From Kashmir to Kerala, from Itanagar to Gandhinagar, India's countryside is strewn with the remains of enigmatic stone structures known to archaeologists as megaliths. Scores of these were constructed by prehistoric tribes prior to the Aryanisation of India, and they are still being raised today by some Adivasis – possible descendents of those tribes – who continue the tradition. These primitive monuments are an essential part of India's prehistory and archaeological heritage, and yet they have been denied appropriate recognition.
Although the term megalith stems from the Greek words mega and lithos, meaning 'large' and 'stones' respectively, the assortment of structures classified under the term today is fascinatingly wide-ranging. The terminology for megaliths is extensive and varies from region to region, and an entire archaeological vocabulary now exists to describe megalithic structures and features: dolmens, cairns, menhirs, tumuli, barrows, cromlechs, etc.