AIZAWL, July 18: Ancient carved memorial stones, also known as menhirs, found at a village in east Mizoram’s Champhai district, have been officially declared a ‘monument of national importance’ by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), officials said on Friday.
Lianpui village near the Myanmar border is home to the memorial stones, locally known as Lungphun Ropui. The village is situated 54 km southeast of Champhai town near the India-Myanmar border, and it is famous for its rich repository of ancient artefacts.
This is the second megalith site in Mizoram to receive national recognition after ‘Kawtchhuah Ropui’ or Great Entranceway in Vangchhia village, which hosts over 170 engraved menhirs and is located about 20 km south of Lianpui village, they said.
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The formal notification declaring the Lianpui menhirs as a monument of national importance was issued by the Ministry of Culture on July 14, following years of research and inspection, they said.
These antiquarian artefacts include 114 intricately carved memorial stones, anthropic holes, petroglyphs, Y-shaped wooden posts and ancient pathways.
The upright memorial stones at Lianpui bear detailed carvings of human figures, birds, animals, mithun heads, gongs, lizards, and other cultural motifs reflecting the cultural practices of the Mizos before the advent of Christianity, according to officials.
“The largest of such memorial stones measures 1.87 metres in height and 1.37 metres in width,” they said.
“These menhirs are arranged into eight alignments, with four oriented north-south and the other four east-west,” they said.
Lianpui village was named after Lusei chief Lianpuia, who reportedly established the village in the 18th century CE.
Mizoram’s lone Rajya Sabha member K Vanlalvena, had informed the Parliament in March that the ASI, after a thorough inspection by experts, had found Lianpui village to possess significant archaeological heritage worthy of national importance.
According to officials, the process of declaring the site of national importance began in February 2021 with the publication of a preliminary notification in the Gazette of India, marking the commencement of a statutory procedure required under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, for declaring protected monuments.
On July 7 this year, ASI Director (Monuments) A.M.V. Subramanyam visited Lianpui village and confirmed that final steps were underway to declare the megalith site of national importance.
With no objections filed, the Centre finalised the notification declaring Lungphun Ropui a monument of national importance and brought the site under national protection.
Meanwhile, residents of Lianpui village expressed happiness and thanked the Art and Culture minister C Lalsawivunga and K Vanlalvena for their efforts towards receiving the ASI’s tag.
Art and culture department director Carol VLMS Dawngkimi also expressed happiness due to the national recognition and dedicated the achievement to the hard work of many individuals, particularly former convener of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritagem (INTACH) Mizoram chapter P Rohmingthanga. (PTI)
