Pinch and Ask yourself – Who’s the painter? Who’s the painter?
Or as the Hindi Song goes – “Yeh Kaun Chitrakar hai?” (BTW the absolute gem of a number can be watched at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ydFB4R6Uuo)
If you have guessed that it is the naughty children from your neighborhood using crayons than you are only going to be wrong by around 10000 years. The painters of these magnificent drawings are (hold your breaths) our great great….great grandparents. That in itself should get going in revving up your admiration for these beauties.
The place where this paintings are found is known as Bhimbetka rock shelters near Bhopal in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. A place where History stands still. Absolutely still.
When you are at a place which is inhabited even before than 10000 BCE, getting awed is simply the only thing you will manage. These rock shelters were inhabited nearly continuously by the Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic, chalcolithic, Early historical and medieval homo sapiens. Though there are many rock shelters only 15 have been opened for the masses.
At first glance you will miss many of the paintings that the place offers. However once you avail the services of a trained guide you will be able to see much more. Hence a good guide is absolutely mandatory to make this place come alive.
It is unlike anything I had ever seen before. Many of the paintings are superimpositions implying that the surface has been painted over and again for the centuries. The fact that the paintings survive in itself is a huge surprise since the more modern paints that ASI uses to mark them gets washed away at a much more frequency. And to think of it, these paintings have survived for over 12 centuries. What more can I say about a place which has been inhabited for the better part of 12 centuries representing most of the hunter gatherer time of the humans.
Bhimbetka is another world heritage site near Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. I am still awe struck by memories of Bhimbetka. Leaving you with a few more paintings. Enjoy. Admire.
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