io Munn, Ancient Mines and Megaliths in Hyderabad 



Fergusson notes some Christian crosses, lying near the 

 dolmens. If he had only realized what a famous trading 

 centre Nirmal District had once been he would have no 

 difficulty in accounting for them. 



Paithan in this district is mentioned by Herodotus. 5 



The Gondwana Series is contained within a long strip of 

 country running parallel to the eastern boundary of the State. 

 Save for a portion around the modern coal mine of Singareni 

 it is almost unknown forest. Mr. Wakefield, the Director 

 General of Revenue to H.H. The Nizam, has told me of 

 wonderful old irrigation schemes, now out of use, within this 

 region, and I have found areas of slag, proving old iron 

 smelting sites, but I have never found any circles or dolmens. 

 As soon as the war is over the revision survey of this area 

 will be continued by the Government of India Survey, and it 

 would be a wonderful opportunity to get, if they exist, the 

 cairns and dolmens recorded, as well as those occurring in 

 the remainder of Southern India. 



The Deccan Trap contains no minerals of commercial 

 value. It stretches over the whole northern and western 

 portion of the State. At Tuljapur, Colonel Meadows Taylor 

 reports a group of cairns near a rock temple, all associated 

 with cremation, but beyond this I am unable to tell you of 

 any other megalithic monuments situated within the geolo- 

 gical area. Once the border between the Archaean and the 

 Trap is passed the soil changes, and the black argillaceous 

 soil of the Trap country is unsuitable for irrigation, which in 

 this area is uncommon. The Trap area contains all that 

 wonderful series of rock-cut temples — Ellora, Ajunta, Aurun- 

 gabad, Nasik and Elephanta ; and although these are of a 

 later date than the monuments we are discussing, it is curious 

 to note the Buddhists and Brahmins have each in turn chosen 

 this rock in which to develop these marvels. 



Before reading Professor G. Elliot Smith's and Mr. W. J. 

 Perry's memoirs (in the Memoirs and Proceedings of this 

 Society), having been so long accustomed to seeing terraced 

 irrigation everywhere in Southern India, I had always taken 

 it for granted that it was the natural product of a country 

 whose total rainfall is limited to a few months of the year, 

 whose surface contours make tank construction easy, and 



5. About four years ago, the Taluqdar of Nizamabad sent to my office 

 some fresh water pearls, collected from a mollusc in the fort ditch of Nirmal. 

 I sent some of the shells to the Natural History Society of Bombay. I have 

 never come across any other instances of fresh water pearls in the Deccan, 

 and wondered at the time whether they could have been imported there at 

 some period. 



