Chapter 2 Megalithic Astronomy in India Srikumar M. Menon * Abstract Megaliths have long been associated with astronomy in the public imagination. In this paper we take a look at megaliths in India, their chronology and distribu- tion, and examine the possibility that at least some of them may have intentional alignments to celestial targets embedded in their design and layout. 2.1 Introduction Megaliths are found in many places in the world. The word “megalith” literally means “built of large stones” and was coined to describe the more conspicuous examples of this class of monuments that were noticed early on. Today we know that not all megaliths are built of large stones – indeed some of them are rock cut chambers or just mounds of earth and rubble. So what exactly is a megalith? Megaliths may be best described as funerary, memorial and other monuments erected by prehistoric cultures. It is important to note that “megalithic” does not denote a period in the history of humankind, but rather a cultural practice of erecting such monuments that seems to have occurred at different parts of the world at different points of history and technological development. For instance the megaliths of Europe are believed to belong to the Neolithic and Bronze ages, while in the Indian subcontinent, this cultural practice is supposed to have held sway in the Iron Age (roughly 1200 bce – 500 bce), and probably continuing into the Early Historic Period (roughly 500 bce – 500 ce) (Bauer et al. 2001). As mentioned earlier, not every megalith is built of large stones, but the term continues to be in use because of its popularity out of being used for a long time (Moorti 1994). The very first megaliths to be noticed worldwide were conspicuous on the landscape they occupied by virtue of their large size, inspiring the name. As our understanding of megaliths progressed and more diminutive examples of the same form of cultural expression were discovered, the term had been in use for such a long time and had gained such popularity *National Inst. of Advanced Studies, School of Humanities, Bangalore. 47