 7-8 km to the southwest from Mirzapur, on
the way to Lalganj there is a clear low scarp which
can be negotiated very easily. The topography up
to Lalganj is mostly dominated by open scrub
land. From Lalganj the old route goes to Halia
which is located on the bank of the Adwa Nala.
There is no doubt that the old route passed through
Halia: "The old road passed through Halia and
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ascended the ghats via Dibhor and the Kerahi pass,
and the village was then a halting place for the
merchants who travelled along this route" (Drake-
Borckman, 1911, p. 231). At Dibhor the scarp is
low and easily negotiable even for pack bullocks,
and after ascending this scarp the road to Rewa via
Hanumana is open. In fact, even now the villagers
of this area go to Hanumana along this route; it is
possible for a boy to ascend the scarp with his
bicycle (carrying the bicycle on his shoulders) and
then ride to Hanumana.
The Rewa route need not have been the only
route in this sector. Ahugi is a village between
Halia and Dibhor and also on the bank of the
Adwa Nala. From Ahugi a road branched off in the
direction of the Son river via the Adhesar hill.
Drake-Borckman (1911, p. 264) reports that
Ahugi's location on the bank of a pleasant stream
made it a favourite halting place for the Banjara
merchants who actually conducted the train of
pack bullocks used in early trade. Lalganj is also
easily connected with Robertsganj via Ghorawal
and Shahganj. There is a more direct route from
Mirzapur to Robertsganj via Mariahan. This route
joins the Lalganj-Robertsganj route before
Ghorawal. Local investigations suggest that from
this sector there were a few minor routes, all lead-
ing towards the Son.
The routes towards the Son valley in the
Lalganj-Robertsganj sector are not linked with the
Deccan route through Hanumana and Rewa; they
are connected with the main route from Banaras to
Surguja and beyond via Ahraura and Robertsganj.
This is the fourth major route within the scope of
our present discussion. First, the famous Jogimara
cave inscription of c. second-first century B.C.
near Ambikapur in Surguja in Madhya Pradesh
refers to a sculptor from Banares—Devadinna, and
a temple-maiden—Sutanuka, of unspecified origin
but possibly from the same place. This unmistak-
ably suggests the existence of a route to Surguja
from Banaras in the ancient context. Having tra-
versed the whole area up to the border of Surguja
we are now in a position to claim that such a route
not merely existed but also that is possible to mark
its signposts from Banaras onwards. The first sign-
post is Ahraura where Asoka left behind an
inscription and possibly even a pillar.
"Ahraura was formerly a very important entre-
pot of trade, being the most southerly limit of cart
traffic on the road between the railway the south of
the district and the state of Sarguja. The present
trade is of considerable dimensions but is entirely
a transit one. The chief articles of traffic are grain,
lac, fibres, gums and other jungle produce; these
are brought to Ahraura on pack-bullocks, and are
thence conveyed to Ahraura Road railway station"
(Drake-Borckman, 1911, p. 259).
The Ahraura Road railway station is, in fact,
located right on the Ahraura-Banaras road, and in
ancient times it was Banaras which was the natur-
al terminal point of this trade. One begins to climb
the Vindhyan scarp in the direction of Robertsganj
soon after Ahraura. There is, in fact, a late medi-
aeval fort at the neighbouring Latifpur to guard
this point of ascent. In the monsoon months, espe-
cially a day or two after a period of heavy rains,
the sight of large sheets of water cascading down
the Vindhyan ridges of this neighbourhood is one
of the things that one remembers for a long time,
and about halfway through this ascent, there is a
major waterfall and an associated pool of water, by
the side of which paintings on rock are clearly vis-
ible. Obviously, the people who did these paint-
ings were familiar with this route. The ascent ends
at Sukrit, and between Sukrit and Robertsganj the
country is flat and open. The Belan flows through
it, and in the eastern section it is traversed by the
Karamnasa. It is a well-irrigated, fertile plan:
"From the hills above, the limits of this tract are
clearly marked by the numerous groves of well-
grown trees which are dotted over its surface, con-
trasting with the stunted scrub outside its limits.
The soil is fertile and there are large areas of excel-
lent loam and clay, interspersed with patches of a
fine black soil which closely resembles the well-
known black cotton soil of Bundelkhand and cen-
tral India" (Drake-Borckman, 1911, p. 368).
It is important to take note of the fertility of
this sector of the Robertsganj area, because, as
Rakesh Tewari's explorations and excavations
have demonstrated, this was occupied by a large
number of BRW and later sites. Another point to
note in this context is that Robertsganj can also be
accessed from Chakia through Hetampur and
Baraur, and this route eventually goes across the
Ganga to Chandauli. The crossing of the Vindhyan
scarp beyond Hetampur is guarded by the late
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mediaeval fort of Gaharwar. It is interesting to
reflect that the excavated BRW and later site of
Nal-ka-tila on the bank of the Karamnasa is locat-
ed on this access route to Robertsganj from the
Chakia side which lies to the east of Ahraura.
Thus, anyone coming from the Sasaram side in
Bihar and wanting to reach the Son valley on the
way to Surguja need not have gone all the way to
Ahraura. They could easily turn towards the
Robertsganj area at Chakia.
The most important sign post after Robertsganj
is the Panchmukhi hill where we have both paint-
ed rock-shelter sites and architectural remains of
the Gupta and later periods. The evidence is as
unequivocal as any. Further to the south, soon after
leaving Robertsganj and Panchmukhi hill, dense
mixed jungle and open scrub lead to a ridge—
Mahuwar ghat and Kawai ghat, the highest point
in the area being 308 m above m.s.l. After that it is
open country leading to the Son, on the other side
of which is Chopan. Before the Son crossing,
beyond the Ghaghar nadi which joins the Son fur-
ther to the east is a large tract of rocky country
connected with Kawai ghat and coming down to
the Son. The hilly sector which is closest to the
Son in this sector is known as Kerwa ghat. The
road moves through Dala and Hathinala towards
Dudhi or Dudhinagar, first through a flat plain, and
then for a long stretch through mixed jungle, a part
of which is cultivated today. Also, along the south-
ern bank of the Son there is a passage to Ramgarh,
with a number of ferries located along its northern
bank. Beyond Hathinala the road moves through
the Dudhi reserved forest to Dudhi and then
through a flat plain to Garhwa from where the road
to Surguja is open. If one crosses over to Ramgarh
on the southern bank of the Son, one can easily
reach, along the valley of the Panda nadi, the area
of Wyndhamganj and Nagar Untari. There is a
'reserved' forest before Wyndhamganj, which is
not difficult to cross, and there is easy access to
Garhwa from Wyndhamganj and Nagar Untari.
Our attempts to understand the basic configu-
rations of the Deccan route and the route to
Surguja from Banaras have led to the following
picture. From the Banaras side one crossed the
Ganga to Ramnagar, and as the old Banaras was in
the Rajghat side, the broad alignment of this cross-
ing could not be far from the alignment of the
modern Malavya bridge over the river. On the
Ramnagar side, between Ramnagar and Mirzapur,
the last line of the Vindhya-Kaimur scarp is
noticeable on the left for a large part of the way,
and at least at two places the hills touch the river.
The first is at Chunar where a majestic bend of the
river is overlooked by a hill-top fort which in its
present form dates from the period of Sher Shah
Suri and later kings but goes back to the Gupta
period on the basis of the inscriptional evidence
and offers perhaps the best river-view in the sub-
continent. The second is at Vindhyachal in the out-
skirts or Mirzapur, where the goddess
Vindhyavasini draws pilgrims from afar.
Considering that Mirzapur was the first Ganga val-
ley terminal point of the Deccan route coming
from the Deccan, there is no wonder that the place
deserved a major resident goddess. The important
point is that from this alignment of hills between
Ramnagar and Mirzapur a number of routes
branched off in the direction of Surguja and the
Deccan. The most distinct ones are (1) the
Ramnagar-Bhuili-Ahraura-Sukrit-Robertsganj
/Panchmukhi—Chopan-Garhwa-Surguja line and
the Mirzsapur-Lalganj-Halia-Dibhar-Hanumana-
Rewa alignment. But from Chakia to the east of
Ahraura a route could have gone to Robertsganj,
and there could also be about two lines of move-
ment from Mirzapur to Robertsganj (one via
Lalganj and the other via Mariahan). Further, even
before touching Robertsganj there could be some
minor routes leading to the Son. After trying to
assess all these lines of movement in the field, the
impression one is left with is that the Banaras/
Ramnagar—Mirzapur sector constituted the first
Gangetic valley receiving point of an enormous
amount of traffic emanating from various points in
central India and eventually the Deccan. Banaras,
of course, was its most important ancient focal
point, just as it is in the modern context, and one
of the major reasons of this importance lay in the
fact that it has a vast upland hinterland reaching
out to the forest tracts of central India in the first
place. Although in the valley, Banaras cannot be
isolated from this upland stretch.
If one takes a long-range view of the route to
places like Ayodhya, Sravasti and Lumbini from
the Deccan, what one immediately realizes that
both through Dudhi-Garhwa at the threshold to
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Surguja and Rewa at the threshold of a journey to
Malwa, the routes to these areas lay through
Mirzapur. Mirzapur is easily linked to Ayodhya
through Jaunpur, and from Ayodhya both Sravasti
and Lumbini were easily approachable. Further, as
we have noted, if one had to move straight to Bihar
from the Deccan and central India through this
sector, one did not have to move through Ahraura-
Banaras, unless, of course, one tried to take advan-
tage of the river traffic to the east from Banaras.
One could go to Chakia to the east of Ahraura and
reach the Sasaram area of Bihar through Ahraura-
Chakia-Mangraur-Sasaram alignment. Otherwise
one could move beyond Chakia to Chandauli and
take the Zamania-Chausa-Buxar alignment. It is
noteworthy that the indisputably impressive early
historic site of Bairant lies precisely along this
alignment and this location may have something to
do with its apparent importance. Further, from the
Masaon Dih—Johuraganj area in the Ghazipur
sector one could cross the river and reach Bairant
easily on one's way to the Buxar area. Even the
ferry-point site of Prahladpur is located more or
less near Bhairant.
Further, if one tried to reach the Buxar-
Pataliputra area from the direction of Azamgarh,
one did not have to come to Banaras at all. The
river could be crossed even before reaching the
modern town of Ghazipur and take the Zamania
alignment to reach Chausa. We have noted the
existence of ancient (although chronologically
imprecise) sites along this alignment. Moreover,
the Gupta period pillar site of Latiya lies near
Zamania. An ancient route linking the Buxar area
with the Ghazipur sector on the northern bank of
the Ganga is probable. Thus, on the whole, there
are two base-lines for the archaeology of the
ancient kingdom of Kasi. One is, of course the
river. To the east of Ballia and to the south of the
Ghaghra its agricultural hinterland has a number
of major early historic sites and possess otherwise
an archaeological ancestry going back, in its "pre-
Narhan level", to the beginning of the second mil-
lennium B.C. This hinterland is dotted with a large
number of horseshoe lakes or depressions, and
their significance, if any, in the mesolithic ances-
try of the valley in this sector is undetermined.
That there was a mesolithic phase in this part of
the valley is not in doubt; Carlleyle's cliff-side
trench at Johuraganj settled this point long ago. A
major branch of the early historic route—the
Asokan Pataliputra-Lumbini route—passed
through this hinterland, and there were certainly
various minor routes crossing the Ganga at various
points and eventually leading to Magadha in the
south and Kosala in the north and northeast. The
second base-line is provided not by the river but by
the trans-Ganga line of hills between Ramnagar
and Mirzapur leading to the vast hinterland of the
central Indian uplands and their eventual links
with the Deccan. Some lines of movement in this
vast stretch are no doubt more important than
others, but nonetheless we are made aware of a
network of paths leading across it. The eventual
history of the Gangetic valley-Deccan route will
have to be written not merely in terms of the famil-
iar arterial lines but also in the light of a properly
integrated view of both the arterial and the com-
paratively lesser lines. Meanwhile, we have tried
to argue in the present paper that the ancient king-
dom of Kasi owed its pre-eminence not merely to
its river-traffic and rich agricultural hinterland, but
also to its position vis-a-vis the central Indian
highlands and the world beyond.
We may conclude this preliminary report by a
few comments on the distribution of painted rock-
shelter sites in this area. First, some rock-shelters
lie in the hills on the Ahraura-Sasaram axis. These
were discovered by the Bihar State Directorate of
Archaeology and are still unpublished. Second, on
the route from Ahraura to Banaras there is the
rock-shelter of Bhuili. Third, in the stretch
between Ahraura and Sukrit on the Ahraura-
Robertsganj route there are painted rock-shelters,
and this distribution continues via the Panchmukhi
hills beyond Robertsganj to the wayside ranges
overlooking the Son valley. Fourth, on the route to
Rewa, beyond Bhainsaur, there are rock-shelters
with paintings. The stretch between Bhainsaur and
Hanumana has been denuded of vegetation in
recent years but mercifully, the rock-shelters have
not yet been blasted off. All that we would claim
is that there is an apparent link between the major
routes passing through the area and painted rock-
shelters in the eastern Vindhyas. The only expla-
nation that we can offer is that the routes of the
historical period in this area followed the lines of
movement of the earlier hunter-gatherers of the
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region. Some of them could even have locally sur-
vived in the historical period and participated in
the trade passing through their areas.
Acknowledgements
The fieldwork was funded by grants to the first
author from the Society for South Asian Studies
and Cambridge University Travelling Expenses
Fund. As in the last year, Professor Purushottam
Singh of the Department of Ancient Indian
History, Culture and Archaeology of Banaras
Hindu University was a source of great strength.
Warm support also came from Professor V.
Srivastava, presently the Head of the same depart-
ment. It is always a very great pleasure to be out in
the field with Dr. R.N. Singh. Dr Rakesh Tewari,
the Director of the U.P. directorate of Archaeology
and Museums, kindly sent one of his officers, Mr
Pal, in the field with us in the Robertsganj sector
where we drew on the knowledge of Mr. Ajit
Kesri, a local journalist, teacher and writer.
Finally, Professor A.K. Narain who pioneered
archaeological field-research in Banaras Hindu
University took interest in our work. We thank
him warmly for his kindness and hospitality and
dedicate this report to him.
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