That trite phrase ‘as old as the hills’ has suddenly taken on startling significance in relation to a thread that runs through Hindu beliefs: the cult of mother-worship. a veneration of the shakti form that harks back to primeval times. Recently, an lndo-US team of archaeologists working in the Son valley in Madhya Pradesh Sidhi district stumbled upon evidence that this practice existed in prehistoric, Stone Age India.

Situated near the base of the Kaimur escarpment. 4 km north-east of Medhauli village, the site had been excavated first in 1980 by Professor J.Desmond Clark of the University of California, Berkeley (UCB). and Professor G.R. Sharma of Allahabad University. Last January, the site was re­ opened by their understudies. UCB’S J.M. Kenoyer and Allahabad’s J.N. Pal.

Astounding Find: Towards the end of this year’s excavation, the archaeologists were lifting large numbers of Upper Palaeolithic stone artefacts (between 30,000 and 10,000 years old) when they came upon 8 rough circular platform of sandstone rubble about 85 cm in diameter. In the centre of this platform was a fragment of a natural, ferruginous stone which had concentric triangular striations etched into it. The fragment stood out from the rest of the circle’s stones because or its unusual colours, ranging from a light yellowish red to a dark reddish brown, in alternating belts.

Intrigued by these features. the archaeologists cleared more surface debris—­and found nine more fragments of the stone. All the fragments joined together to form a triangular stone 15 cm high. 6.5 cm wide, and about 6.5 cm thick.

It seemed as though some Stone Age worshippers had deliberately placed this stone in the circle’s centre. The excavators’ interest quickened when they found similar stones atop the Kaimur escarpment.

Ancient Origins: The archaeologists have conservatively estimated the stone platform’s age to be about 11,000 years. And that—as Sherlock Holmes’ Watson would say—is amazing, because Hinduism, as we know it. began to take shape with the compilation of the Rig Veda in the 2nd millennium B.C., and Tantrism, which put worship of the mother-figure on a sublime pedestal, took root even later-around the 5th century A.D.

The Son valley find indicates that the impulses that shaped the religious beliefs of the Indus civilisation must have been echoes of a past that was aeons distant, a time-span that reduces modern man’s lifetime to a single sneeze of eternity. But the UCB- Allahabad team does not tear its hair out over the importance of its find. “Archaeo­logically,” it says cautiously, “we can only say that the platform was built by man and that people had placed a certain unique and colourful stone in its centre.”

Clark recalls that soon after the stone circle came to light, a passerby stopped and asked Kenoyer why he had broken the stone, which was ‘holy’. And the archaeologists found, to their excitement, that the Kol and Baiga tribals inhabiting the area use the same kind of triangular stone even today as a symbol of their mother goddess, Mai. Thereafter, coincidence after coincidence fell into the archaeologists’ laps. Their site watchman, a Kol, had actually set up a rough shrine to Kalika Mai with one large triangular stone and three smaller ones.

Finally, spurred on by their discovery. the team began to search for more evidence, and at a place called Karai, a kilometre north-east of the site, found a stone shrine to Karai Mai. A rough circular platform made up of sandstone and limestone rubble blo­cks, the shrine centred around a headless, seated stone figurine of what the locals call ‘Angari Devi’. Also placed on the shrine were six natural pieces of sandstone, all with concentric triangles or ellipses-with the same colourings as the fragments at the dig.

The tribal worshippers of Angari Devi had daubed the stones with rough sindoor.

Unbroken Link: What is astounding in itself is the fact that the tribals of the region practise a pagan animism that has remained unchanged for 11,000 years. But the Medhauli stone fragments suggest that worship of the symbolic yoni, or shakti. the manifestation of female energy. had beginnings in a misty past when bands of nomadic hunter-gatherers roamed the peninsula in quest of food and shelter.

The latest find may be a reiteration of the woman’s pivotal position in those ancient groups. The mother was then truly a goddess: she looked after the family, gave birth to progeny that increased the tribe’s numbers, and protected her offspring. Later, in more recent centuries, she took on other forms-the demonic ruler of natural forces, the creative half of the supreme deity. or the bloodthirsty Kali who demands sacrifices in order to strengthen her creativity.

That is not all. The Son valley shrine could well turn out to be the oldest ever found in the world. Neolithic mother­ goddess shrines from the late Stone Age (around 3,000 years ago) have been found near Jericho; but they are modern compared to the Medhauli find. For now, says Clark, he and his team-mates are going to investigate he and his team-mates are going to investigate ancient and modern literature concerning the worship of the mother goddess, and Sharma will embark on a study of the oral traditions of the local people to find out whether folk memory retains a glimmer of the cult’s primeval origins.

—Chaitanya Kalbag

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