BHIMBETKA - A PREHISTORIC CRADLE OF HUMANKIND
Actually the rock art site was known to the local tribal people and other
villagers for generations. Since the year 1972 i visit the site at least twice a
year. Dr. Yashodhar Mathpal is the first scholar who systematically studied the
rock art of the whole area and submitted his research work as a PhD. dissertation
under professor V.N. Misra of the Deccan college, Pune. Dr. Mathpal is known to
me for last few decades and he is a most devoted person in this field. The
mystery of Bhimbetka is in the presence of successive layers of stone tool-
bearing deposits exposed during excavations. Rock art in Bhimbetka had
originated during the upper Paleolithic to Mesolithic transitory period and the
art tradition had continued in successive periods. Even the art tradition
continued during early historic phase and thereafter. The burials in Bhimbetka
rock shelters, the archaeological materials found from rock shelters - all are
associated to the visual tradition of rock art which ultimately incorporated or
assimilated to the local tribal tradition particularly of gond - speaking tribal
communities. But to my own assessment, the rock art of Bhimbetka region exhibits
limited visual narratives on community life of the periods. Whereas, such
illustrations exhibited life- opportunities exhaustively and more in detail in
rock paintings of Pachmarhi
region in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh.
For further reading you may consult the following book :
rock art studies in India : a historical perspective. By Somnath Chakraverty.
Published by : the Asiatic Society . Kolkata.
If necessary, you may contact the following e-mail address : somraja2008@gmail.com
dr. Somnath chakraverty
kolkata
|
Monuments 
