Telangana megalithic stones feature in tentative list of Unesco world heritage sites

The megalithic menhirs, the mysterious standing stones dating back to 3,000 years located in a remote village of Mudumal in Telangana’s Narayanpet district bordering Karnataka, are most likely to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India in the coming days, heritage conservationists of Telangana said.

On March 7, the UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre announced the inclusion of Mudumal Megalithic Menhirs as one of the six structures and sites from India in the tentative list of world heritage sites.

In a letter written to the Indian ambassador to the UNESCO Vishal V Sharma on the same day, director of World Heritage Centre Lazare Eloundou Assomo said that Mudumal Megalithic Menhirs, along with five other heritage sites from India, feature in the tentative list of World Heritage Sites. These five other sites are: Kanger Valley National Park in Chhattisgarh, Ashokan Edict Sites in multiple states, Chausath Yogini Temples in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, Gupta Temples in multiple states, and the Palace-Fortresses of the Bundelas in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

“The documentation submitted complies with the operational guidelines and the tentative list of India,” Assomo said.

According to Manikonda Vedakumar, chairman of Hyderabad-based Deccan Heritage Academy Trust, it was only on February 11 that the Permanent Delegation of India to UNESCO submitted the proposal to the UNESCO for inclusion of Mudumal Megalithic Menhirs in the world heritage sites list at a world heritage convention held in New Delhi.

“It is heartening to note that in less than a month, the UNESCO acknowledged the same and included this prehistoric site of Telangana in the tentative list,” said Vedakumar, who has been striving for the conservation of these megalithic structures, in association with the Telangana government, Geological Survey of India experts and heritage architects, for the last one decade.

“If these megalithic menhirs get the UNESCO world heritage tag, it will be the second such structure from Telangana state to get the recognition after the historic Ramappa Temple in Mulug district. It requires a lot of effort in complying with stringent conservation norms of UNESCO before getting the World Heritage Site tag,” said Arvind Pakade, another heritage conservationist.

According to Vedakumar, the menhirs at Mudumal in Krishna mandal (revenue block) of Narayanpet district form a significant archaeological site, known locally as Niluvalla Thimmappa.

This site, dating back approximately 3,000 years, showcases the culture, traditions, and astronomical knowledge of the ancient inhabitants through its megaliths. There are close to 80 tall menhirs of 10 to 14 feet height, accompanied by nearly 3,000 alignment stones related to the funerary rights of the ancient community. These stones are arranged in lines or rows in a 20-25 feet gap.

Besides the standing stones, there are smaller stones placed in circular formations and also thousands of boulders appearing to be placed in certain alignments across an 80-acre spread of land – all of which hint at something unique about the location.

“These formations align with the sun during solstices, suggesting their use in solar observation. Notably, Mudumal hosts one of the densest concentrations of menhirs and alignment stones in Asia,” he said.

According to the dossier submitted to the UNESCO, the Mudumal Megalithic Menhirs offer an insight into the perspective the ancient builders might have had as they carefully aligned the menhirs with celestial bodies, marking the solstices, equinoxes, and star patterns, thereby establishing the Mudumal Megalithic Menhirs site as an ancient observatory.

Apart from the main cluster of tall menhirs, there is a notable squarish, vertically planted stone. This stone has a sloping flat top marked by several cup-shaped indentations. “Studies have revealed that these marks accurately represent the Ursa Major constellation, also known as the Great Bear or Big Dipper, and referred to in ancient Indian literature as Saptarshi Mandala,” Vedakumar said.

The dossier said the Mudumal Megalithic Menhirs are associated with local legends that deepen their cultural significance. One such legend recounts how a deity visited the village, asking for offerings, but the villagers tried to deceive her. In response, the deity cursed them to turn to stone, and thus they became the menhirs.

“The surrounding boulders are said to represent the villagers’ cattle and other animals. This belief has ensured that the menhirs, even when toppled over, remain untouched by the locals, for fear of invoking the deity’s curse,” it said.