An hour’s drive, south of Bhopal in the Vindhyan Mountains are the 600 rock shelters of Bhimbetka. It’s a peaceful and beautiful area and the natural rock formations – massive sandstone outcrops – must once have been a great place for Stone Age people to live in. The overhanging rock ledges gave them shelter and the forest was full of water and edible plants and fruits.
The rock shelters has been painted from the Mesolithic period right through to the Historical period with different motifs, depicting time and life as it once was, 12.000 years ago. It’s a virtual pre-historic panorama of India, filled with hunting and battle scenes and all kinds of animals such as deer’s, buffalos, rhinoceros, bears and tigers.
Bimbetka is a beautiful area to wander around for an hour or two and definitely not a crowded site. site. Bimbetka is definitely worth a couple of hour’s excursion out of busy Bhopal.
How to reach ?
The nearest railhead and airport are in Bhopal
Where to Stay ?
No Accommodation is available. Set up base in
Bhimbetka stands on a ride that rises over what were once dense forests. Trudging past the rugged landscape that leads to the caves entered the first one. It was like entering a wide canvas of pre-historic life. Coming alive before us were scenes of hunting and dancing from the very early times of civilization. Etched out in red and white over the cave walls, every nuance reminded me of a habitat that had once seen pulsating life.
The colours have remained intact for many centuries due to the chemical reaction resulting from the oxide present on the surface of the rocks.
History
These rock shelters date back to the Neolithic age – 5,500 – 1,000 BC. ‘ it is said that Bhima one of the Pandavas had rested here and that is how the place got the name ‘Bhim Ka baithaka’ which later got disorted to Bhimbetka. Out of the 750 rock shelters, 500 of them have paintings, of which only 15 are open to the public. These historic caves supposedly gave shelter to the Pandavas and it is here that they built their palace of wax. The caves have South Asia ’s richest collection of prehistoric painings.’
The oldest ones are believed to be upto 12,000 years old. A cave was named the ‘zoo rock shelter’ because of the large number of animal paintings in it.
Hunting scenes with spear –wielding men, processions with dancing figures, drum beating men ecstatic in celebration - the caves were blazing with crimson paintings. it was difficult to imagine the hunters as such great artists. There were illustrations of horse and elephant riders, animals fighting honey collection, body are and masks.
There is a hollow part in the floor of the cave .. The dead were buried under the floors of these caves. Excavators found the remains of a 12 foot skeleton from this area, and also blades, scrapers, cleavers and axes, they are exhibited in the
From the excavations, it was deciphered that domestication of animals and cultivation of crops existed even during those times.
At the edge of the caves and saw an interesting tortoise shaped formation. There are many such formations, here but is take many hours to see them all. Rock shelters stretch for more than ten kilometers around the area.
The art of conservation
The trees from which dyes had been made for primitive artworks. When we squashed a few leaves and a bright red stain appeared on his palm.
The colours on the walls of caves remain bright because of the chemical reaction from the oxide. Our ancestors were not foolish.
They were brilliant artistes and the rock caves are a revelation that, centuries ago humans were equally as ingenious and creative.
