Topography itself is a vast area of enquiry and requires in-depth methodological exploration and research. The nuances of this pluridisciplinary avenue have been scrutinized in different disciplines ranging from mathematics to geography, history, physics, biology and psychology. In this paper I aim to discuss three approaches to delineate the meaning and fundamental problems in topography research across disciplines. In doing so, I would aim to restructure topography as a set of objects. Science studies objects empirically as physical entities, without corroborating any logical, viable meaning to it. According to the Cartesian logic, mind would instill meaning into topography, perceiving changes in it; whereas relationally, interrelation between different objects would create meaning showing the effect. Semantically, topography imparts information as symbols. Symbols are generated from objective meanings which are actually independent to objects or topography itself. Finally, I aim to include case studies form archaeology and anthropology to unravel the inherent meanings in it, detailing plausible solutions for Cartesian, Relational and finally Semantic topography taking up cues from the said disciplines and related case studies

1. Topographies: places to find something
Thursday 14th May, 2015
Venue: LT3, 17 Woodland Road

2. What is a problem of TOPOGRAPHY in Indian context? (Different types)
CARTESIAN : Solstices, Equinoxes, irrelevant to matter (topography)
RELATIONAL : The landscape and the Sun, relevant to matter (topography)
SEMANTIC : The nature in totality, that can be read like a book or painting
The Landscape, The Sun, and all other things on the landscape provide
contextual meaning to the nature, Semantic topography simply means that all
things in a space are distinct not just as existents but also as types.
The Landscape as topography (natural)
The Structures on the landscape as topography, cave and rock-shelters
The Surface of the painted canvas as topography (synthetic, meta-topography)
The understanding of everything combined as topography (Hybrid)
Interpretation : Topography as matter, a tangible entity, a semantic reality as
symbols that carry meaning
After Vahia et. al., 2009

3. Material objects acquire new properties when aggregated into collections.
The only assumption we need in order to understand topography semantically
is that the topography is a closed system, where objects or materials that are
described individually are different from objects that are described collectively.
Topography is a symbol of the mind, and that meanings that exist in the mind
can exist in matter as symbols.
Topography is also a relational property of the interaction between the world
and the observer.
Topography is the ideas of wholes, conceptual relations, and intentional
relations, a combination of which might produce objects as information
Research Questions:
1. What is the true nature of topography, is it physical, quantifiable or
semantic?
2. How is it associated with other types of meanings?
3. How topography can be a relationship between the part and the whole?

4. Methodology
1. Detailed study of ancient monuments and sacred cities within their
cultural context, eg. Megalithic monuments, when related to sunrise
and sunset etc.
2. Rock art (paintings, engravings, Geoglyphs, Location and shape of
rock-shelters, Megalithic burials
3. Ethnography , oral compositions, , Mythology, written materials etc.
1. Rigorous literature review and Local consultation
2. Field work, Landscape system science and Geometry of the topography
3. Documentation, Cataloguing, comparison of the data
4. Mapping, Model building, scientific input
5. Interpretation and theoretical framework
6. Introducing the concept of meaning in topography and its approaches,
like topography as types, objects, materials in order to understand that
meanings are defined collectively.

5. Study Region

7. Landscape of Rock art at Bhilwara district in Rajasthan, Desert
topography, Photo by the author

8. Different topography types, savannah, forest, mixed forest, dense forest,
Photo by the author

9. Burzahama (5000-3,500 BP), Kashmir valley, India, Photo courtesy, IGNCA,
New Delhi, Apparently the engravings represent a hunting scene
Dataset, Literature review
and Comparison

10. Sky map showing the region of HB9 in 5,000 BP. to facilitate easy comparison with the
drawing, rough patterns drawn in the map. The large circle in the centre is the full
Moon in the month of August in roughly 5,000 BP, and the smaller damaged circle to its
left marks the position of HB9, after, Iqbal , et al., 2009, Journal of Astronomical History
and Heritage
Orion
Taurus
Cetus
Andromeda or Pegasus
1) 2 Suns - even sun and moon together will never be comparably bright.
2) We have looked for all supernova remnants in our catalogues that could
have been bright enough to be seen during day time close to the ecliptic
and we get only 1 result.
3) Independently, when we plot it in the sky it comes out close to Orion -
Taurus. And the figures drawn also look like Taurus/ Orion and are
reasonably to scale (after Vahia, M.N., pers comn)

11. Rock art from Liktse, Kashmir showing a super human controlling the
Sun and the Moon. © Indira Gandhi National Gallery of Art, New Delhi

12. Engraved Sun motif, ritualistic
topography Example of a site from
Manipur, Photo courtesy, IGNCA
The use of topography,
topography within topography
as meta-topography, Bedia
rock-shelter at Mirzapur
district, India, Dstretched,
Photo by the author

13. These rock-shelters never receive direct
sunlight throughout the year, although
they are open air sites, but the content
is hidden or the actual rock art is hidden
from direct sun rays and wind action,
Hidden aspects of meta-topography

15. A hidden landscape, Sacred landscape based on the
movement of the sun, sacred topography

16. Rock-shelters that receive direct
sunlight, surface topography is
different

17. Domestic decoration as both a
synthetic and hybrid topography
at a multiethnic village in
Bhilwara, Rajasthan,

18. Megalithic burial sites ate also
important archaeo-
astronomical markers that
record the Sun’s movement
across the sky, Site Loicha,
Bhilwara district, Rajasthan,
Photo by the author
Sacred topography of the
landscape

19. Barwadi Punkhri,
Courtesy, Mr. Bulu Imam
NAP, Jharkhand, Photo courtesy, Mr. Bulu
Imam, evidence of sacred topography
Megalithic monuments from Jharkhand, See
book, Antiquarian Remains of Jharkhand, by
Mr. Bulu Imam, 2014
Photo Courtesy: Mr. Subhasis
Das

20. ConclusionConclusion
1. The concept of topography has limitations, although it can be understood
and as a closed system.
2. Topography is distinct both in terms of existence and types, although it is
not quantities.
3. It is both a communicative medium and an external reality, are reconciled as
two phases of a communicative paradigm in encoding and decoding a
message.
4. Topography forms complex structures, these structures acquire semantic
properties and become symbols, the symbols can refer to other objects,
these references become conscious and lead to knowledge of the world.
5. Topographical meanings are constructed from distinctions and they require
opposites to exist at the same time.

21. The setting of two rock-shelters in the Bhilwara district of Rajasthan,
Photo by the author
Thank you very much for your kind attention
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Dalela, Ashish (2014-11-16). Quantum Meaning: A Semantic Interpretation of
Quantum Theory, Shabda Press.
Dalela, Ashish (2014-11-16). Sankhya and Science, Shabda Press.
Vahia, M.N.; Nisha Yadav and Srikumar Menon : Origin and Growth of Astronomy in
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