Baigachak, Dindori

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Sacred coral

Vinita Chaturvedi, Aug 10, 2026: The Times of India

Sacred coral protected by the Baigas
From: Vinita Chaturvedi, Aug 10, 2026: The Times of India

Bhopal: The Baigas guarded a stone for centuries because it felt sacred. Science has revealed why it was extraordinary — a 65-million-year-old secret preserved in a forest shrine. A relic from a vanished world when T-Rex ruled North America and Rajasaurus narmadensis stalked volcanic plains in India.

Madhya Pradesh directorate of archaeology, archives and museums recently identified the strange, temple-like formation deep in the jungles of Dindori district as a rare coral fossil from the twilight of the dinosaurs.

A team documenting Di­n­dori’s little-explored geological wealth first spotted photographs of the unusual formation worshipped by the Baiga indigenous people. Its layered, coral-like appearance raised questions. A field visit and several tests followed. But the rock is only half the story.

ASI archaeologist Dr Manoj Kumar Kurmi said the tradition surrounding the stone shrine could date to 8,000-10,000 years ago.

Details

August 10, 2026: The Times of India

Human presence in the region is much older though. “In those early times, there were no temples in the architectural sense. People worshipped nature — a rock, a tree, a mountain or any other element they considered sacred and later that may have been marked as a shrine,” ASI archaeologist Dr Manoj Kumar Kurmi said.

Go back 65 million years and Earth was a different place. A roughly 10km-wide asteroid slammed into Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Alongside intense volcanic activity from India’s Deccan Traps, it triggered a global nuclear winter, wiping out about 75% of life and ending the dinosaur era while opening the door for small mammals.

Archaeology commissioner Madan Kumar Nagargoje, who led efforts to document Dindori’s geological riches, said tribal people may not ha­ve had scientific instruments to determine the age or composition of rocks, “but they had the intelligence to know they had something precious and they were guarding it”.

Classified as a “particularly vulnerable tribal group”, Baigas are concentrated in fo­rested districts, including Di­ndori, across thousands of villages and hamlets in the reg­ion historically known as Baigachak. Forests remain cen­tral to Baiga life, providing fo­od, medicine and livelihoods while preserving generations of traditional knowledge.

For Priyanka Ghose, a gynaecologist who worked for indigenous tribes and helped document Stone Age rock shelters at Ghodamada caves in Dindori, the discovery is another glimpse into a landscape still keeping its secrets: “Dindori is an anthropological tr­easure trove. A hidden chest waiting to be decoded.” Selected Dindori finds will soon go on display in a new gallery at the state museum in Bhopal.