GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Mar 23, 2025 17 tweets 8 min read Read on X
Have you ever wondered why the topic of dinosaurs in India seems absent from common knowledge?

In truth, dinosaurs thrived in the Indian peninsula 250 to 65 million years ago, and they were unlike any others seen globally.

Sadly, many people, including myself, aren't aware of this, which is why I'm sharing this #thread.

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The very first dinosaur discovery, Titanosaurus Indicus, unearthed from the Deccan Traps in Jabalpur, dates back to 1832 and is 70 million years old. After vanishing in 1877, it made a dramatic comeback, resurfacing in the Shiwalik Gallery of the Indian Museum.

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Titanosaurus blanfordi was 2nd dino remain found in Pisdura, Maharashtra.

Rajasaurus - Regal Lizard remains were found in Kheda, Gujarat and Jabalpur MP. This 30 feet giant roamed in India around 70-65 Mya

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Rajasaurus - Regal Lizard remains were found in Kheda, Gujarat and Jabalpur MP. This 30 feet giant roamed in India around 70-65 Mya

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Rajasaurus - the majestic Regal Lizard, whose formidable remains were unearthed in the regions of Kheda, Gujarat, and Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. This awe-inspiring 30-foot predator roamed the ancient Indian subcontinent approximately 70-65 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period, a time when dinosaurs dominated the Earth.

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Jainosaurus is a remarkable example of a primitive titanosaur from the Late Cretaceous period. This colossal dinosaur reached an impressive length of 70.5 feet and weighed around three tonnes. It was named in honor of Sohan Lal Jain, a pioneering Indian paleontologist who contributed significantly to our understanding of prehistoric life. Fascinatingly, a bone of the Jainosaurus is preserved in the Nasik Museum, offering a tangible connection to this majestic creature from a bygone era.

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Isisaurus, a plant-eating dinosaur belonging to the Sauropod lineage, was named in honor of the Indian Statistical Institute. Stretching up to 69 feet, it shares a connection with Titanosaurus and sported a notably long and robust neck.

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Rahiolisaurus Is a genus of Abelisaurid dinosaur from the late cretaceous period of India. Greek for Rahioli Lizard, it was discovered near Rahioli village. It also roamed during the late cretaceous period, about 70-65 million years ago and was discovered in 2010

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Bruhathkayosaurus a massive sauropod dinosaur from the early Maastrichtian of India and is the second largest dinosaur found to date, with a length of 45 meters. Found in Kalimedu, TN was lost soon after discovering due to monsoon

9️⃣ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruhathkayosaurus
Kotasaurus Discovered from the Kota formation in Andhra Pradesh, Kotasaurus is Greek for Kota Lizard. It walked in India about 180-175 million years ago. it grew up to 30 feet long and weighed up to 10 tonnes. pp

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Fossil bone fragments of sauropod dinosaurs as old as nearly 100 million years discovered from an area around West Khasi Hills district in Meghalaya.

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A stunning fossil of an Ichthyosaur has been unearthed in Gujarat, revealing a prehistoric giant akin to 6 SUVs parked end-to-end. This marine reptile, which once glided through ancient seas, was comparable in size to those that thrived in the frigid realms of the North Pole, offering a glimpse into a bygone era.

1️⃣2️⃣https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthyosauria
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Vasuki, the colossal reptile rocking the science world!

At over 40 feet long and 50 million years old, Vasuki rewrites prehistoric history. With armor-like scales, this giant predator is reshaping our understanding of ancient ecosystems.

Unearthed in Gujarat, India, Vasuki Indicus challenges the legendary Titanoboa. Fossils reveal a snake that once roamed India and ventured to Africa, making waves in the Eocene era. Excavated from Kutch, Gujarat, these findings are rewriting the reptile rulebook.

#Archaeology

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135-million year old dinosaur fossil in Kutch, Gujarat. Pieces of bones of the hip and two legs that have been found are around two feet long, suggesting that the dinosaur was at least 10 to 15 metre in length. Fig representative

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Lamplughsaura is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Sinemurian-age (Early Jurassic) Dharmaram Formation in India, dating between 196 and 190 million years ago. The genus includes only one species, Lamplughsaura dharmaramensis. This species is known from several partial skeletons of a large quadrupedal animal measuring up to 10 meters (33 feet) in length. It was either a basal sauropod or, less likely, a more basal sauropodomorph.

The genus was named in honor of Pamela Lamplugh Robinson, the founder of the Geological Studies Unit at the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata.

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A distinct collection of fossilized dinosaur eggs, featuring an unusual egg-within-an-egg configuration, has been discovered at the Dinosaur Fossil National Park in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar District.

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More from @GemsOfINDOLOGY

Feb 17
THREAD 4
WHEN LAW REPLACED CUSTOM
(surnames, forms, the myth of timeless patriarchy)

1️⃣
This is where the break happens.

Not in ancient India.
Not in temples.
Not in epics.

But in files, registers, and forms. Image
2️⃣
Pre-modern India ran on custom.

Identity was local.
Lineage could be maternal.
Marriage could be flexible.

The system worked because society did not need every child tied to a named father.
3️⃣
Colonial administration could not function like that.

The state needed:
Land titles.
Tax rolls.
Census categories.
Inheritance clarity.

Custom was messy.
Plurality was inefficient.

So lineage had to be fixed.
Read 8 tweets
Feb 15
ASI calls it a "graceful threshold of history."

October 1502: 400 pilgrims locked in a ship and burned alive at sea by the man this arch honors.

This is what government curation looks like when it erases inconvenient details.

Thread on what ASI forgot to mention. 🧵

#GemsofASI MNI500A stone relief features a figure dressed as a viceroy, holding a sword, near a coat of arms and inscriptions, symbolizing colonial history.
Vasco da Gama's second voyage, October 1502:

Intercepted the pilgrim ship Miri near Madayi. 400+ passengers. 50 women and children.

Looted it. Locked them inside. Set it ablaze.

Eyewitnesses Thomé Lopes and Gaspar Correia documented mothers holding babies through portholes.

*ps pic AI generated
2/Image
Francisco da Gama built this arch in 1600 during his viceroyalty (1597-1600).

Historical record by then:

• 300 temples demolished in Bardez (1567)
• Goa Inquisition active (1560-1812, 16,000+ documented trials)
• Dec 4, 1567 decree: Hindu marriages, sacred threads, cremations banned

3/Image
Read 6 tweets
Feb 10
Thread 3

WHEN WOMEN WERE LINEAGE, NOT DEPENDENTS
(Travancore, matriliny, 1920s)

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Here is the part most people don’t expect.

These systems did not vanish in antiquity.
They survived into the 20th century.

This is not rock art.
This is documentation. Image
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In parts of Kerala and Travancore, lineage followed the woman.

Property.
Household identity.
Social continuity.

Children belonged to the mother’s line.
Not the father’s surname.

This was not chaos.
It was a functioning social order.
3️⃣
Relationships were recognised through custom, not sacrament.

Sambandham-type unions existed.
Women could enter and exit relationships.
Sexual exclusivity was not the foundation of legitimacy.

A child did not need a certified father to be socially valid.

That detail matters.
Read 7 tweets
Feb 7
1️⃣ Every art history course starts in Greece.

But here's what they don't mention: almost every Greek painting from the Classical period is gone. Lost.

Meanwhile, in India, 700 years of continuous wall paintings still exist.

Let's talk about what survives vs what we worship. Image
2️⃣ Ajanta Caves.

Painting phases dated 2nd century BCE – 5th century CE.

That means: Ajanta begins before Alexander. And continues after Rome adopts Christianity.

This isn't parallel art. This is a continuous painting tradition spanning 700 years. Image
3️⃣ Where are Greek paintings from 480–323 BCE?

Answer from classical scholarship: almost entirely lost.

What survives:
• Roman wall paintings (1st c. BCE–1st c. CE)
• Literary praise by Pliny the Elder
• Copies, not originals

An origin remembered by texts vs one preserved in pigment.Image
Read 7 tweets
Feb 5
1️⃣ The first diamond ever touched by human hands came from Indian soil. Golconda mines, 4th century BCE. We didn't dig for profit. We picked them from riverbeds like pebbles. 💎

Then someone realized they could own what the earth gave freely. Image
2️⃣ 1600s: Golconda diamonds weighed 23 million carats annually. The world's entire supply. Tavernier documented it. Shah Jahan embedded them in the Peacock Throne.

We controlled brilliance itself. Image
3️⃣ 1739: Nadir Shah walks into Delhi. Walks out with the Kohinoor and the Peacock Throne. Combined worth? Impossible to calculate. The throne alone held 26,733 gems.

First lesson: What glitters gets taken. Image
Read 8 tweets
Jan 30
1/ ASI admits stone jars occur across Assam, Laos, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

That admission changes everything. Once you acknowledge geographic spread, local narratives collapse. Interpretation must go regional. 🧵 Image
@himantabiswa @ASIGoI @MinOfCultureGoI @tourismgoi @gssjodhpur @UNESCO 2/ ASI records no present-day tribe claims authorship.

That's not ambiguity. That's normal. Mortuary traditions outlast populations, languages, identities by millennia.

Continuity ≠ authorship. Image
3/ ASI calls them ancestral bone repositories — already placing them in secondary burial systems.

The same function archaeologically proven at the Plain of Jars.

Function aligns across regions. Not coincidence. Image
Read 7 tweets

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