Monolithic Pillar

The present paper will focus on the iconic and non-iconic aspect of the pillar made and erected during the times of Maurya and Gupta period like its raw material, purpose, theme, art, context and nature of epigraphical data. Special attention is given to the crowning capital figure. The study shows that while Asokan pillars are all erected by the royalty, the Gupta counterparts patronized by the subordinates and individuals as well. There is also a variety and grandeur in the shaping of the pillar and crowning figures in Gupta period. Whereas the Asokan pillars propagates the law of morality, the Gupta pillars have divergent purpose viz. to proclaim the victory of the ruler and making them immortal (Kirti Sthambha), in memory of a person or event (Smaraka Sthambha) and in honour of God for attaining merit (Dvaja Sthambha).

The present paper deals with one such creations of Man, i.e. the tradition of erecting free standing mono-lithic pillars-its origin, growth and decline and the continuity of the tradition of erecting such pillars in its changed polylithic (from Greek word polloi = many + lithic = stone), non-lithic and structural forms. No exact reason can be found, pointing it to be the exact cause for the decline in the tradition of erecting monolithic pillar and its transformation. In this paper the authors try to analyse various phenomenon likesocio-political, economic and technical aspects which may have lead to their decline and subsequently their continuity in a changed form in Indian context.

In August 2016, the In-Africa Project, which focuses on the palaeo-environment and human occupation of West Turkana during the late Quaternary (http://in-africa.org/), encountered a stone platform and cairn whilst surveying an area between the Napudet Mountains and the Kerio River in Southwest Turkana. Different from other simple cairns in the area, this structure, locally known as Aliel, also exhibits: a) a single standing stone within the construction of the cairn; and b) a significant assemblage of pottery sherds (including Nderit ware) upon the surface of the platform. Cairns, circles, platforms and stone structures are well-known features of the prehistory of the Turkana Basin (Robbins, 2006, Wright et al., 2016), including complex megalithic architecture in the form of ‘Pillar sites’ characterised by the presence of multiple stone pillars emplaced vertically on the ground within a constructed platform, such as Lothagam, Jarigole and Kalokol (Hildebrand et al. 2011, Grillo & Hildebrand 2013, Nelson, 1995; Figure 1). While stone cairns and structures continued to be built until recently throughout eastern Africa (Davies 2013), ‘Pillar sites’, often associated with ceramics decorated with ‘Nderit’ motifs, cluster chronologically between ~5,300 – 4,000 years BP (Grillo & Hildebrand 2013) and overlap temporally with the first evidence for domestic cattle in Kenya (Marshall et al., 1984). Thus, the Turkana Basin is thought to have acted as the corridor for early pastoralist

Figure 1. Map showing the location of Aliel in context with pillar/platform sites and pastoral sites in the area. After Hildebrand et al. (2011) and Hildebrand and Grillo (2012).

communities, economies and traditions expanding into East Africa during the mid-Holocene, and holds crucial information for understanding the changes in population history and settlement dynamics at the time. The site of Aliel is well placed both temporally and geographically to yield further insights into this period of prehistory.