Jognakhera is an archaeological site belonging to late Harappan phase of

Indus Valley civilisation 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 ...

. Jogankhera is located in

Kurukshetra Kurukshetra (, ) is a city and administrative headquarter of Kurukshetra district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is also known as Dharmakshetra ("Realm of duty ") and as the "Land of the Bhagavad Gita". Legends According to the Pura ...

District, Haryana, India.

Period

Painted_Grey_Ware_Culture_(1200-600_BCE)

The find from this site belong to the mature Harappan phase as well as later-era PGW phase (Vedic period). The

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 ...

(PGW) probably corresponds to the middle and late

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, betw ...

, i.e., the

Kuru Kuru may refer to: Anthropology and history * Kuru (disease), a type of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy associated with the cannibalistic funeral practices of the Fore people * Kuru (mythology), part of Meithei mythology * Kuru Kingdom, ...

- Panchala kingdom, the first large state in South Asia after the decline of the

Indus Valley civilization 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 ...

(IVC).Geoffrey Samuel, (2010) ''The Origins of Yoga and Tantra: Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century'', Cambridge University Press, pp. 45–51

Michael Witzel Michael Witzel (born July 18, 1943) is a German-American philologist, comparative mythologist and Indologist. Witzel is the Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and the editor of the Harvard Oriental Series (volumes 50–80). Witze ...

(1989), ''Tracing the Vedic dialects'' in ''Dialectes dans les litteratures Indo-Aryennes'' ed. Caillat, Paris, 97–265.

(PGW) chiefdoms in the region were succeeded by

Northern Black Polished Ware The Northern Black Polished Ware culture (abbreviated NBPW or NBP) is an urban Iron Age Indian culture of the Indian Subcontinent, lasting c. 700–200 BCE (proto NBPW between 1200 and 700 BCE), succeeding the Painted Grey Ware culture and Blac ...

(NBPW) from c. 700-500 BCE, associated with the rise of the great

mahajanapada The Mahājanapadas ( sa, great realm, from ''maha'', "great", and ''janapada'' "foothold of a people") were sixteen Realm, kingdoms or oligarchy, oligarchic republics that existed in ancient India from the sixth to fourth centuries BCE during ...

states (

states

, Panchala,

Matsya Matsya ( sa, मत्स्य, lit. ''fish'') is the fish avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. Often described as the first of Vishnu's ten primary avatars, Matsya is described to have rescued the first man, Manu, from a great deluge. Matsya ...

Surasena Kingdom of Surasena (or Sourasena) (Sanskrit: ) was an ancient Indian region corresponding to the present-day Braj region in Uttar Pradesh, with Mathura as its capital city. According to the Buddhist text ''Anguttara Nikaya'', Surasena was one ...

and

Vatsa Vatsa or Vamsa (Pali and Ardhamagadhi: , literally "calf") was one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas (great kingdoms) of Uttarapatha of ancient India mentioned in the Aṅguttara Nikāya. Location The territory of Vatsa was located to the south o ...

) and later of the

Magadha Magadha was a region and one of the sixteen sa, script=Latn, Mahajanapadas, label=none, lit=Great Kingdoms of the Second Urbanization (600–200 BCE) in what is now south Bihar (before expansion) at the eastern Ganges Plain. Magadha was ruled ...

Empire. Towards the end of the late Vedic period, many of the PGW settlements grew into the large towns and cities of the

(NBPW) period.

B.B. Lal Braj Basi Lal (2 May 1921 – 10 September 2022) was an Indian writer and archaeologist. He was the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) from 1968 to 1972 and has served as Director of the Indian Institute of Advance ...

confirms that

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...

is associated with PGW sites and gives a date to c. 900 BCE for the War recounted in the Mahabharata. Saraswati valley has the earlier phase of the PGW culture, such as excavation at

Hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

(Hathira) in Kurukshetra. Hathira was protected by a V shaped moat. Similar moats were found Jognakhera and

Kunal Kunala ( IAST: ) (263 BC – ?) was a son of Emperor Ashoka and Queen Padmavati and the presumptive heir to Ashoka, thus the heir to the Mauryan Empire which once ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent. After the departure of Mahendra, ...

on the Saraswati river. The presence of moat shows these were chiefdom-based cultures. These cultures reach a peak in

Ganga-Yamuna Doab ''Doab'' () is a term used in South Asia Quote: "Originally and chiefly in South Asia: (the name of) a strip or narrow tract of land between two rivers; spec. (with) the area between the rivers Ganges and Jumna in northern India." for the tract ...

before the rise of Mahajanapadas in the

period.

Suraj Bhan Suraj Bhan (1 October 1928 – 6 August 2006) was a former Governor, Member of Parliament and an Indian politician from Bharatiya Janata Party. Personal life Suraj Bhan Banswal was born on 1 October 1928 at Mehlanwali, Yamuna Nagar dis ...

Ancient Asia Journal

Excavation

Jognakhera was excavated during 2009, although local people are not aware of the importance of this ancient site. Pot shreds were also recovered from this site.

Copper smelting

Jognakhera was a

copper smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ch ...

site where copper smelting furnaces with copper slag were recovered. The furnaces excavated from this site looked like huge saucers.

Damage to site

Floods created out of breach to Sutlej Yamuna link canal during July 2010 caused damage to this archeological site.

References

{{Haryana Indus Valley civilisation sites Archaeological sites in Haryana Former populated places in India

Period

Excavation

Copper smelting

Damage to site

See also

References