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| The Bison hunting the tribal |
Curiosity got the better
of Dr. Wakankar, an eminent archaeologist, when he noticed a group of caves in
the forest hills while on his way to Nagpur in a train. He started exploring
the vicinity around the deep forests in 1957 with his team……..and the rest as
we know is history. For this discovery he was awarded the Padmashri in 1975.
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| An idol of a caveman at the Cave entrance |
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| The Turtle Rock |
The name Bhimbetka, derives from the Mahabharata character Bhim, literally
meaning Bhims Seat. The
Rock Shelters are located about 45 km south east of Bhopal. The site spread
over 10 km in length has more than 700 rock shelters, of which over 400 have
paintings. The caves were the abode of Prehistoric cave dwellers for thousands
of years, which is evident from the variety of paintings from eras ranging from
Paleolithic, Mesolithic, to Neolithic.
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| An Elephant caricature |
Thousands of stone tools belonging to
different periods of stoneage have been found here. You can hire a guide here
for Rs.350 who for an hour will give you a good visibility of the place and interesting
anecdotes concerned with it
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| Scenes depicting domestication of animals |
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| One of the more elegant paintings depicting a horse |
The paintings show different scenes related to hunting, group dancing,
animal fights, honey collection, decoration of bodies, and household scenes. Images
of some of the weapons used like Spears, Sticks, Bows and Arrows adorn some of
the walls. Depiction of communal dances, mothers accompanying children,
pregnant ladies, men carrying dead animals, drinking and burials show their
daily grind. The animals picturised are Bisons, Tigers, Lions, Wild Boar,
Elephants, Antelopes, Snakes, Dogs, and Lizards. In one of the caves, a Red
colored Bison is shown in hot pursuit of a hunter, close to the point of
mauling him while his companions watch him silently, this depiction is
considered as the most famous amongst all the cave arts and is prominently showcased
by the ASI on its Webpage
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| Scenes related to war and hunting |
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| Soldiers on horseback waging a war |
Pigments occurring in nature were the source of the colors, Red
and White being the more prominent with an occasional dash of green and yellow.
Red would have probably come from Haematite (an Iron Oxide), Green from Chalcedony
(a type of Quartz) and White might have been made out of limestone. The Ore was
first ground into a powder, probably mixed with water or gum or resin from
trees before being splattered using a Stick as Brush. The biggest surprise here
is the paintings have been preserved intact with minimal damage despite the
severe rainfall and other environmental changes occurring in the region for
thousands of years. The oldest and largest number of paintings belong to the Mesolithic
age. One curious thing about Bhimbetka is that the artists often painted new
paintings on top of the older ones. Considering the height at which some paintings
were made, you realize the part which nature has played in terms of eroding the
ground soil over thousands of years
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| A poster outside the MPTDC resort |
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