Rang Mahal is a village and an ancient
Kushan era archaeological site on Suratgarh-Hanumangarh road in
Suratgarh tehsil
Suratgarh tehsil (in Hindi and Rajasthani सूरतगढ़ तहसील ) is the largest administrative region (tehsil) in the Ganganagar district. It is bordered on the north by Padampur tehsil, on the west by Vijaynagar tehsil and Rais ...
of
Sri Ganganagar district
Sri Ganganagar district is the northernmost district of Rajasthan state in western India.
History
Named after Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner, Sri Ganganagar district was part of Bikaner state. This was a mostly uninhabited region. The his ...
in the
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...
. It can be reached from Hanumangarh, Pilibangan, Suratgarh. Suratgarh is the nearest major railway station to Rang mahal village.
Rang Mahal culture
Rang Mahal culture, a collection of more than 124 sites spread across Sriganganagar, Suratgarh, Sikar, Alwar and Jhunjhunu districts along the
palaeochannel
A palaeochannel, also spelt paleochannel and also known as palaeovalley or palaeoriver, is a geological term describing a remnant of an inactive river or stream channel that has been filled or buried by younger sediment. The sediments that the ...
of
Ghaggar-Hakra River
The Ghaggar-Hakra River is an intermittent river in India and Pakistan that flows only during the monsoon season. The river is known as Ghaggar in India, before the Ottu barrage, and as the Hakra in Pakistan, downstream of the barrage, ending ...
(
Sarasvati
Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati.
The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a go ...
-
Drishadvati rivers) dating to
Kushan (1st to 3rd CE) and
Gupta
Gupta () is a common surname or last name of Indian origin. It is based on the Sanskrit word गोप्तृ ''goptṛ'', which means 'guardian' or 'protector'. According to historian R. C. Majumdar, the surname ''Gupta'' was adopted by se ...
(4th to 7th CE) period, is named after the first archaeological ''
Theris'' excavated by the Swedish scientists at Rang Mahal village which is famous for the terracota of the early gupta period excavated from the ancient ''
theris'' in the village.
Bikaner history
[Hanna Rydh, 195]
Rang Mahal: The Swedish Archaeological Expedition to India, 1952-1954
page 42. The Rang Mahal culture is famed for the beautifully painted vases on red surface with floral, animal, bird and geometric designs painted in black.[Chedarambattu Margabandhu, 1991]
Indian Archaeological Heritage: Shri K.V. Soundara Rajan Festschrift
page 233.[Virendra N. Misra, 2007]
Rajasthan: prehistoric and early historic foundations
Page 62. Several of these sites have layers representing Harappan culture
The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900&n ...
, Painted Grey Ware culture
The Painted Grey Ware culture (PGW) is an Iron Age Indian culture of the western Gangetic plain and the Ghaggar-Hakra valley in the Indian subcontinent, conventionally dated 1200 to 600–500 BCE, or from 1300 to 500–300 BCE It is a successo ...
(PWC) associated with vedic period
The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (ca. 1300–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, betwe ...
and post-vedic Rangmahal culture.[Urmila Sant, 1997]
Terracotta Art of Rajasthan: From Pre-Harappan and Harappan Times to the Gupta Period
page 59. Some of the mounds are up to 35 and 40 ft in height, and some even had mud fortification walls around them.[1967]
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Page 140
References
See also
Black and red ware culture
Black and red ware (BRW) is a South Asian earthenware, associated with the neolithic phase, Harappa, Bronze Age India, Iron Age India, the megalithic and the early historical period. Although it is sometimes called an archaeological culture, the ...
Citations
Prehistoric India
Iron Age cultures of Asia
Archaeological cultures in India
Iron Age cultures of South Asia
Kushan Empire
Gupta Empire
Villages in Sri Ganganagar district
{{Rajasthan-geo-stub