Prakasha
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Prakasha (प्रकाश) is a village situated on the bank of Tapi River in taluka Shahada in Nandurbar district, Maharashtra, India.
Origin
Variants
- Prakasha प्रकाश, पश्चिम खानदेश, महा., (AS, p.580)
History
In 1955, an excavation was carried out at this site by an Archaeological Survey of India team under the direction of B.K. Thapar. The excavation revealed a more than 17 m deep occupational deposit, belonging to four periods with a break between the earlier two and a continuous sequence thereafter. The periods of occupation are:[1]
On the confluence of the rivers Tapti and Gomai in Shahada Taluka, the site located to the s.-e. of the present village, with its longer axis running along the Gomai. An excavation was undertaken at this site by B.K. Thapar on behalf of the ASI in 1955. (AI, 20 and 21, 1964 and 1965,pp. 5–167).
Period I (c. 1700-1300 B.C.) is Chalcolithic in its cultural content and is further divided into Sub-Periods IA and IB, the former being characterized by the occurrence of blades and microliths, hammer-stones, a restricted use of copper or low-grade bronze, and four ceramic industries.
Sub-Period I B is distinguished by the intrusion of two more ceramic industries, viz. the black-painted red pottery of the Jorwe fabric and the Lustrous Red Ware. The other industries and crafts of the previous Sub-Period continue throughout the occupation. Period II (c. 700-100 B.C. with a margin on the earlier side), following after a time-gap, heralds the Iron Age, Stone implements like blades and microliths are replaced by tools of iron. The use of copper also becomes more common, though remaining subordinate to that of iron.
Period III (Middle of the 2nd century B.C. to the end of the 6th century A.D.), which in its earlier levels overlaps with Period II and in the later levels with Period IV, does not introduce any revolutionary change. The characteristic ceramic industries of the preceding Period go into disuse and are replaced by a nondescript poorly made red ware.
From a comparative study of the past flora and the present vegetation it may be concluded that the cover was forest, if the region on the whole has remained more or less of the same type. Taking these factors into consideration, it would be reasonable to infer that the climate and rainfall in the Khandesh region have not changed to any appreciable extent during the past 3500 years or so.
The remains of a multilevel settlement dating from the Paleolithic period to the Middle Ages have been discovered at Navasa. Excavations were conducted by H. D. Sankalia in the 1950s and by G. Karve-Corvinus in 1967. Nevasa’s Aeneolithic layer reveals a settled agricultural culture characterized in the second millennium B.C. by implements (elongated plates) similar to those of the Harappa civilization.[2]
In Maharashtra the earliest use of fired bricks and stone in masonry is noticed in the Megalithic culture, Dr. S.B. Deo produces an , account of them as such·-
- "During the Neolithic-Chalcolithic age nowhere the use of fired bricks has been noticed in Maharashtra, but during the ancient historical period, there are evidences in abundance. There was practice of using fired bricks at Nasik, Nevasa, Kolhapur, Kaundinyapur, Prakasha, Bahal during Mauryan Satavahana Age."
प्रकाश: पश्चिम खानदेश, महाराष्ट्र
विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर[3] ने लेख किया है .....प्रकाश (AS, p.580) , पश्चिम खानदेश, महाराष्ट्र: ताप्ती घाटी में अवस्थित इस स्थल के निकट लगभग एक तीन सहस्त्र वर्ष प्राचीन नगर के अवशेष उत्खनन द्वारा प्रकाश में लाए गए हैं. इसकी खोज 1954 में वल्लभ विद्यानगर की पुरातत्व संस्था द्वारा की गई थी. यह खंडहर ताप्ती के उत्तरी तट पर भूमि से काफी उंचाई पर अवस्थित हैं. खुदाई की प्रक्रिया में सर्वप्रथम ईस्वी सन् की प्रारंभिक शतियों में व्यवह्रत लाल मृदभांड प्राप्त हुए. तत्पश्चात निचले तलवों में मौर्य-पूर्व मृदभांडों तथा प्रस्तरीकरणों के अवशेष मिले. प्रकाश में प्राप्त चित्रित मृदभांड नागदा तथा महेश्वर से मिलने वाले मृदभांडों (महिष्मति मृदभांडों) के समान ही हैं. उपर्युक्त संस्था के संचालक श्री पंड्या के मत में ये मृदभांड, हड़प्पा-पूर्व संस्कृति अर्थात (सिंध बलूचिस्तान की अमरी-जोब नामक संस्कृति) से संबंधित हैं अमरी-जोब सभ्यता के लोगों को, मोहनजोदड़ो तथा हड़प्पा निवासियों के भारत में आगमन के कारण, सिंध-बलूचिस्तान से पूर्व की ओर अग्रसर होना पड़ा था.