Bhimbetaka
Prehistoric Painted Rock Shelter
Bhimbetka,
in Raisen district , Madhya Pradesh, is located 45 km to the south-east of Bhopal near a
hill village called 'Bhiyanpur'. Legendary character of Mahabharata Bhima's sitting place
is the literral meaning of Bhimbetaka which probably it got due to its mysterious huge
rock caves.This place it seems,attracted human attention from very begenning, that
is why it could become a natural choice for cultic performences.Atop the hill a large
number of rock-shelters have been discovered of which about more than 130 contains
paintings. In 1958 after dicovering this site V.S. Wakanker conducted a intensive
research-work and came out with fantastic results which virtually set agenda for
prehistoric rock-painting's systematic study in India. Since Archibald Carlleyle's
discovery of rock paintings in the Mirzapur mountains (in 19 th century ) more than 150
rock art sites through out the expanse of country has been discoveredAs per one
assumption, India may have the third-largest concentration of rock art sites after
Africa and Australia. Out of this two-Most of the Bhimbetaka paintings were executed on
Quartzite walls of the rock shelters using minerals for pigments, the most common being
iron oxide (ochere or geru )mixed with lime or water ( or other medium) third s
of this are concentrated in in central India and among which Bhimbetaka is the
biggest prehistoric art depository. Excavations in some of the rock-shelters revealed
history of continuous habitation from early stone age (about 10000 yrs) to the end of
stone age (about10,000 to2,000yrs approx.) as seen from artificially made stone tools and
implements like hand-axes, cleavers, scrappers, knives etc.
Neolithic tools
like points,trapazes,lunates etc made of chert and chalcedony besides stone querns and
grinders, decorated bone objects, pieces of orchre and human burials were also found here.
On the basis of superimpositions,subject matter and style of paintings one can divide the
entire development into nine phases.The earliest paintings are of mesolitic times followed
by the chalcolithic and then historic periods. These paintings, done with the help of thin
brushes probably made of twigs, show a myriad of animals and human figures, intricate
designs, riders, royal procession, hunting, battle scenes etc. Majority of paintings are
in various shades of red and white apart from some paintings in green and yellow colours.
In Mesolithic paintings wild animals and human figures are more common. The animals are
shown standing,moving, running, grazing or being hunted singly or collectively. In the
rock-shelter designated as "zoorock" -- the animals depicted are gaur, buffalow,
tiger, leopard,bear, elephant, rhinoceros, neelgai, blackdeer, sambhar, chitah, four
horned deer,fox, jackal and monkey. The paintings of historic period overlap the earlier
paintings and depicts royal processions, battle scenes, man riding garrrisoned horses etc.
Paintings here mainly deal with the relation of man and animal. Conveying dynamism and
movement, these paintings specially of animals, are extremely natural in their depiction.
The site was also inhabited during the late historical times as is evident from paintings
and writings in Asokan and Gupta Brahmi script.
