Dolmen of Bandipur

Feb 12, 2019

Anyone traveling through Bandipur jungles would be looking out for wildlife. I was gazing into the woods hoping to see a tusker charge between trees or a glimpse of a baby elephant. No such luck but I saw a non-living object of great importance- a dolmen. The discovery of this dolmen was completely unexpected, a nice surprise. Obviously I had no clue about a prehistoric site in this part of our state Karnataka. I guess there were megalithic tombs all over Karnataka, many have been lost over time. Documenting the surviving ones is the least one could do.

Stopping vehicles on this road is prohibited, drivers are expected to drive at slow speeds and should not use horns. The restrictions are these for people's safety & not to disturb wildlife. Keeping that in mind, I asked the driver to stop for a couple of seconds to take a few photos. I shot this dolmen which was about 150' away in multi-shot mode. The dolmen seems to be made of granite slabs. The approximate dimensions are 3' high. 4' wide and 4' deep. Also, it looks like one of the four vertical slabs has been moved out of curiosity. In terms of looks & surface finish, this dolmen is closest to the dolmen near Bachangudda village, about 2 km from Pattadakal. However, the latter is larger and has two chambers.

I wonder if there are more such dolmen in the surrounding areas. Perhaps the forest rangers should know.

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