On Google Earth and other online world maps, the site 15.0876° north and 73.918° east may just be dozens of tiny boulders and rocks spread over the windswept plateau that serves as Cabo de Rama or Cola plateau, south of Margao in Goa, but on the ground it is more.
On the ground, spread over more than one-and-a-half acres, these dark spots are man-sized laterite stones boulders, or megaliths, carefully chiselled at specific places to give them forms.
The megaliths are arranged in a big circle, and when corroborated with the movement of the sun resemble a gigantic calendar. At least three of these megaliths are aligned towards the rising of the sun; other stones are aligned to the cardinal points of Earth: north, south, east and west.
The Goan witnessed one of the many astronomical events that have been painstakingly tracked and chronicled by Sarvesh Borkar, a Margao resident who works as an oil refinery operations controller in Iran, but was fascinated by the rough circle of stones of various shapes that lie in a loose, unexplained formation deep inside Cabo de Rama Fort.
This site that Borkar proudly calls kaalchakra (calendar) promises to turn Goa’s history clock by anywhere between thirty and seventy thousand years, and could well turn into another archaeological wonder of the world, akin to Stonehenge in England. Kaalchakra bears an uncanny resemblance to the famous Adam’s Calendar site of Mpumalanga in South Africa.
While Borkar had arrived at this discovery of the calendar after months of measuring and observations, The Goan checked on sophisticated global position systems and found that the megaliths were indeed perfectly aligned with the rise and fall of the sun. Other stones were found out to be in alignment with summer and winter solstices as well as spring and autumn equinoxes.
There is rock solid evidence that many pairs of these megaliths stones form straight lines to the sunrise and sunset points on the local horizon during both the solstices and the equinoxes. The relationship between the stones and the landscape can be seen to have been an important consideration for the builders.
"These boulders may have enabled this nomadic people to determine accurately the moon’s or sun’s progress as it may be an ancient sun dial," said Borkar. "These boulders may have been used as an astronomical calendar, with rocks aligned to point out the direction or lunar events. Orientational preferences of this megalithic monument seems to suggest an intentional orientation of several megaliths towards points of celestial significance on the local horizon."
In the 1970s, Ballabh Saran, the then in-charge of the excavation division of Archaeological Survey of India’s Southern Circle had found cupules (a circular man-made hollow on the surface of a rock or a rock slab) or peteroglyphs (stone engravings) inside Cabo de Rama.
While the state’s archaeology department has no records of that expedition or its findings, it is again Borkar who rediscovered the prehistoric megalithic findings from ancient Goa inside Cabo de Rama. Only he found more than what the state’s archaeology department is aware of.
The laterite plateau has petroglyphs engraved on the surface, including those of birds and animals, three to four cupules, fish-like engravings and some abstract geometrical images along with two water ponds. The plateau surface has been neatly cut into geographical features aligned with specific directions of the sun and the moon.
This is not the only site in Goa with such structures and carvings. At Pansaimol hamlet of Dhandolle village, midway between Rivona and Colomb, the rains transform a 100 by 50-metre solid laterite platform into a magic board of sorts, revealing scores of prehistoric images of bulls, bison, peacocks, dancing girls, a labyrinth and even a mother goddess, first discovered in May 1993 by Vithal Khandeparker and Kalidas Sawaikar.
While quite a few of the neighbouring villagers and local residents in the vicinity are aware of these engravings, what most of them are unaware of is the significance of the 500-square-metre rocky river bed.
This rock-engraved art gallery lies unprotected under the rains and harsh sun. Mud depositions from the rainwater runoff have settled in the engravings and filled them up. The site also serves as a thoroughfare for farm workers who cross the stony platform into the nearby farms across the river.
There is no fence that cordons off the site from callous picnickers or property encroachers. There is not even a signboard that explains the significance of this historical site and Goa government’s archaeology department has no official explanation to this monumental neglect.
At Cabo de Rama the entire site, the carvings in particular, are filled weeds and have been worn out with time and an exposure to the elements. But that’s also because this site has not been recognised by historians or the archaelogy department.
Without proper care and restoration, these little pieces of history could disappear altogether
On the ground, spread over more than one-and-a-half acres, these dark spots are man-sized laterite stones boulders, or megaliths, carefully chiselled at specific places to give them forms.
The megaliths are arranged in a big circle, and when corroborated with the movement of the sun resemble a gigantic calendar. At least three of these megaliths are aligned towards the rising of the sun; other stones are aligned to the cardinal points of Earth: north, south, east and west.
The Goan witnessed one of the many astronomical events that have been painstakingly tracked and chronicled by Sarvesh Borkar, a Margao resident who works as an oil refinery operations controller in Iran, but was fascinated by the rough circle of stones of various shapes that lie in a loose, unexplained formation deep inside Cabo de Rama Fort.
This site that Borkar proudly calls kaalchakra (calendar) promises to turn Goa’s history clock by anywhere between thirty and seventy thousand years, and could well turn into another archaeological wonder of the world, akin to Stonehenge in England. Kaalchakra bears an uncanny resemblance to the famous Adam’s Calendar site of Mpumalanga in South Africa.
While Borkar had arrived at this discovery of the calendar after months of measuring and observations, The Goan checked on sophisticated global position systems and found that the megaliths were indeed perfectly aligned with the rise and fall of the sun. Other stones were found out to be in alignment with summer and winter solstices as well as spring and autumn equinoxes.
There is rock solid evidence that many pairs of these megaliths stones form straight lines to the sunrise and sunset points on the local horizon during both the solstices and the equinoxes. The relationship between the stones and the landscape can be seen to have been an important consideration for the builders.
"These boulders may have enabled this nomadic people to determine accurately the moon’s or sun’s progress as it may be an ancient sun dial," said Borkar. "These boulders may have been used as an astronomical calendar, with rocks aligned to point out the direction or lunar events. Orientational preferences of this megalithic monument seems to suggest an intentional orientation of several megaliths towards points of celestial significance on the local horizon."
In the 1970s, Ballabh Saran, the then in-charge of the excavation division of Archaeological Survey of India’s Southern Circle had found cupules (a circular man-made hollow on the surface of a rock or a rock slab) or peteroglyphs (stone engravings) inside Cabo de Rama.
While the state’s archaeology department has no records of that expedition or its findings, it is again Borkar who rediscovered the prehistoric megalithic findings from ancient Goa inside Cabo de Rama. Only he found more than what the state’s archaeology department is aware of.
The laterite plateau has petroglyphs engraved on the surface, including those of birds and animals, three to four cupules, fish-like engravings and some abstract geometrical images along with two water ponds. The plateau surface has been neatly cut into geographical features aligned with specific directions of the sun and the moon.
This is not the only site in Goa with such structures and carvings. At Pansaimol hamlet of Dhandolle village, midway between Rivona and Colomb, the rains transform a 100 by 50-metre solid laterite platform into a magic board of sorts, revealing scores of prehistoric images of bulls, bison, peacocks, dancing girls, a labyrinth and even a mother goddess, first discovered in May 1993 by Vithal Khandeparker and Kalidas Sawaikar.
While quite a few of the neighbouring villagers and local residents in the vicinity are aware of these engravings, what most of them are unaware of is the significance of the 500-square-metre rocky river bed.
This rock-engraved art gallery lies unprotected under the rains and harsh sun. Mud depositions from the rainwater runoff have settled in the engravings and filled them up. The site also serves as a thoroughfare for farm workers who cross the stony platform into the nearby farms across the river.
There is no fence that cordons off the site from callous picnickers or property encroachers. There is not even a signboard that explains the significance of this historical site and Goa government’s archaeology department has no official explanation to this monumental neglect.
At Cabo de Rama the entire site, the carvings in particular, are filled weeds and have been worn out with time and an exposure to the elements. But that’s also because this site has not been recognised by historians or the archaelogy department.
Without proper care and restoration, these little pieces of history could disappear altogether
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