Vol. 3, Issue 6, Part F (2017)

Abstract
India is rich with megaliths of many styles and dates, the work of many different peoples throughout the country. The earliest evidence for burial in the Indian subcontinent comes from the Mesolithic societies of the Ganga valley and the Neolithic civilizations of the Northwest. There is no evidence that the Pre-Mesolithic Indians used any particular burial ritual. However, the practise of burying deceased people with grave-goods demonstrates that even prehistoric societies had some level of attachment for, respect for, and/or dread of the dead. That they had improved intellectually was without a shadow of a doubt. Death rituals, such as burials, are not as common as other social activities since they are reserved for socially important times and not conducted on a regular basis. Participants in burial rites draw on a common set of customs for caring for and burying the dead, but they also add their own touches by choosing which of these procedures to follow and which to ignore. The resultant ceremony has an impact on subsequent funerals because it establishes some practises as the norm and others as exceptions. Continuity of burial practises across lengthy periods of time is evidence of the reliability of these customs. That is to say, just like change, continuity in practises must be generated by means of repeated activity. The research looked at the Megalithic Culture and the Megalithic Stone Alignment in Mirdoddi in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.