PREHISTORIC ROCK PAINTINGS IN INDIA

PREHISTORIC ROCK CAVE PAINTINGS IN INDIA ·         The prehistoric period in the early development of human beings is commonly known as the Old Stone Age or the Palaeolithic Age. ·         Prehistoric paintings have been found in many parts of the world. Subjects of their drawings were human figures, human activities, geometric designs and symbols. ·         In India the earliest paintings have been reported from the Upper Palaeolithic times. ·         The first discovery of rock paintings was made in India in 1867–68 by an archaeologist, Archibald Carlyle and John Cocksure in Aimer  ranges, Madhya Pradesh, found the rock  engravings and cave paintings., twelve years before the discovery of Altamira in Spain. ·         Remnants of rock paintings have been found on the walls of the caves situated in several districts of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Bihar and in Kumaon hills of Uttarakhand. Major Pre-Historic Rock Paintings sites in India BHIMBETKA ·         It is the largest and most spectacular Rock Cave Shelter is located in the Vindhya hills. ·         Bhimbetka is located 45 kilometres south east of Bhopal on the road to Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh. ·         It has about 800/700 rock shelters, 500/400 of which bear paintings. (Data: NCERT/ASI) ·         The caves of Bhimbetka were discovered in 1957–58 by eminent archaeologist V.S. Wakankar and later on many more were discovered. ·         Bhimbetka is listed in World Heritage list of UNESCO. ·         The themes of paintings found here are events of daily life in those times to sacred and royal images. These include hunting, dancing, music, horse and elephant riders, animal fighting, honey collection, decoration of bodies, and other household scenes. ·         The Auditorium Rock Shelter, Zoo Rock and Boar Rock are very interesting sites at Bhimbetka Cluster. ·         The Auditorium Rock Shelter is dated back to nearly 100000 years. Near the end of this tunnel there is a cluster of painting depicting a hunter, deer, tiger cattle and stylised peacock. ·          Further ahead on the same path one comes across the Zoo Rock Shelter, which qualifies as the most densely painted rock shelter, paintings spanning from the Mesolithic to the Mediaeval. The paintings here include those of A Mesolithic boar painted in dark red, animals like: elephant, rhinoceros, boar, Barasingha, spotted deer and cattle and snake, etc. ·         The Boar Rock, which is the last among the rock shelters, has a depiction of a mythical boar with horns that is many more times larger than the human being chased by it. ·         The cave also has a small inscription of the Maurya /Sunga period. Within the general area of Bhimbetka Group of rock shelters small Stupas have been found at Bhimbetka, near Bhoranwali, at Bineka, at Lakhajuar and midway between Lakhajuar and Bhimbetka. ·         A large number of Shanka Lipi inscriptions have been found here. ·         Bhimbetka has three phases viz upper Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Chalcolithic periods. LAKHUDIYAR ·         This rock shelters is situated on banks of the River Suyal at Lakhudiyar, about 20 kilometres on the Almora–Barechina road in Uttrakhand. Lakhudiyar literally means one lakh caves. ·         Lakhudiyar has been acknowledged as the richest cave shelter preserving the scenes and activities of the primitive inhabitants of the region, which according to archaeologists belong to the Old Stone Age to the Neo Stone Age. ·    The prehistoric paintings here can be divided into three categories: man, animal and geometric patterns in white, black and red ochre. ·    The motifs represented are humans, animals and some other signatures. Human figures are represented in stick-like, stylized as well as in-like forms. Most of the human figures are shown as rows of dancers. ·      A long-snouted animal, a fox and a multiple legged lizard are the main animal motifs. ·         Wavy lines, rectangle-filled geometric designs, and groups of dots can also be seen here. ·          One of the interesting scenes depicted here is of hand-linked dancing human figures. ·           There is some superimposition of paintings here. The earliest are in black; over these are Red Ochre Paintings and the last group comprises White Paintings. ·          Other remnants of cultural importance of this region as has been pointed out by Professor D.D. Sharma are megaliths, menhirs, cup marks (memoirs of dead) burial graves, cists pottery, beads etc. ·         It has been noticed here that during that period at least three types of burials were in practice, (1) complete burial, (2) fractional burial and (3) post cremation burial. In the first form the whole body was cremated along with certain funerary objects. In the fractional burial, urns containing skulls and fragments of bones along with earthen wares and a variety of small objects for the use of the dead were also placed there. ROCK CAVE PAINTINGS IN KARNATKA AND TELANGANA ·         Paintings of this sites belong to Neolithic man age. ·         Important site are Kupgallu in Nalgonda District of Telangana, Piklihal of Raichur district in Karnataka and Tekkalkota in Bellary district Karnataka.. Three types of paintings have been reported from here—paintings in white, paintings in red ochre over a white background and paintings in red ochre. ·         These paintings belong to late historical, early historical and Neolithic periods. ·         The subjects depicted are bulls, elephants, Sambhars, gazelles, sheep, goats, horses, stylised humans, tridents, but rarely, vegetal motifs. *****