Bhimbetka

Bhimbetka

History is replete with stories that amaze us. Visiting a long cherished place gives us goose bump.

I had read the story of #Bhimbetka when i was a kid. It was nothing more than a word that used to relate with paintings on some rocks. The place was in Madhya Pradesh.

When i was in my Masters i got a broader view about this place that too again in some books and some presentations by our teachers. I got this opportunity to visit this place in this Monsoon, when the entire land was enveloped covered with green grasses and plants.

#Bhimbetka, a place located just 45 kms from #Bhopal, reveals the time when it used to be inhabited by our forefathers. Once used to be an obscure place has now become a #Unesco's World Heritage Site in 2003.

Elephant in a painting

I googled for more information about this beautiful place and came to know that in 1888, there was an Englishman that first saw this place while travelling. He published a paper describing about the cave and #Rockpaintings, he found under the gigantic rocks.

Later Indian Archaeologist Mr. Wakankar did elaborated research. Archaeologists and Historians have expressed their views than the rock paintings found here are more that 10000 year old. Also the first human habitation found here dates back to around 1 lakh years ago, not in India but in the entire Indian subcontinent. What a great feat and what a lovely place.

After reaching Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, we hired a cab and visited this place. It was a rainy season and the cool breeze makes this journey even more soothing. We took some snacks at a small habitation called #Abdullaganj, just 10kms drive from Bhimbetka. A few distance away the rock boulders and gigantic rocks were visible on the top of the hill. It was altogether different experience for me. I used to read about this very place in books, magazines and on internet, the place was now in front of me. I was going to explore a place where our ancestors started their lives and left some indigenous paintings for reasons best known to them only.

I bought entry tickets and ventured into the journey that was gong to unfold many pleasant stories. We found a guide who was also an Archaeologist and started getting detailed information about the place. Rock standing straight amidst the diverse vegetation. The mark of fluvial erosion and sedimentation was clearly visible. The guide told us that lakhs and crores of years ago the entire lands used to be submerged under water. And it is refereed to as #Gondwanaland. River #Narmada used to flow on this area. The river shifted the course and flowing kms away from the place. Archaeologists have also concluded that due to several tectonic events this landmass emerged from the water and now it is located on a hill.

Bhimbetka rock painting

The mark of river sedimentation is clearly visible from the #Quartzite rocks which is in plenty from which the caves and rock boulders have been made. The rocks are so strong that it is very difficult to carve anything on them. And around 10000 years ago human start dwelling inside the caves. And they left their mark by simply making some painting with natural colours made by locally available vegetation. The colours used where Ochre, yellow and red.

We found a rock under which an elephant was painted. Imagining the era and time when this painting was made was giving goose bump. It was like we were in some different world. A world where early human used to inhabit and interact with animals and other fellow beings.

Around 750 caves have been discovered where traces of rock paintings have been found. Painting of animals like deers, elephant, peacock can be seen on the cave walls. Human being riding some animals and involved in hunting activities are major subjects of the paintings. A cave calls amphitheatre witnessed a palm of a small kid on the wall. The idea or the intention can not be said with certainty but experts believe that it was just an activity which used to please people inhabiting this place.

Animals figures 

Moving forward we saw a rock where a #Bison was shown hitting a tribal. The fellow tribesmen were just spectators standing still. The bison is very huge. The tribal people were not experts in making these painting as revealed by the shape of the art. Mostly geometric shaped bodies or art were made. Probably they were learning the art and not able to make handsome paintings.

Further research shows that with passage of time new culture arrived in the vicinity of this place. As there were changes in the style and subject of paintings. The art became more sophisticated and subjects were also getting changed with time. A panel was depicted with a horse that seems to be the horse made drawn in the #aryan literature. It seems the horse resembles the horse used in #Ashvamegh Yagya.

Meanwhile our guide tore a leaf of a plant not known to us. When he rubbed the leaf, the fingers were coloured with #Ochre colour. Our guide informed that this was one of the vegetation found here from which paint were made. The paint was so strong that it had endured a unbelievable duration of more than 10,000 years. Moving further we saw the sedimentary nature of the rocks which indicates that the area was under water at certain point of time in the past.

The only painting in the caves showing, "a man" being hunted by a beast, a horned boar

On another wall we found people holding hands with other community members and are celebrating some occasion. A procession was going on and the mood was happy. Every rock panel, rock structure was jaw-dropping. We were standing at a place which was epics away from us. I felt nothing has changed. We were breathing the same air, gazing the same sky, and inhabiting the same place. And on the second side of the coin the rock boulders and panels, the lush green vegetation were looking at us with surprise and awe. Time became still. We were in some different world. The tribal were busy in hunting a deer. Kids were playing with small animals. Some of the matured were skinning some animals. There was a procession going on and people were enjoying the occasion.

You can not separate the space and time. The change was in our thought process, but the essence was same. We were roaming the areas once belonged to our older generations.

Cave panels

Bhimbetka is a place where beauty is engraved on the rocks, on vegetation and on air. Capturing the beauty in eyes and camera was a futile experience. Even if you are capturing it in camera you will find it difficult to explain the beauty in totality. Some experiences may be shared but not in their entirety. Some experiences can be lived. We were living Bhimbetka. Bhimbetka got inside us.