COSMOLOGY: DELVING INTO THE MYSTERIES.
BY
DR.NITISH PRIYADARSHI
The Universe or the cosmos, as conceived today, consists of millions of galaxies. The Universe is infinite, both in time and space. The human conception of the Universe has, however, been different at different times over the long span of history of civilization. It was around 6th century BC that man started enquiring into the mysteries of the Universe in an endeavour to rationally analyze the earthly and the heavenly phenomena. They posed to them several questions. What is the Universe? Why things change? Why do things move? What is life? And so on. These questions were of far-reaching significance to the development of modern science.
All ancient civilizations made observations, often with astonishing accuracy, on the objects in the sky and their behavior. The position of the planets were recorded with respect to the backdrop of the fixed stars, which, fortunately, never seemed to change position and therefore provided a perfect grid for plotting planetary positions. That keen interest in the motions of the celestial bodies was prompted by the common belief that these bodies ruled human events. Ancient astronomy was in fact astrology. It remained astrology through the Renaissance. Kepler himself believed in astrology and drew up horoscopes for his sponsor, the emperor Rudolf and for the potentates at Rudolf’s court.
The Universe is now expanding. It will slow down, stop, and then collapse over itself in giant cosmocrunch, some 100 billion years in the future. All particles will collapse into a “singularity”, a point of extremely high (perhaps infinite) density and extremely high (perhaps infinite) temperature.
How and when did the Universe come into existence? We do have an idea of when (between 10 and 20 billion years ago), but how is the another story. In the ancient, unmechanised world of hunters and gatherers there was virtually no contact between region and tribes. Explanations of the earth and the heavens-fanciful primitive cosmologies-were devised by the people in every part of the world and transmitted orally from generation to generation. Such conceptions were at first almost wholly religious, and it was only with the invention some 3500 or 4000 years BC that it became possible to record observations and thus to begin the long journey toward scientific understanding of the Universe.
The Assyrians and the Sumerians, the inhabitants of Mesopotamia made the earliest recorded astronomical observations. At early development was the recognition of certain star patterns, the constellations, which serve as readily recognizable signposts in the sky. Another contribution of these early astronomers was the recognition of the twelve signs of the zodiac. Since the sun spends about thirty days in each of these visions, the transition to the concept of a twelve-month year was easy and most inevitable.
Sumerian astronomers were the first to divide the circle into 360 equal parts; the so-called degrees of the arc still in the universal use. Aside from their observations the Sumerians believed that the earth was the center of the Universe and was floating on the ocean.
Neither the Egyptians nor the ancient Hebrews advanced much beyond astrology in their cosmologies. The Egyptians believed the Universe to be kind of rectangular box oriented from north to south, like the valley of Nile, with Egypt situated at the center of the upper surface. The ancient Jews believed that the earth was flat and supported on the stones.
Meanwhile, in the Far East the Chinese were developing cosmologies essentially unrelated to those of the Mediterranean world. Chinese astronomers started recording observations of comets as early as the seventh century BC, building archives that have been invaluable to western astronomers. The most famous observations is perhaps the description of the sudden appearance of a “guest star” on 4 July 1054, which was so bright that for three weeks it was even visible in the daytime. The phenomenon was actually the supernova explosion that produce the Crab Nebula.
In “Bhagavad-Gita”(Hindu holy book), according to Jefferson Hane Weaver in his book “The world of Physics”, God is portrayed as eternal and all powerful. God is the great creator who began and will one day end the Universe. According to the Hindu calendar, as recorded in the ancient books of Vedic philosophy, the year AD 1977 corresponds to 1,972,949,078 years since the present world came into existence. According to a famous geologist, Arthur Holmes, this astonishing concept of the earth’s duration has at least the merit of being of the right order.
Cladius Ptolemaus, generally known by the Anglicized form of his name Ptolemy, lived in Alexandria, Egypt, in the second century AD. From 127 to 141 he was active as an astronomer, gathering the mathematical data that served as the basis for the most detailed geocentric cosmology ever formulated. Ptolemy’s cosmology was prompted by his conviction that the Universe must be spherical because only the sphere is perfect. He decided that stars must move in circles for the same reason. According to Hebrew document, God’s first creation was not heaven and earth but light that is, photons-a view that must delight all supporters of the “Big Bang” theory or hypothesis.
In 1543, Polish astronomer Copernicus argued that the Sun, and not the Earth, was the centre of the Universe.
In 1650 Bishop James Ussher, an Irish clergyman, published Annals of the Old and New Testaments, a volume in which he demonstrated to his own satisfaction that creation occurred at precisely 9.30 on the morning of 28 October 4004 BC That day must have been Monday because the Sabbath, when God rested, was seven days later. Stephen Hawking, the noted British cosmologist, disagrees with Bishop Ussher. Like most cosmologists today, Hawking is convinced that the Universe came into existence between time 0 and the following trillionth of a second about fifteen billion years ago.
The conception of the Universe was further widened in the 19th century when the British astronomer, Herschel, came out with his observation that the Universe was not limited to the solar system, but it was must vaster than that. The solar system, according to Herschel, was only a small part of a much bigger star system, called the galaxy.
Efforts are continuing to unfold the mysteries of the Universe, several new galaxies have been discovered, but many million others remain undetected so far.
Nitish Priyadarshi
Geologist
And Fellow Member of Geological Society of India
76,circular road,
Ranchi-834001,Jharkhand,
India.
Tel.No.- 091-0651-2562909, 2562895
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Concept of Ancient Warming in stories of Indian Tribes
DID GLOBAL WARMING KILLED ANCIENT INDIAN TRIBES?
By
DR. NITISH PRIYADARSHI
In recent years, the scenario of future global environment is haunting the man as the present environmental changes (e.g. global warming) pose considerable danger to his own existence and environment. He is presently struggling to understand as to what will be the nature and extent of these changes in the next hundred years.
Is global warming a recent phenomenon? No it is not. Our planet has passed through several warming phases as proved by different geological evidence. The history of earth's climate, is characterized by change. Times of glaciation on the earth have followed by warm intervals and the duration of years of both cold and warm intervals has varied by several orders of magnitude.
Other than scientific evidences some of the Indian Tribes of Jharkhand State indicate in their Folk stories warming as a measure factor of disaster in ancient times, which killed many people. It is not million years old but it may happened eight thousand to ten thousand years from today. They have no scientific way of presentation. They expressed global warming in the form of Fire Rain, which God showered from Heaven to destroy the evil people.
The Mundas (the ancient tribe of India) are said to have been created by Sing Bonga- the Sun God or supreme deity of the Mundas. Mundas stories of ancient warming relate in a story form: -
"It was long- long before the dawn of the human history. The earth was yet in its infancy. Sing Bonga " the dreaded lord of time" was seated on his throne of gold, engaged in happy converse with his heavenly consort. But the heavenly pair had not long been thus agreeably occupied, when they were disturbed in their dalliance by an intolerable heat, which suddenly surcharged the thin atmosphere of heaven. And just at that moment, there went up from the beasts that roamed the earth below piteous complaints to Sing Bonga's throne on high. "The heat emanating from the iron-smelting furnaces of the Asur tribe (one of the primitive tribe of Jharkhand State)," so ran the complaints," this heat is drying up the streams, the tanks and the pools, and scorching up all the vegetation. We are dying of hunger and thrust. Nor do the birds of the air nor the worms that crawl on the earth find any food to eat or water to drink.
According to historical and anthropological studies, in ancient days Asurs the mighty tribe use to make arms by melting rocks rich in iron.
In other popular story: -
"Mankind threw off their allegiance to Sing Bonga. Sing Bonga there upon sent a warning to men on Earth through His servant bird 'Kaua Bhandari' (crow, the steward) and 'Lipi Susari' (Lipi the cook). But men refused to obey Sing Bonga. Enraged at the impious contumacy of man, Sing Bonga showered down on the earth below a terrible rain of fire to destroy mankind".
Here rain of fire can be interpreted as scorching heat at that time which affected human civilization.
In another story when social distinctions were assigned to the various tribes, the Marndis were overlooked. Ambir Singh and Bir Singh, two members of that tribe from Mount Here, were incensed at this slight, and they prayed for fire from heaven to destroy the other tribes. Fire fell and devastated the country, destroying half the population. The home of Ambir Singh and Bir Singh was stone, so they escaped unhurt.
According to Santal tribe of Bengal and Jharkhand: -
" When Pilchu Haram and Pilchu Budhi, the first man and Woman, reached adolescence, fire rain fell for seven days".
In Ho tribe of Jharkhand the myth of destruction of human kind is said to based on the story which tells that the first people became incestuous and un needful of God. Sirma Thakoor, or Sing Bonga, the creator destroyed them by fire.
Throughout the history of different ancient tribes of India there are numerous similar examples of the effect of warming or climate change on the mankind.
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi
Geologist
Email: rch_nitishp@sancharnet.in
Monday, September 10, 2007
Radioactivity at Jadugoda in India
RADIATION- AN INVISIBLE ENEMY IN JADUGODA URANIUM MINES OF INDIA.
BY
DR. NITISH PRIYADARSHI
It is told that the population of Jharkhand is about 100 million and 26 million people live around its capital Ranchi including a circum-ference part. There is West Bengal State on the east side and Orissa State on the south side.
Jharkhand state has the long slender area called "East Singhbhum". It lies between West Bengal and Orissa. Tatanagar is a part of the area and three uranium mines, Narwapahar, Bhatin and Jadugoda, are near there. These uranium mines are managed by UCIL (Uranium Corporation of India Limited), the government enterprise of India.
The position of the central part of Jadugoda is east longitude 86-degree 20 minutes, and northlatitude 22-degree 40 minutes. It is 24km from the Tatanagar station to Jadugoda in a straight line. The area around mines is mountainous land where the India aborigines have lived.
Exposure to nuclear radiation is affecting the health of miners and villagers at Jadugoda in Singhbhum district in Jharkhand State located in Eastern India, which is India’s first uranium mining. Jadugoda, literally meaning "magic land", intrigues an outsider. The promise of magic enthralls; the mystery of the unknown attracts. But closeness reveals not innocence but an intention, dangerous and deliberate. According to different N.G.Os working among the tribal peoples of Singhbhum said the radiation may not bring sudden dramatic illness but slowly undermines the health of the people living in the surrounding villages. A health survey carried out by the State Health Department, to investigate the radiation effects, found 31 out of 712 people to be suffering from health disorders, which may be due to exposure to radiation.
The diseases include blood in cough, ulcer, swelling of bone joints, asthma, eye problems, etc.
The earliest reference to uranium mineral in India appeared in a German publication in 1860, in which Emil Stoehr recorded the occurrence of "Copper Uranite" at Lopso hill in Singhbhum. A huge tonnage of low-grade uranium ore rock is available which can yield 3000 to 4000 tonnes of uranium. At Jaduguda, the lodes are mainly confined to the conglomerates and granulated chlorite-quartz-tourmaline-magnetite rock. Workable deposits of uranium ore in this region have been proved up to 600 meters depth and the ore is being produced from this area.
Mining is done by cut and fill methods. Broken ore is fed to an underground crusher and the sized material skip hoisted to the surface by a 1033 foot vertical shaft. The geology of the mine area exhibits a zone of metamorphosed, sheared and metasomatized sediments in which uranium mineralisation has taken place within a measured area about 1000 meters in length by atleast 420 meters in depth. Indicated ore reserves at Jadugoda are estimated at 2.8 million tonnes with an average grade of about 0.08 % Uranium oxide. The production of Uranium ore at Jadugoda is reported to be 1000 tonnes per day.
In the early 1960s, the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) pitched its tents in Jaragoda, a land surrounded by forests and hills. The indigenous Santhali and Ho inhabitants called their land thus after a plant called Jarabindi, which grows here in abundance and is considered very beneficial since oil extracted from its seeds is used for healing purposes. The healing touch of Jarabindi had given way to the secrets of nuclear matters. Jaragoda had now become Jadugoda.
Uranium for the country’s nuclear programme is mined here from three underground mines. A fourth mine was inaugurated in Turamdih in Jamshedpur block in Jharkhand State. UCIL is planning to open an other uranium mine at Bagjata panchayat in Mosabani.
The sources said, besides Bagjata, UCIL has also decided to open new mining sites at Meghalaya and Andhra Pradesh where surveillance work is on.
Other than mines there are three tailing ponds; a fourth is in the offing. The contents of these dams are highly radioactive, said local sources.
According to a journalist Bela Bhatia, one widespread response of the birds and animals to the contaminated environment has been migration. Now all the Lippis (name of the bird) have gone, only Lippiguttu (name of the place) remains. So abundant were they in this region that villages were named after them.
The people in the Jadugoda area are affected not only by radiation from tailing dams but also by lack of safety at the mines. Fatigue, lack of appetite, respiratory ailments are wide spread. Increases in miscarriages, impotency, infant mortality, Down’s syndrome, skeletal deformities and different skin diseases, children with big heads, thalassemia have been reported. The incidence of tuberculosis among the miners is very high.
One women of nearby Tilaitand village says that her husband deserted her because she could not get pregnant. Her villain: uranium mining. Other tribal women says her two children were born deformed at birth and were killed soon after. "The earth here is poisoned,'' she said.
Actually, the number of deformed children could have been much more. So many others either die or are killed soon after birth,'' said one social worker.
He admits that the deformities and diseases had been there even before the UCIL began mining here in 1967 but alleges that most of the victims are families of miners and workers at the tailing ponds where nuclear waste is deposited after enriched uranium is extracted from the ore.
Even though the retirement age is 60 years, rarely does one meet a uranium miner who has retired after serving his full term, alleged local N.G.O.s.
After the uranium ore is mined and processed here, the "yellow cake'" is sent to the Nuclear Fuel Complex in Hyderabad for enrichment. The waste is then brought back to the UCIL complex for further extraction, after which the dust is dumped, into the ponds.
In the view of the uranium mining around the densely populated area, the environmental base line data should be generated and analysed periodically, to study the impact on environment in the region. Periodical analysis of water contamination due to radioactivity should be done. Perhaps the major radio pollution in water is caused by uranium ore which contains 2 to 5 ponds of uraninite per tonne.
It is incorrect to say that persons living around Jadugoda are suffering from certain diseases because of radiation, said some geologists. According to them causes may be some other toxic metals like arsenic, mercury, floride, lead or chromium. Malnutrition may also be one of the factors responsible for tuberculosis, miscarriages etc. They suggested detail chemical analysis of the groundwater and soils in and around Jadugoda.
For more information contact:
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi
Geologist
Fellow Member Geological Society of India,
76 circular road Ranchi-834001
email: rch_nitishp@sancharnet.in
BY
DR. NITISH PRIYADARSHI
It is told that the population of Jharkhand is about 100 million and 26 million people live around its capital Ranchi including a circum-ference part. There is West Bengal State on the east side and Orissa State on the south side.
Jharkhand state has the long slender area called "East Singhbhum". It lies between West Bengal and Orissa. Tatanagar is a part of the area and three uranium mines, Narwapahar, Bhatin and Jadugoda, are near there. These uranium mines are managed by UCIL (Uranium Corporation of India Limited), the government enterprise of India.
The position of the central part of Jadugoda is east longitude 86-degree 20 minutes, and northlatitude 22-degree 40 minutes. It is 24km from the Tatanagar station to Jadugoda in a straight line. The area around mines is mountainous land where the India aborigines have lived.
Exposure to nuclear radiation is affecting the health of miners and villagers at Jadugoda in Singhbhum district in Jharkhand State located in Eastern India, which is India’s first uranium mining. Jadugoda, literally meaning "magic land", intrigues an outsider. The promise of magic enthralls; the mystery of the unknown attracts. But closeness reveals not innocence but an intention, dangerous and deliberate. According to different N.G.Os working among the tribal peoples of Singhbhum said the radiation may not bring sudden dramatic illness but slowly undermines the health of the people living in the surrounding villages. A health survey carried out by the State Health Department, to investigate the radiation effects, found 31 out of 712 people to be suffering from health disorders, which may be due to exposure to radiation.
The diseases include blood in cough, ulcer, swelling of bone joints, asthma, eye problems, etc.
The earliest reference to uranium mineral in India appeared in a German publication in 1860, in which Emil Stoehr recorded the occurrence of "Copper Uranite" at Lopso hill in Singhbhum. A huge tonnage of low-grade uranium ore rock is available which can yield 3000 to 4000 tonnes of uranium. At Jaduguda, the lodes are mainly confined to the conglomerates and granulated chlorite-quartz-tourmaline-magnetite rock. Workable deposits of uranium ore in this region have been proved up to 600 meters depth and the ore is being produced from this area.
Mining is done by cut and fill methods. Broken ore is fed to an underground crusher and the sized material skip hoisted to the surface by a 1033 foot vertical shaft. The geology of the mine area exhibits a zone of metamorphosed, sheared and metasomatized sediments in which uranium mineralisation has taken place within a measured area about 1000 meters in length by atleast 420 meters in depth. Indicated ore reserves at Jadugoda are estimated at 2.8 million tonnes with an average grade of about 0.08 % Uranium oxide. The production of Uranium ore at Jadugoda is reported to be 1000 tonnes per day.
In the early 1960s, the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) pitched its tents in Jaragoda, a land surrounded by forests and hills. The indigenous Santhali and Ho inhabitants called their land thus after a plant called Jarabindi, which grows here in abundance and is considered very beneficial since oil extracted from its seeds is used for healing purposes. The healing touch of Jarabindi had given way to the secrets of nuclear matters. Jaragoda had now become Jadugoda.
Uranium for the country’s nuclear programme is mined here from three underground mines. A fourth mine was inaugurated in Turamdih in Jamshedpur block in Jharkhand State. UCIL is planning to open an other uranium mine at Bagjata panchayat in Mosabani.
The sources said, besides Bagjata, UCIL has also decided to open new mining sites at Meghalaya and Andhra Pradesh where surveillance work is on.
Other than mines there are three tailing ponds; a fourth is in the offing. The contents of these dams are highly radioactive, said local sources.
According to a journalist Bela Bhatia, one widespread response of the birds and animals to the contaminated environment has been migration. Now all the Lippis (name of the bird) have gone, only Lippiguttu (name of the place) remains. So abundant were they in this region that villages were named after them.
The people in the Jadugoda area are affected not only by radiation from tailing dams but also by lack of safety at the mines. Fatigue, lack of appetite, respiratory ailments are wide spread. Increases in miscarriages, impotency, infant mortality, Down’s syndrome, skeletal deformities and different skin diseases, children with big heads, thalassemia have been reported. The incidence of tuberculosis among the miners is very high.
One women of nearby Tilaitand village says that her husband deserted her because she could not get pregnant. Her villain: uranium mining. Other tribal women says her two children were born deformed at birth and were killed soon after. "The earth here is poisoned,'' she said.
Actually, the number of deformed children could have been much more. So many others either die or are killed soon after birth,'' said one social worker.
He admits that the deformities and diseases had been there even before the UCIL began mining here in 1967 but alleges that most of the victims are families of miners and workers at the tailing ponds where nuclear waste is deposited after enriched uranium is extracted from the ore.
Even though the retirement age is 60 years, rarely does one meet a uranium miner who has retired after serving his full term, alleged local N.G.O.s.
After the uranium ore is mined and processed here, the "yellow cake'" is sent to the Nuclear Fuel Complex in Hyderabad for enrichment. The waste is then brought back to the UCIL complex for further extraction, after which the dust is dumped, into the ponds.
In the view of the uranium mining around the densely populated area, the environmental base line data should be generated and analysed periodically, to study the impact on environment in the region. Periodical analysis of water contamination due to radioactivity should be done. Perhaps the major radio pollution in water is caused by uranium ore which contains 2 to 5 ponds of uraninite per tonne.
It is incorrect to say that persons living around Jadugoda are suffering from certain diseases because of radiation, said some geologists. According to them causes may be some other toxic metals like arsenic, mercury, floride, lead or chromium. Malnutrition may also be one of the factors responsible for tuberculosis, miscarriages etc. They suggested detail chemical analysis of the groundwater and soils in and around Jadugoda.
For more information contact:
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi
Geologist
Fellow Member Geological Society of India,
76 circular road Ranchi-834001
email: rch_nitishp@sancharnet.in
Sunday, September 2, 2007
India had the Atomic Power in Ancient days
ATOMIC WARFARE IN ANCIENT INDIA
Was India Atomic in Ancient days
BY
DR. NITISH PRIYADARSHI
Our own culture, if we assume a starting point of 4000 B.C. has progressed from primitive agriculture and herding to nuclear fission is only 6,000 years. Considering the age of mankind, there has been ample time for other cultures to have arrived at a level roughly corresponding to ours. A re-examination of some of the ancient records that have come down to us might give some indication of man kind having previously attained our present aptitude for destruction. While there are hints of great blastings of the earth’s surface in the Bible (Sodom and Gomorrah), the Greek myths, and many of the legends of the Indians of North and South America, it is in the ancient records of India, copied and recopied from prehistoric antiquity, that we find, described in considerable detail, the use and effect of what closely resembles atomic explosions in warfare.
Unexpected references to such recent developments of our technological civilization are present in many of the ancient books of India, which, unlike so many records of the Western world, escaped burning and destruction.
These references deal, almost as if they were written today instead of thousands of years ago, with such matters as the relatively of time and space, cosmic rays, the law of gravity, radiation, the kinetic nature of energy, and the atomic theory.
The Vaisesika school of science philosophers of ancient India developed or preserved the theory that atoms were in incessant motion. Kanad who was the founder of Vaisesika system of Indian thoughts admits that substances are made of atom. Atoms are the smallest, indivisible part of substances. Atom cannot be broken up further. Substances are the result of combination of atoms. They subdivided the measure of time into a series of incredible fractions of seconds, the most infinitesimal being considered as the ‘period taken by an atom to traverse its own unit of space’.
Surprisingly modern-sounding references abound in the Mahabharata, a gigantic compendium of over 200,000 verses dealing with the creation of the cosmos, religion, prayers, customs, history, and legends about the gods and heroes of ancient India. It is supposed to have been originally written 3,500 years ago, but it refers to events that reputedly took place thousands of years before that. Among the verses of the Mahabharata, there are a number that contain vivid descriptions of what seem to be a firsthand view of atomic warfare.
When Western students of philosophy and religion, in the 1880s, were able to read and study the Mahabharata (a translation had been completed in 1884), they naturally considered as poetic fancy the frequent and curiously detailed references to ancient airships (Vimanas), with instructions of how they were powered and how to recognize enemy aircraft. There were even more puzzling references to a weapon to paralyze enemy armies ( mohanastra- ‘the arrow of unconsciousness’) as well as description of two story sky chariots with many windows ejecting red flame that race up into the sky until they look like comets… to the regions of both the sun and stars.
Other mysterious weapons mentioned in the Mahabharata were, different kinds of artillery and rockets, ‘bullets of iron’, lead shot, rocket bombs capable of reducing city gates, and the agneyastras, cylindrical cannons which made a noise like thunder.
It is in ancient Indian epic poems such as The Mahabharata and The Ramayana that we can read what appear to be references to an otherwise relatively primitive people having the capacity to wield highly destructive nuclear weapons. Not surprisingly it is as a direct consequence of such compelling passages that many UFOlogists like Erich Vor Daniken and W.R. Drake, have argued that the highly advanced capacity to use (and misuse) nuclear weaponry must have being handed down to these ancient people by the gods or, in other words, highly- advanced extra-terrestrial spaceman.
Reading through the various passages of The Ramayana and The Mahabharata with an eye to references of destructive nuclear type weapons certainly does lend itself to believing such claims, too. The evidence does appear to be highly compelling. For instance on p.383 of the Drona Parva we come across the following lines which certainly could be constructed as evidence of the loathsome effects of detonating a nuclear weapon of some sorts:
“Encompassed by them (bowmen)… Bhisma smiting the while and uttering a leonine roar took up and hurried at them with great force a fierce mace of destruction of hostile ranks. The mace of adamantine strength, hurled like Indra’s thunder by Indra himself, crushed, O King, thy soldiers in battle. And it seemed to fill… the whole earth with a loud noise. And blazing forth in splendour, that fierce mace inspired thy sons with fear. Beholding that mace of impetuous course and endowed with lightening flashes coursing towards them, thy warriors fled away uttering frightful cries. And at the unbelievable sound… of that fiery mace, many men fell down where they stood and many car (vimana or flying vehicle) warriors also fell down from their cars.”
On p. 677 of the Drona Parva we can read more about the devastating effects of Asvatthaman wielding his awesome ‘Agneya’ weapon:
“ The sun seemed to turn around. The universe scorched with heats seemed to be in a ever. The elephants and other of the land scorched by the energy of weapon, ran in fright, breathing heavily and desirous of protection against that terrible force…”.
Also in the very same passage: “A thick gloom suddenly shrouded the … host. All points of the compass also were enveloped by that darkness. Rakshashas and Vicocha crowding together uttered fierce cries. Inauspicious winds began to blow.”
All in all such descriptive passages amount to compelling and frightening stuff. As Drake says on p.49 of Gods And Spacemen In The Ancient East (Sphere, 1976): “Arjuna and his companions (our warrior heroes in The Mahabarata) appear(ed) to possess an arsenal of diverse, sophisticated nuclear weapons, equal to, perhaps surpassing, the missiles of the Americans and Russians today”. Vor Daniken also seems to agree.
An account is also recorded in Mahabarata of the meeting of the two missiles in the air.” “The two weapons met each other in mid air. Then earth with all her mountains and seas and trees began to tremble, and all living creatures were heated with energy of the weapons and greatly affected. The skies blazed and the ten points of the horizon became filled with smoke”.
In a similar vein to the above mention of awesome and devastating mention of weapons in The Mahabarata, The Ramayana also seems to make mention of such weapons, too. For instance in the tale of ‘Rama and Sita’ the king promises Rama that if he succeeds in bending a certain immensely powerful bow, he will have his daughter, Sita, the princess born from the earth. “Straight away the King gave the orders: five thousand well-built men strained to drag the eight-wheeled iron cart which contained the divine weapon. Try, commanded the devout king, and effortlessly Rama seized the bow and drew it. He bent it to such an extent that he broke it and the sound that the string made in breaking struck fear in everyone who witnessed it, explained Dr. Sushila Mishra, expert of ancient history and retired head of the department of history Ranchi University, Ranchi.
According to Dr. Mahendra Singh, Professor of history, Ranchi University, Sanskrit texts are filled with references to Gods who fought battles in the sky using Vimanas equipped with weapons as deadly as any we can deploy in these more enlightened times. For example, there is a passage in the Ramayana which reads: The Puspaka car that resembles the Sun and belongs to my brother was brought by the powerful Ravan; that aerial and excellent car going everywhere at will.... that car resembling a bright cloud in the sky.
".. and the King [Rama] got in, and the excellent car at the command of the Raghira, rose up into the higher atmosphere."
In the Mahabharatra, an ancient Indian poem of enormous length, we learn that an individual named Asura Maya had a Vimana measuring twelve cubits in circumference, with four strong wheels. The poem is a veritable gold mine of information relating to conflicts between gods who settled their differences apparently using weapons as lethal as the ones we are capable of deploying, said Dr. V.S. Upadhyay an Anthropoligist.
Apart from 'blazing missiles', the poem records the use of other deadly weapons. 'Indra's Dart' operated via a circular 'reflector'. When switched on, it produced a 'shaft of light' which, when focused on any target, immediately 'consumed it with its power'.
In one particular exchange, the hero, Krishna, is pursuing his enemy, Salva, in the sky, when Salva's Vimana, the Saubha is made invisible in some way. Undeterred, Krishna immediately fires off a special weapon: 'I quickly laid on an arrow, which killed by seeking out sound', explained Dr. Upadhyay.
Many other terrible weapons are described, in the Mahabharata, but the most fearsome of all is the one used against the Vrishis.
The narrative records:
Gurkha flying in his swift and powerful Vimana hurled against the three cities of the Vrishis and Andhakas a single projectile charged with all the power of the Universe. An incandescent column of smoke and fire, as brilliant as ten thousands suns, rose in all its splendor. It was the unknown weapon, the Iron Thunderbolt, a gigantic messenger of death which reduced to ashes the entire race of the Vrishnis and Andhakas.
The great war described in the Mahabharata is thought by many to refer to the ‘Aryan’ invasion of the Indian sub-continent from the north.
According to World Island Review, January 1992, a heavy layer of radioactive ash in Rajasthan, India was found which covers a three-square mile area, ten miles west of Jodhpur. Scientists were investigating the site, where a housing development was being built.
For some time it has been established that there is a very high rate of birth defects and cancer in the area under construction. Scientists have unearthed an ancient city where evidence shows an atomic blast dating back thousands of years, from 8,000 to 12,000 years, destroyed most of the buildings and probably a half-million people. One researchers estimates that the nuclear bomb used was about the size of the ones dropped on Japan in 1945.
The Mahabharata clearly describes a catastrophic blast that rocked the continent. "A single projectile charged with all the power in the Universe...An incandescent column of smoke and flame as bright as 10,000 suns, rose in all its splendor...it was an unknown weapon, an iron thunderbolt, a gigantic messenger of death which reduced to ashes an entire race.
"The corpses were so burned as to be unrecognizable. Their hair and nails fell out, pottery broke without any apparent cause, and the birds turned white.
"After a few hours, all foodstuffs were infected. To escape from this fire, the soldiers threw themselves into the river."
Archeologist Francis Taylor says that etchings in some nearby temples he has managed to translate suggest that they prayed to be spared from the great light that was coming to lay ruin to the city. "It's so mid-boggling to imagine that some civilization had nuclear technology before we did. The radioactive ash adds credibility to the ancient Indian records that describe atomic warfare."
Construction has halted while the five member team conducts the investigation. The foreman of the project is Lee Hundley, who pioneered the investigation after the high level of radiation was discovered.
It is pertinent to point out, however, that skeletons discovered in the extremely ancient sites of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, Pakistan, have been found to be exteremely radioactive. Practically nothing is known of the histories of these very ancient cities except that they were suddenly destroyed.
Address:
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi
Independent Geologist and Environmentalist
76, circular road,
Ranchi-834001
Jharkhand
India.
Tel.no. 091-0651-2562895® 2562909®
Email: rch_nitishp@sancharnet.in
Was India Atomic in Ancient days
BY
DR. NITISH PRIYADARSHI
Our own culture, if we assume a starting point of 4000 B.C. has progressed from primitive agriculture and herding to nuclear fission is only 6,000 years. Considering the age of mankind, there has been ample time for other cultures to have arrived at a level roughly corresponding to ours. A re-examination of some of the ancient records that have come down to us might give some indication of man kind having previously attained our present aptitude for destruction. While there are hints of great blastings of the earth’s surface in the Bible (Sodom and Gomorrah), the Greek myths, and many of the legends of the Indians of North and South America, it is in the ancient records of India, copied and recopied from prehistoric antiquity, that we find, described in considerable detail, the use and effect of what closely resembles atomic explosions in warfare.
Unexpected references to such recent developments of our technological civilization are present in many of the ancient books of India, which, unlike so many records of the Western world, escaped burning and destruction.
These references deal, almost as if they were written today instead of thousands of years ago, with such matters as the relatively of time and space, cosmic rays, the law of gravity, radiation, the kinetic nature of energy, and the atomic theory.
The Vaisesika school of science philosophers of ancient India developed or preserved the theory that atoms were in incessant motion. Kanad who was the founder of Vaisesika system of Indian thoughts admits that substances are made of atom. Atoms are the smallest, indivisible part of substances. Atom cannot be broken up further. Substances are the result of combination of atoms. They subdivided the measure of time into a series of incredible fractions of seconds, the most infinitesimal being considered as the ‘period taken by an atom to traverse its own unit of space’.
Surprisingly modern-sounding references abound in the Mahabharata, a gigantic compendium of over 200,000 verses dealing with the creation of the cosmos, religion, prayers, customs, history, and legends about the gods and heroes of ancient India. It is supposed to have been originally written 3,500 years ago, but it refers to events that reputedly took place thousands of years before that. Among the verses of the Mahabharata, there are a number that contain vivid descriptions of what seem to be a firsthand view of atomic warfare.
When Western students of philosophy and religion, in the 1880s, were able to read and study the Mahabharata (a translation had been completed in 1884), they naturally considered as poetic fancy the frequent and curiously detailed references to ancient airships (Vimanas), with instructions of how they were powered and how to recognize enemy aircraft. There were even more puzzling references to a weapon to paralyze enemy armies ( mohanastra- ‘the arrow of unconsciousness’) as well as description of two story sky chariots with many windows ejecting red flame that race up into the sky until they look like comets… to the regions of both the sun and stars.
Other mysterious weapons mentioned in the Mahabharata were, different kinds of artillery and rockets, ‘bullets of iron’, lead shot, rocket bombs capable of reducing city gates, and the agneyastras, cylindrical cannons which made a noise like thunder.
It is in ancient Indian epic poems such as The Mahabharata and The Ramayana that we can read what appear to be references to an otherwise relatively primitive people having the capacity to wield highly destructive nuclear weapons. Not surprisingly it is as a direct consequence of such compelling passages that many UFOlogists like Erich Vor Daniken and W.R. Drake, have argued that the highly advanced capacity to use (and misuse) nuclear weaponry must have being handed down to these ancient people by the gods or, in other words, highly- advanced extra-terrestrial spaceman.
Reading through the various passages of The Ramayana and The Mahabharata with an eye to references of destructive nuclear type weapons certainly does lend itself to believing such claims, too. The evidence does appear to be highly compelling. For instance on p.383 of the Drona Parva we come across the following lines which certainly could be constructed as evidence of the loathsome effects of detonating a nuclear weapon of some sorts:
“Encompassed by them (bowmen)… Bhisma smiting the while and uttering a leonine roar took up and hurried at them with great force a fierce mace of destruction of hostile ranks. The mace of adamantine strength, hurled like Indra’s thunder by Indra himself, crushed, O King, thy soldiers in battle. And it seemed to fill… the whole earth with a loud noise. And blazing forth in splendour, that fierce mace inspired thy sons with fear. Beholding that mace of impetuous course and endowed with lightening flashes coursing towards them, thy warriors fled away uttering frightful cries. And at the unbelievable sound… of that fiery mace, many men fell down where they stood and many car (vimana or flying vehicle) warriors also fell down from their cars.”
On p. 677 of the Drona Parva we can read more about the devastating effects of Asvatthaman wielding his awesome ‘Agneya’ weapon:
“ The sun seemed to turn around. The universe scorched with heats seemed to be in a ever. The elephants and other of the land scorched by the energy of weapon, ran in fright, breathing heavily and desirous of protection against that terrible force…”.
Also in the very same passage: “A thick gloom suddenly shrouded the … host. All points of the compass also were enveloped by that darkness. Rakshashas and Vicocha crowding together uttered fierce cries. Inauspicious winds began to blow.”
All in all such descriptive passages amount to compelling and frightening stuff. As Drake says on p.49 of Gods And Spacemen In The Ancient East (Sphere, 1976): “Arjuna and his companions (our warrior heroes in The Mahabarata) appear(ed) to possess an arsenal of diverse, sophisticated nuclear weapons, equal to, perhaps surpassing, the missiles of the Americans and Russians today”. Vor Daniken also seems to agree.
An account is also recorded in Mahabarata of the meeting of the two missiles in the air.” “The two weapons met each other in mid air. Then earth with all her mountains and seas and trees began to tremble, and all living creatures were heated with energy of the weapons and greatly affected. The skies blazed and the ten points of the horizon became filled with smoke”.
In a similar vein to the above mention of awesome and devastating mention of weapons in The Mahabarata, The Ramayana also seems to make mention of such weapons, too. For instance in the tale of ‘Rama and Sita’ the king promises Rama that if he succeeds in bending a certain immensely powerful bow, he will have his daughter, Sita, the princess born from the earth. “Straight away the King gave the orders: five thousand well-built men strained to drag the eight-wheeled iron cart which contained the divine weapon. Try, commanded the devout king, and effortlessly Rama seized the bow and drew it. He bent it to such an extent that he broke it and the sound that the string made in breaking struck fear in everyone who witnessed it, explained Dr. Sushila Mishra, expert of ancient history and retired head of the department of history Ranchi University, Ranchi.
According to Dr. Mahendra Singh, Professor of history, Ranchi University, Sanskrit texts are filled with references to Gods who fought battles in the sky using Vimanas equipped with weapons as deadly as any we can deploy in these more enlightened times. For example, there is a passage in the Ramayana which reads: The Puspaka car that resembles the Sun and belongs to my brother was brought by the powerful Ravan; that aerial and excellent car going everywhere at will.... that car resembling a bright cloud in the sky.
".. and the King [Rama] got in, and the excellent car at the command of the Raghira, rose up into the higher atmosphere."
In the Mahabharatra, an ancient Indian poem of enormous length, we learn that an individual named Asura Maya had a Vimana measuring twelve cubits in circumference, with four strong wheels. The poem is a veritable gold mine of information relating to conflicts between gods who settled their differences apparently using weapons as lethal as the ones we are capable of deploying, said Dr. V.S. Upadhyay an Anthropoligist.
Apart from 'blazing missiles', the poem records the use of other deadly weapons. 'Indra's Dart' operated via a circular 'reflector'. When switched on, it produced a 'shaft of light' which, when focused on any target, immediately 'consumed it with its power'.
In one particular exchange, the hero, Krishna, is pursuing his enemy, Salva, in the sky, when Salva's Vimana, the Saubha is made invisible in some way. Undeterred, Krishna immediately fires off a special weapon: 'I quickly laid on an arrow, which killed by seeking out sound', explained Dr. Upadhyay.
Many other terrible weapons are described, in the Mahabharata, but the most fearsome of all is the one used against the Vrishis.
The narrative records:
Gurkha flying in his swift and powerful Vimana hurled against the three cities of the Vrishis and Andhakas a single projectile charged with all the power of the Universe. An incandescent column of smoke and fire, as brilliant as ten thousands suns, rose in all its splendor. It was the unknown weapon, the Iron Thunderbolt, a gigantic messenger of death which reduced to ashes the entire race of the Vrishnis and Andhakas.
The great war described in the Mahabharata is thought by many to refer to the ‘Aryan’ invasion of the Indian sub-continent from the north.
According to World Island Review, January 1992, a heavy layer of radioactive ash in Rajasthan, India was found which covers a three-square mile area, ten miles west of Jodhpur. Scientists were investigating the site, where a housing development was being built.
For some time it has been established that there is a very high rate of birth defects and cancer in the area under construction. Scientists have unearthed an ancient city where evidence shows an atomic blast dating back thousands of years, from 8,000 to 12,000 years, destroyed most of the buildings and probably a half-million people. One researchers estimates that the nuclear bomb used was about the size of the ones dropped on Japan in 1945.
The Mahabharata clearly describes a catastrophic blast that rocked the continent. "A single projectile charged with all the power in the Universe...An incandescent column of smoke and flame as bright as 10,000 suns, rose in all its splendor...it was an unknown weapon, an iron thunderbolt, a gigantic messenger of death which reduced to ashes an entire race.
"The corpses were so burned as to be unrecognizable. Their hair and nails fell out, pottery broke without any apparent cause, and the birds turned white.
"After a few hours, all foodstuffs were infected. To escape from this fire, the soldiers threw themselves into the river."
Archeologist Francis Taylor says that etchings in some nearby temples he has managed to translate suggest that they prayed to be spared from the great light that was coming to lay ruin to the city. "It's so mid-boggling to imagine that some civilization had nuclear technology before we did. The radioactive ash adds credibility to the ancient Indian records that describe atomic warfare."
Construction has halted while the five member team conducts the investigation. The foreman of the project is Lee Hundley, who pioneered the investigation after the high level of radiation was discovered.
It is pertinent to point out, however, that skeletons discovered in the extremely ancient sites of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, Pakistan, have been found to be exteremely radioactive. Practically nothing is known of the histories of these very ancient cities except that they were suddenly destroyed.
Address:
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi
Independent Geologist and Environmentalist
76, circular road,
Ranchi-834001
Jharkhand
India.
Tel.no. 091-0651-2562895® 2562909®
Email: rch_nitishp@sancharnet.in
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
History of Diamond mining in Jharkhand and Chattisgarh
SEARCH FOR DIAMONDS IN JHARKHAND AND CHATTISGARH IN INDIA.
BY
DR.NITISH PRIYADARSHI
Diamond, a gem amongst gems the crystallized carbon and the hardest mineral known is a rare gift from mother earth to humanity. With admantine luster and twinkling habit it fascinated men and women from time immemorial. To win diamonds temples have been profaned, palaces looted, thrones torn to fragments, princes tortured, women strangled, guests poisoned and slaves disemboweled. No strain of fancy in an Arabian Tale has outstripped the marvels of fact in the diamond’s history. So wrote Garner Williams, the General Manager of the renowned Diamond Company De Beers,.
Indians were the first to discover and produce diamonds since India happens to be the homeland of all historical diamonds. It was the only country known for diamonds to the entire world till another source was found in Borneo in 1728 and subsequently in Brazil and South Africa. Ancient Indian scriptures and other books like Artha Sastra, Brihat Samhita and travel accounts of Marco Polo and Tavernier have projected a glorious picture of the ancient Indian diamond Industry. India was a dreamland for merchants, sailors and kings. In popular belief India remained as the "Country of Diamonds" and was subjected to invasion, wars and plunder.
Dr. Valentine Ball in his "Manual of Geology of India" divided all Indian diamond occurrences into three groups. Of these the "Southern Group" in South India drained by the Pennar, Krishna and lower part of Godavari rivers. The "Eastern Group" lies in the valley of the Mahanadi river and its tributaries, the Mand and the Ebe with outliers in Chotanagpur (Jharkhand) and in the Chanda district of Central Provinces, the principal localities being Sambalpur, Hirakud, Sonpur, Sumelpur (Jharkhand), and Wairagarh. Lastly, the "Central Group" lies in the Bundhelkhand of the Central Provinces stretching from Panna Eastwards to Rewa and NorthEastwards towards Allahabad.
Diamonds in Jharkhand:
Diamonds were found in Kokkomaj, a region which probably included Chotanagpur (Jharkhand), and the reference in Mohammedan writings and the possession of diamonds by the local chiefs go to substantiate the tradition that the Sankh river( Sankh River originates from Rajadera village of Gumla District. It is one of the three main rivers flowing through the district. After traversing through Gumla, it enters Simdega District and flows towards Orissa. The river joins with the Brahmani River at Vedvyas near Rourkela did yield a number of more or less valuable gems. The Muhammadans were attracted to this region by its reputation for diamond and occasionally raided the area, and carried off plunder and a small tribute in the shape of a few diamonds, which were found at that time in the river Sankh.
In fact due to the greater contact which the Mughals had developed with Kokrah (old name of today's Chotanagpur) since 1585 A.D., Jahangir had become more informed about the availability of diamonds in that area. According to him, diamonds were found in the bed of a river which flowed through Kokrah. The reference is to the river Sankh which flows through the western parts of the present Ranchi district.
Later Kokrah or Chotanagpur was placed under the Mughal officers and the diamonds which were extracted from the 'stream' (sankh) were sent to the Imperial Court. Immediately after the annexation of Kokrah, a diamond was found there the value of which was estimated at 50,000 rupees. Jahangir expected that if the search was continued more excellent diamonds could be added "in the repository of the crown jewls". His optimism was not unfounded and in the twelfth year of his reign, nine diamonds which Ibrahim Khan Fath-Jang, the Governor of Bihar, had sent through Muhammad Beg from the mines and from the collections of the Zamindars of the Chotanagpur, were laid before him.
Jahangir evinced keen personal interest in the extraction of diamonds from the bed of the river Sankh, and acquired a fairly good knowledge of the methods employed by the natives for that purpose. Describing the process through which the natives mined diamonds from the bed of the river Sankh, Jhangir writes in his Memoirs thus: "At the season when there is little water, there are pools and water-holes and it has become known by experiences to those are employed in this work that above every water-hole in which there are diamonds, there are crowd of flying animals (insects) which in the language of India they call Jhingur."
Captain Hawkins in-charge of the Ramgarh Battalion at Chatra district of Jharkhand had been commissioned to give a report on Chutia Nagpur. His report submitted in 1777 refers to the rivers carrying gold dust and the Raja of Chotanagpur dredging the river for diamonds.
In Jharkhand, diamonds were reported in Chotanagpur area (ancient name Kokrah) in the Brahmani, Sankh and Koel river basins as mentioned in old records. Records show that near Simah in Palamau district in the Sankh River, near Rajadera (Rajadera is a saucer shaped village, is situated 19 km from Chainpur and about 26 km south of Netarhat) and in Sadni falls originating point of Sankh River, active diamond mines existed. These mines are stated to have yielded in the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries many large and fine stones especially from Sankh River. Diamonds were washed from the sands and gravels of river Gouel. The river is probably North koel, a tributary of Son. On the banks of this river an ancient township Semah/Semelpur existed. According to the old reports about 8000 people are stated to have worked in these mines.
Ball in 1925 illustrated the occurrence with a location map of the area. Rivers Damuda (now Damodar), Subanrikha (Suvarnarekha) and Brahmani with its tributaries, the Sankh and the Southern Koel have been mentioned. Now efforts have to be made to locate old workings of diamond in this region.
According to reports some villagers around Sadni fall in Gumla district still practice precious stone hunting in the area.
The source rock for diamonds has not been traced. Some of the Lamprophyres or Lamproite bodies found within the Gondwana Super Group may probably be the host rocks for these diamonds. A rethinking in our out look and reexamination of the local geology and Lamprophyres and Lamproites is called for.
Diamond in Chattisgarh:
Historical records speak of ancient mining activity for diamonds in Chattisgarh. Panna was the centre of the mining and new diamond-bearing fields have recently come to light near Payalikhand in Raipur district of Chattisgarh as a result of exploration by the Geological survey of India. Raigarh in the upper reaches of Mahanadi river, west of Hirakud, Orissa, is also known to have been active in diamond mining since ancient times. Local tribals carry out small scale panning and recover diamonds from alluvial and colluvial placers. At present Panna is the only active diamond producing centre in the entire country. Around Panna a number of areas have been identified for diamond prospecting they are Angore, Bariarpur, Dongraha, Biharpur, Harsa and Bandha.
Recent discovery of five more kimberlite pipes (Diamond bearing rocks) in Raipur district has opened up another possible centre for diamond in Central India. Systematic detailed investigation in the area by Geological Survey of India led to identification of primary source rock. Mahanadi and Ib river basins are considered as potential for the occurrence of diamonds. Recently diamond bearing kimberlites have been discovered near Payalikhand in Raipur district of Chattisgarh. The diamondiferous area is located about 150 km SE of Raipur town.
From Payalikhand area the largest diamond said to have been recovered is 202 carats. Based on the diamonds recovered by locals it is estimated that the gem variety constitutes 1/3rd to half of the total diamonds present. The gem diamonds of this area vary from perfect transparent clear crystals to light yellow to grey or intensly brown roughs. Transparent clear macro diamonds dominate over the frosted surface crystals. Some of the diamonds contain graphite as inclusions.
Along with the specks and grains of gold in Mahanadi and Ib river basins, occurrence of diamonds is known since historical times. Alluvial placer mining and recovery of diamonds are active even today in Raigarh district of Chattisgarh in different parts of Maini, Ib and Mand, west of Hirakud.
Recently, three kimberlite bodies were discovered in Bastar area located in between Godavari and Mahanadi basin. These findings have opened up another potential area for diamond exploration in India.
Recently there have been reports of recovery of diamonds from Indravati river gravels. The Indravati basin appears to be similar to the Khariar basin (SE of Raipur) in which kimberlites are found.
India has now lost all its former fame as a country rich in diamonds; the most productive mines have long ago been exhausted, and only the poorer deposits still remain. During the devastating wars and native struggles for supremacy, many only partially exhausted mines were abandoned and their very sites forgotten, while from the same cause the demand for diamonds fell off. Moreover, the oppressive and unreasonable tribute demanded by native rulers in former times, so crippled the industry that many diamond seekers forsook the mines for more lucrative employments, to return perhaps under more favorable conditions.
The chief blow, however, to the diamond mining industry of India was the discovery of the precious stone in Brazil, a country from which diamonds have been sent to the market since 1728. There could be no competition between these new rich deposits and the Indian mines, whose age can be counted in centuries or even tens of centuries. More recently; the rich yields of the South African diamond-fields have made a profitable mining of the Indian deposits still more impossible. Since in India no new and rich deposits have been discovered to take the place of the old, worked out mines, as has been the case in Brazil, the time cannot be far distant when India must be excluded from the list of diamond-producing countries.
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi
Geologist
Rch_nitishp@sancharnet.in
Nitish.priyadarshi@gmail.com
BY
DR.NITISH PRIYADARSHI
Diamond, a gem amongst gems the crystallized carbon and the hardest mineral known is a rare gift from mother earth to humanity. With admantine luster and twinkling habit it fascinated men and women from time immemorial. To win diamonds temples have been profaned, palaces looted, thrones torn to fragments, princes tortured, women strangled, guests poisoned and slaves disemboweled. No strain of fancy in an Arabian Tale has outstripped the marvels of fact in the diamond’s history. So wrote Garner Williams, the General Manager of the renowned Diamond Company De Beers,.
Indians were the first to discover and produce diamonds since India happens to be the homeland of all historical diamonds. It was the only country known for diamonds to the entire world till another source was found in Borneo in 1728 and subsequently in Brazil and South Africa. Ancient Indian scriptures and other books like Artha Sastra, Brihat Samhita and travel accounts of Marco Polo and Tavernier have projected a glorious picture of the ancient Indian diamond Industry. India was a dreamland for merchants, sailors and kings. In popular belief India remained as the "Country of Diamonds" and was subjected to invasion, wars and plunder.
Dr. Valentine Ball in his "Manual of Geology of India" divided all Indian diamond occurrences into three groups. Of these the "Southern Group" in South India drained by the Pennar, Krishna and lower part of Godavari rivers. The "Eastern Group" lies in the valley of the Mahanadi river and its tributaries, the Mand and the Ebe with outliers in Chotanagpur (Jharkhand) and in the Chanda district of Central Provinces, the principal localities being Sambalpur, Hirakud, Sonpur, Sumelpur (Jharkhand), and Wairagarh. Lastly, the "Central Group" lies in the Bundhelkhand of the Central Provinces stretching from Panna Eastwards to Rewa and NorthEastwards towards Allahabad.
Diamonds in Jharkhand:
Diamonds were found in Kokkomaj, a region which probably included Chotanagpur (Jharkhand), and the reference in Mohammedan writings and the possession of diamonds by the local chiefs go to substantiate the tradition that the Sankh river( Sankh River originates from Rajadera village of Gumla District. It is one of the three main rivers flowing through the district. After traversing through Gumla, it enters Simdega District and flows towards Orissa. The river joins with the Brahmani River at Vedvyas near Rourkela did yield a number of more or less valuable gems. The Muhammadans were attracted to this region by its reputation for diamond and occasionally raided the area, and carried off plunder and a small tribute in the shape of a few diamonds, which were found at that time in the river Sankh.
In fact due to the greater contact which the Mughals had developed with Kokrah (old name of today's Chotanagpur) since 1585 A.D., Jahangir had become more informed about the availability of diamonds in that area. According to him, diamonds were found in the bed of a river which flowed through Kokrah. The reference is to the river Sankh which flows through the western parts of the present Ranchi district.
Later Kokrah or Chotanagpur was placed under the Mughal officers and the diamonds which were extracted from the 'stream' (sankh) were sent to the Imperial Court. Immediately after the annexation of Kokrah, a diamond was found there the value of which was estimated at 50,000 rupees. Jahangir expected that if the search was continued more excellent diamonds could be added "in the repository of the crown jewls". His optimism was not unfounded and in the twelfth year of his reign, nine diamonds which Ibrahim Khan Fath-Jang, the Governor of Bihar, had sent through Muhammad Beg from the mines and from the collections of the Zamindars of the Chotanagpur, were laid before him.
Jahangir evinced keen personal interest in the extraction of diamonds from the bed of the river Sankh, and acquired a fairly good knowledge of the methods employed by the natives for that purpose. Describing the process through which the natives mined diamonds from the bed of the river Sankh, Jhangir writes in his Memoirs thus: "At the season when there is little water, there are pools and water-holes and it has become known by experiences to those are employed in this work that above every water-hole in which there are diamonds, there are crowd of flying animals (insects) which in the language of India they call Jhingur."
Captain Hawkins in-charge of the Ramgarh Battalion at Chatra district of Jharkhand had been commissioned to give a report on Chutia Nagpur. His report submitted in 1777 refers to the rivers carrying gold dust and the Raja of Chotanagpur dredging the river for diamonds.
In Jharkhand, diamonds were reported in Chotanagpur area (ancient name Kokrah) in the Brahmani, Sankh and Koel river basins as mentioned in old records. Records show that near Simah in Palamau district in the Sankh River, near Rajadera (Rajadera is a saucer shaped village, is situated 19 km from Chainpur and about 26 km south of Netarhat) and in Sadni falls originating point of Sankh River, active diamond mines existed. These mines are stated to have yielded in the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries many large and fine stones especially from Sankh River. Diamonds were washed from the sands and gravels of river Gouel. The river is probably North koel, a tributary of Son. On the banks of this river an ancient township Semah/Semelpur existed. According to the old reports about 8000 people are stated to have worked in these mines.
Ball in 1925 illustrated the occurrence with a location map of the area. Rivers Damuda (now Damodar), Subanrikha (Suvarnarekha) and Brahmani with its tributaries, the Sankh and the Southern Koel have been mentioned. Now efforts have to be made to locate old workings of diamond in this region.
According to reports some villagers around Sadni fall in Gumla district still practice precious stone hunting in the area.
The source rock for diamonds has not been traced. Some of the Lamprophyres or Lamproite bodies found within the Gondwana Super Group may probably be the host rocks for these diamonds. A rethinking in our out look and reexamination of the local geology and Lamprophyres and Lamproites is called for.
Diamond in Chattisgarh:
Historical records speak of ancient mining activity for diamonds in Chattisgarh. Panna was the centre of the mining and new diamond-bearing fields have recently come to light near Payalikhand in Raipur district of Chattisgarh as a result of exploration by the Geological survey of India. Raigarh in the upper reaches of Mahanadi river, west of Hirakud, Orissa, is also known to have been active in diamond mining since ancient times. Local tribals carry out small scale panning and recover diamonds from alluvial and colluvial placers. At present Panna is the only active diamond producing centre in the entire country. Around Panna a number of areas have been identified for diamond prospecting they are Angore, Bariarpur, Dongraha, Biharpur, Harsa and Bandha.
Recent discovery of five more kimberlite pipes (Diamond bearing rocks) in Raipur district has opened up another possible centre for diamond in Central India. Systematic detailed investigation in the area by Geological Survey of India led to identification of primary source rock. Mahanadi and Ib river basins are considered as potential for the occurrence of diamonds. Recently diamond bearing kimberlites have been discovered near Payalikhand in Raipur district of Chattisgarh. The diamondiferous area is located about 150 km SE of Raipur town.
From Payalikhand area the largest diamond said to have been recovered is 202 carats. Based on the diamonds recovered by locals it is estimated that the gem variety constitutes 1/3rd to half of the total diamonds present. The gem diamonds of this area vary from perfect transparent clear crystals to light yellow to grey or intensly brown roughs. Transparent clear macro diamonds dominate over the frosted surface crystals. Some of the diamonds contain graphite as inclusions.
Along with the specks and grains of gold in Mahanadi and Ib river basins, occurrence of diamonds is known since historical times. Alluvial placer mining and recovery of diamonds are active even today in Raigarh district of Chattisgarh in different parts of Maini, Ib and Mand, west of Hirakud.
Recently, three kimberlite bodies were discovered in Bastar area located in between Godavari and Mahanadi basin. These findings have opened up another potential area for diamond exploration in India.
Recently there have been reports of recovery of diamonds from Indravati river gravels. The Indravati basin appears to be similar to the Khariar basin (SE of Raipur) in which kimberlites are found.
India has now lost all its former fame as a country rich in diamonds; the most productive mines have long ago been exhausted, and only the poorer deposits still remain. During the devastating wars and native struggles for supremacy, many only partially exhausted mines were abandoned and their very sites forgotten, while from the same cause the demand for diamonds fell off. Moreover, the oppressive and unreasonable tribute demanded by native rulers in former times, so crippled the industry that many diamond seekers forsook the mines for more lucrative employments, to return perhaps under more favorable conditions.
The chief blow, however, to the diamond mining industry of India was the discovery of the precious stone in Brazil, a country from which diamonds have been sent to the market since 1728. There could be no competition between these new rich deposits and the Indian mines, whose age can be counted in centuries or even tens of centuries. More recently; the rich yields of the South African diamond-fields have made a profitable mining of the Indian deposits still more impossible. Since in India no new and rich deposits have been discovered to take the place of the old, worked out mines, as has been the case in Brazil, the time cannot be far distant when India must be excluded from the list of diamond-producing countries.
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi
Geologist
Rch_nitishp@sancharnet.in
Nitish.priyadarshi@gmail.com
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