Bhimbhetka:
The Bhimbetka rock shelters group compose an important Palaeolithic site and also famous for its prehistoric art paradise and the year 2002, when it was included in the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO on the recommendation of the Govt. of India.
Location and Geological background :
Bhimbetka (22º 56' N: 77° 36' E): is located 45 km south-east of Bhopal in the Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh. It encompasses an area of 12,172 ha with a core of 1832 ha, and falls within Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary. The entire area is covered by thick vegetation, has abundant natural resources in its perennial water supplies, natural shelters, rich forest flora and fauna. The name ‘Bhimbetka’ has been given to it because of a myth that it was the ‘sitting place of Bhim’, a brave Pandava. (The five sons of king Pandu and the queens Kunti and Madri) in the Hindu epic Mahabharata.
Subject Matter of Bhimbhetka Rock art
The main subject of paintings is animals depicted in different postures. They are often shown in groups running in one direction and the hunting scenes are frequently depicted. Various animals like tiger, leopard, cheetah, bear, rhinoceros, wild buffalo, boar, sambhar, swamp deer, muntjak, wolf, hyena, dog, horse, elephant, camel, squirrel, fish, crab, scorpion, frog, centipede, pea-fowl, jungle fowl and others were depicted.
The size of each picture is generally small and their body was decorated with geometric or abstract patterns in the earliest phase. In subsequent phases the pictures are depicted full of motion, often highly artistic, simplified and decorated. There are hunting, fishing, dancing, men marching, and various other kinds of scenes depicting social life. In the Transitional phase men are shown riding bull and the animals appear to be familiar to people. The paintings of Historical period were marked by the horse-riders, elephant riders, metal objects. Apart from these hand prints, dots, decorative figures and inscriptions in Ashokan and Gupta Brahmi and Sankha scripts and some unidentified and undecipher script are also recorded.
The superimposition of paintings indicates that the same canvas was used for different subsequent period for expression of their social and metal activities. The drawing and paintings can be classified under seven different periods. In addition to animals there are human figures and hunting scenes, giving a clear picture of the weapons they used: barbed spears, pointed sticks, bows and arrows. The depiction of communal dances, birds, musical instruments, mother and child pregnant women, men carrying dead animal drinking and burials appear in rhythmic movement.
Chronology
In the absence of absolute chronometric dating, the paintings depicted in the excavated rock shelters were taken into consideration to formulate stylistic criteria to establish the chronological sequence for the Indian rock art. The rock paintings, themselves, are useful to establish a relative chronology for the India rock art on the basis of their thematic content, superimposition, style and colour, which can be used as parameters for chronological and cultural sequence of the vast and diverse rock art of India. Very often, the rock paintings were depicted one over the other are called superimpositions can help to formulate a relative chronology by observing the overlapping of the paintings and one has to note the stylistic features of the successive paintings as well as the different colours of the paintings. There is as many as 16 layers of paintings are found at Bhimbetka. The first five phases were assigned to the Prehistoric, the sixth phase to the Transitional or Chalcolithic period and the rest to the Historic period (Misra and Mathpal, 1979). With the help of this kind of study one can find out various cultural phases in the rock paintings. The rock paintings discovered so far in India are large in number and they are extremely narrative, which gives information about different types of activities. The thematic analysis of the paintings suggests patterns of subsistence, tool technology and technological innovations. The study of overlapping paintings helps us to build a chronological frame work for the Indian rock paintings and the paintings were categorized into different stylistic groups. The study of the correlation between the paintings and the archaeologically established data will help to find out the technologically developed cultures of the past, i.e., the paintings drawn before the introduction of Brahmi script, were considered as of Prehistoric period and they were divided into two categories, i.e., hunter-gatherers and agriculturist. But the paintings of the wild animals and the depiction of the weapons, made of stones indicates that they belong to a society which did not posses any knowledge about the use of metals. This type of rock paintings suggests that they were depicted by the hunting-gathering societies, who prepared the microlith-tipped weapons like spears and arrows.
The Mesolithic rock paintings shows a developed microlith technology, a technological feature in the Indian Prehistory goes back to the Upper Palaeolithic period and the microlith-tipped weapons depicted in the rock paintings could be as old as 25,000 years or only 2,000 years old.
On the basis of the green pigment recovered from the Upper Palaeolithic phase at Bhimbetka, Wakankar (1975) dated the green paintings as the earliest ones. The dynamic paintings of "S" twist style are drawn in green. Pandey, however, does not agree with Wakankar as the green paintings are always found under thin patina. The naturalistic style paintings have been drawn with thick brush. The colour is generally dark tan. This group underlies the rest or is drawn in a remote place without any superimposition. The elongated body of the human figures is filled either with ladder-like decoration or with zigzag patterns. In the case of animal figures, only the herbivorous animals like elephants, bisons and antelopes are given a place in the depiction. These animals are drawn in silhouette, single outline or double outline only. The earliest animal paintings of this group are huge in size and sometimes cover the whole canvas; the later ones are smaller. In the second group human figures are either shown in linear forms termed as stick-shape or in "S" twist forms designated as dynamic figures; female figures are drawn in square shapes. Though the simplicity and naturalism of the animal figures were maintained, decoration with intricate patterns and linear designs was also introduced. The stick-shaped figures are symbolically presented in linear forms and look like a child's work. These figures do not show the skill, which characterizes the animal figures. But these stick-shaped figures are capable of depicting the different human activities of Mesolithic men (Pandey 1992). The schematic series represents the Transitional phase. The designs include geometric patterns, horizontal vertical and tapering lines like leaf-veins, and criss-cross patterns. The patterns and the animal drawings can be compared with those of the Chalcolithic paintings.
The painters of the eclectic series continued the tradition, but freely selected the earlier patterns as well. The multiple forms and designs, choice in colours and various human activities differentiate this group. The basic theme of this series is the warrior. Its outstanding features are horse-riders in their typical outfits, equipped with swords, shields and spears engaged in battles (Pandey 1992). He divides the paintings into the following themes: Hunting-gathering (Mesolithic), Cattle rearing and food production (Neolithic/Chalcolithic), Domestication, War scenes (Historical), Religion (Historical) script and warrior scene late historical and Medieval.
Colour, Themes and Styles
The colours used by the cave artists are natural mineral colours available in local geological formations. The most common colour is haematite red which is found in various shades of orange, vermillion, light-red, crimson, chocolate and purple. The second common colour is lime-white which is also available in several shades such as milky-white, grayish-white and yellow ochre. Emerald green has been used for a few paintings at Bhopal, Bhimbetka, Lakhajaur and Jaora. Yellow, dark green and black have very rarely been used. Pigments produced from mineral nodules was diluted with water and was probably mixed with animal fat and glue
Most of the human and animal figures look like shadows, devoid of eyes, nose, fingers and hooves. The heads of the human figures of earlier groups are generally round or oval; they are square and triangular in the later group. In a few examples the mouth is shown open, resembling the open beak of a bird and the nose appears to be horned. Generally the human figures are shown in profile, nude. Warriors of the later paintings are shown with medieval costumes. X-ray style of depiction is very popular in the paintings
Tewari (1992) has classified them in six sub-groups. Dance is the most important social celebration depicted in the rock paintings. Amongst animal figures deer is the most common (42%). Others include one horned rhino, elephant, bison, leopard, wild boar, wild bull, nilgai, monkey, cattle, porcupine, horse, camel, dog and lizard (goh). A few depictions of birds, peacock, crane, water birds, ostrich, fish and snakes are also recorded. The horse is restricted to the paintings of historical period. Some later inscriptions in Brahmi, Sankha and Nagari scripts are also found in some shelters, ranging in dates from AD l00 to 1400.