Rock Art:
Recent Researches and New Perspectives
(Festschrift to Padma Shri. Dr. Yashodhar Mathpal)
Rock Art:
Recent Researches and New Perspectives
(Festschrift to Padma Shri. Dr. Yashodhar Mathpal)
(Vol. I)
Ajit Kumar
New Bharatiya Book Corporation
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ISBN : 81-8315-263-5
978-81-8315-263-1
Type Setting: Dr. Rajesh S.V Cover Design: Dr. Ajit Kumar
Assistant Editors:
Rajesh. S. V
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Sachin Tiwary
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Yashodhar Mathpal
Padma Shri. Dr.Yashodhar Mathpal was born in 1939, in the small village of Naula, in Almorah district, he is an acknowledged Archaeologist, Curator, Philosopher, Gandhian and Artist.
Yashodhar Mathpal belongs to a category of dedicated and selfless lovers of art. His artistic talents came to the fore, as a child, when he had to assist his uncle, an astrologer, in drawing horoscopes and illustrating almanacs. Perusing his skills and interest, he later obtained his Masters degree in fine arts from Lucknow Arts College. Mathpal came back to his village and started teaching in the school founded by his father, who was a social worker and a follower of Gandhi. His fatherʹs nationalist idealism exposed him to Gandhian thought and philosophy which cultivated in him austerity and simplicity.
In 1973, he read a magazine article on the rock paintings of Bhimbetka near Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. He resigned his job and with the few hundred rupees he had saved, set out to join the Deccan College under the University of Pune to obtain his Ph.D in Archaeology on Bhimbetka rock-paintings. Mathpal studied and reproduced the rock painting of Bhimbetka laboriously. He discovered that primeval drawings often tell stories of the lives of our ancestors who painted them. Consequent to obtaining his doctorate, Mathpal has carried out archaeological exploration-excavations and rock art studies in the regions of Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and the Shivaliks.
vi Rock Art: Recent Researches and New Perspectives (Festschrift to Yashodhar Mathpal)
England and Australia. He has also converted his drawings into glossy picture-postcards, to popularize and bring out the depth of ancient rock art.
It is one thing to eulogies art/folk-art and folk culture, and yet another to dedicate your life to the preservation of this rich and rare cultural heritage. With only his vision and invincible spirit by his side, Dr. Mathpal embarked on a venture which today has flowered into the Folk Culture Museum in Bhimtal. It is a one-man show and he runs it without accepting any aid either from the government or from any individual. The museum houses more than 700 stone implements of prehistoric period, collected and classified by Mathpal himself, old fossils, pottery and bricks recovered from prehistoric/historic excavation sites, dozens of woodwork specimen from Kumaoni region, rare manuscripts, and other folk and tribal crafts are the pride of his collections
He has authored eight books and has more than 175 published papers. He has presented papers in various national and international seminars and conferences and won accolades. His efforts and contribution to promote Indian culture has received appreciation from the society at large. He has been felicitated with several awards of international and national fame including Padma Shri from the Government of India. He continues his life, which is a saga of persistence, perseverance and patience at Bhimtal, nurturing his endeavour to preserve folk art and culture.
About this Book
This book is a humble tribute to Padma Shri. Dr.Yashodhar Mathpal, a scholar whom I had known from his rock art research works on Bhimbhetaka and Kerala. I got to meet him in person at New Delhi, while attending the International Conference on Rock Art organized by the IGNCA in 2012. I was deeply drawn to his scholarship, simplicity and affectionate approach. When I placed before him the thought and request of bringing out a festschrift volume in his honour, he acceded to it after some persuasion.
Considering the specialization of Dr. Mathpal, it was decided to devote the festschrift volume exclusively to rock art. The proposal received spontaneous support when placed before scholars working in the field. Papers on rock art from four foreign countries and nineteen Indian states find discussion in this book. I am grateful to all the scholars, foreign and Indian, who have contributed their research papers for this volume. It is heartening to note that a large number of young researchers are taking keen interest in rock art studies and have contributed papers. I am optimistic that this book will be useful to the connoisseurs of rock art studies.
Editing the articles and making it presentable for publication was an arduous task happily undertaken. In this task, I have had the support and active collaboration of young dynamic assistant editors like Rajesh.S.V, Abhyan, G.S, Raj.K.Varman and Sachin Kr. Tiwary. The credit of setting the books in its entirety goes to Rajesh, S.V, and I am indebted to him for it. I am thankful to proprietors of New Bharatitya Book Corporation, New Delhi Shri. Subhash Jain and Deepak Jain for conceding to publish the book.
vii
Page No. v-vi vii-xi
1-22
23-33
34-46
47-58
59-71
72-78
79-99
Contents
Yashodhar Mathpal
Contents
Vol. I
CUBA
1 Art in Majayara-Yara Elevations in Baracoa, Guantánamo, Cuba
Racso Fernández Ortega, Dany Morales Valdés, Dialvys Rodríguez Hernández, Roberto Orduñez Fernández, Alejandro Correa Borges and Juan Carlos Lobaina Montero
PERU
2 Quilcas and Toponymic Approach, an Original Contribution to Rock Art Research in Peru
Gori Tumi Echevarría López
ITALY
3 Prehistoric Pleistocenic Cave Art in Italy
Dario Seglie
PAKISTAN
4 Cup-Marks in Gadap, Karachi (Sindh, Pakistan)
Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro
INDIA
5 Ladder Symbolism: Morphology and Meaning with Special Reference to Rock-Art India
Ajit Kumar
6 Some Thoughts on Rock Art
Bulu Imam
JAMMU AND KASHMIR
7 The Rock Art of Ladakh: A Historiographic and Thematic Study
viii
8
9
Stupas in Petroglyphs: A Living Héritage of Ladakh
Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
A Note on Petroglyphs from Bomai, Sopore District, Jammu and Kashmir
Ajit Kumar and Abhishek Mishra
100-105
106-112
UTTARAKHAND
10 Situating Rock Art in the Archaeology of Garhwal Himalaya: A Fresh Look
Akshay Verma, Pradeep M. Saklani, Vinod Nautiyal, R. C. Bhatt, Sudhir Nautiyal, Bhagat Pawar, Manmatya Mishra and Nagendra Rawat
113-121
UTTAR PRADESH
11 Rock Art of Fatehpur Sikri Region with Special Reference to Bandrauli and Madanpura
Arakhita Pradhan
122-133
RAJASTHAN
12 Study of Rock Art and Associated Archaeological Cultures in Harauti Plateau, South-Eastern Rajasthan, India
Shaik Saleem
134-163
GUJARAT
13 Rock Paintings and Tribal Art in Gujarat: A Case Study
Urmi Ghosh Biswas
14 Prehistoric Investigations in Kutch, Gujarat
Shaik Saleem
164-174
175-180
MADHYA PRADESH
15 The Lower Paleolithic Petroglyphs of Bhimbetka
Robert G. Bednarik
16 Discovery of New Rock Art Sites and It’s Implications for Indian Archaeology in Central Indian Context
Ruman Banerjee, Radha Kant Varma and Alistair W. G. Pike
17 Decorated Rock Shelters of the Gawilgarh Hills
Prabash Sahu and Nandini Bhattacharya Sahu
18 Nanoun, A Rock Art Site Near Chanderi (Ashok Nagar District), Madhya Pradesh
Rajendra Dehuri and Sachin Kumar Tiwary
181-202
203-216
217-230
ix
19 Handprints in the Rock Art and Tribal Art of Central India
Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak and Jean Clottes
238-246
CHHATTISGARH
20 Some Aspects of Rock Art Research in Chhattisgarh Reference to Bastar and Adjoining Regions
G.L.Badam, Bharti Shroti and Vishi Upadhyay
with 247-274
BIHAR
21 Rock Art of Kaimur Region, Bihar
Sachin Kumar Tiwary
275-286
JHARKHAND
22 Distinct Dominant Thematic, Motivational and Stylistic Traits in the Rock Art of Southern Bihar and Adjoining Jharkhand
A. K. Prasad
23 A Newly Discovered Painted Rock Art Site at Banpur, Jharkhand
Himanshu Shekhar and Yongjun Kim
287-296
297-304
NORTH-EAST
24 A Note on the Rock Engraving of the North- East India
L. Kunjeswari Devi and S. Shyam Singh
305-315
ORISSA
25 Signs and Symbols in Odishan Rock Art and the Indication about Early Writings
Soumya Ranjan Sahoo
26 Glimpses of the Rock Paintings and Rock Engravings in Odisha
Tosabanta Padhan
316-320
321-331
Vol. II
ANDHRA PRADESH
27 Botanical Survey at the Rock Art Sites in Andhra Pradesh- A Report
M. Raghu Ram
28 Rock Art of Andhra Pradesh: A Review
P. C. Venkatasubbaiah
333-340
x
MAHARASHTRA
29 Rock Art of Maharashtra 367-379
Kantikumar A. Pawar
30 Petroglyphs on the Laterite Rock Surface at Kudopi, District 380-386 Sindhudurg, Maharashtra: Evidence of Prehistoric Shamanistic
Practices?
Satish Lalit
GOA
31 Rock Art of Goa- A Few Observations 387-394
M. Nambirajan
KARNATAKA
32 Rock Art at Kurugodu, District Bellary, Karnataka 395-414
M. Mahadevaiah and Veeraraghavan N.
33 Further Discovery of Rock Art at Tatakoti (Badami), North 415-424 Karnataka
Mohana R.
34 A Note on the Rock Art in Coastal Karnataka 425-432
T. Murugeshi
TAMIL NADU
35 Rock Art in Vellore Region 433-446
Rajan K.
36 Prehistoric Hunting from Palanimalai Paintings, Tamil Nadu – 447-456 An Ethno-archaeological Study
R. N. Kumaran and M. Saranya
37 An Iron Age-Early Historic Motif on the Rock Paintings of Tamil 457-460 Nadu
V. Selvakumar
KERALA
38 Petroglyphs in Kerala with Special reference to Those in Edakkal 461-474 Rock - Shelter, Kerala
Ajit Kumar
39 Some Fresh Observations on the Human Figures in Edakkal Rock 475-481 Engravings, Kerala
Praveen C. K. and Vijay Sathe
40 Rock Art in Kerala: Emerging Facets and Certain New 482-490 Interpretations
xi
41 Rock Art in the Great Migration Corridor of East Anamalai Valley
Benny Kurian
42 The Excavation of the Rock Shelter in the Anjunad Valley: A Preliminary Report
N. Nihil Das and P. P. Joglekar
43 White Paintings from Anjunadu Valley
Shabin Mathew
44 Discoveries of Rock Engravings from the Districts of Palakkad and Ernakulam, Kerala
V. Sanalkumar
Contributors
491-521
522-528
529-539
540-544
Discovery of New Rock Art Sites and It’s Implications for Indian
Archaeology in Central Indian Context
Ruman Banerjee
1, Radha Kant Varma
2and Alistair W. G. Pike
31 Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol, BS8 1UU, U.K. (Email:
arxrb@bristol.ac.uk)
2 18c, Hastings Road, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India (Email: radhak37_kant@ rediffmail.com)
3 Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton, SO17 1BF, U.K. (Email:
a.w.pike@soton.ac.uk)
by Carleylle from the Mirzapur region of Central India Central Indian rock art is long known for its exceptional rock paintings; depicting crucial stages of human
Abstract:
during the later half of nineteenth century till toda. During the first part of twenty first century a plethora of rock art sites evolution in the subcontinent. The inception of its discoverywas
have been discovered in India; particularly in Central India. It is relevant to mention here that the dataset is diverse and each rock art site has certain unique elements that other sites do not represent in their morphic record. However the variations of the morphic details and nature of their occurrences in different rock shelters and even within the same group of rock-shelters have not been explored yet. The methodological rigor and sound documentation techniques brought to light several new sites in the region during a field survey of nine months between 2010 and 2012. New discoveries of painted rock-shelters enhanced the total number of archaeological sites found in the given region, but also this poses new challenges for the preservation and conservation of the archaeological sites for future research and posterity. This paper details a few new discoveries in the districts of Mirzapur and Rewa discussing their present and future importance in rock art research and archaeology in Central Indian context.
Introduction
Rock art research in India has flourished within a period of a hundred and thirty years, right from the penultimate decades of the nineteenth century, when British officer Carleylle (1883, 1899) made his first discoveries in the then regions of Mirzapur and Central India. New sites in this region were discovered, documented and subsequently published by several other European officers and scholars as well (Cockburn, 1883 a,b;1888, 1899; Colonel Rivett-Carnac, 1877,1879; Brown, 1923). Later on, more scholars and researchers contributed fruitfully to enlarge the database incorporating their findings and discoveries throughout the twentieth century; finally proceeding towards the twenty-first century. Generations of archaeologists, anthropologists and other researchers have discovered and documented various painted sandstone rock-shelters in this region (Varma, 2012; Jayaswal, 1983; Tewari, 1990; Tewari and Singh, 1999; Tiwari, 2000; Partap and Kumar, 2009). Rock art research, overtime in the subcontinent, especially in India and particularly in Central India experienced a significant metamorphosis with technological advancements, recording techniques, site prospection and survey methods. Given the density of rock art clusters and motifs in Central India, it can be expected that in the coming years rock art enthusiasts and archaeologist will discover more sites (Varma, 2012; Banerjee
initiated
the
archaeologists
latter
204 Rock Art: Recent Researches and New Perspectives (Festschrift to Yashodhar Mathpal)
and Srivastava, 2013; Banerjee et al, 2013). However, the phenomenon of new site discoveries and its implications on local and national archaeological record depend on several parameters. Every new site comes with unique set of archaeological data. The specificity of archaeological data and anthropological interpretation play key roles in situating the sites within the context for future research and development both locally and nationally and perhaps depending on the quality of record globally. Rock art and its preservation in an open air rock-shelter context is an inextricably related issue. While detailing the data on rock art from the Central Indian region, it is equally important to describe the matrix of the art, the nature of the host rock, local climate and other anthropogenic activities to situate the art into perspective and to derive future implications from it. Here we aim to report a few new sites that yielded unique motifs and morphic variability which is not reported from any other Central Indian sites. These new findings demarcate the possibility of finding new types of motifs and variations in style in the entire iconographic record of the Central Indian region. Particularly the presence of thematic variability and morphic variability might have introduced the concepts of innovation, knowledge and probably identity generation for the past settlers of the region. The concepts and role of identity crisis and identity generation through rock art and archaeology is a recent trend in Central Indian rock art.
Study Area
Central India hosts a huge corpus of painted rock shelters in and around the areas of Mirzapur (23°52ʹ & 25°32ʹ N, 82°07ʹ & 83°33ʹE) having an area of 4,522 square kilometers (Drake-Brockman, 1911). Recently, the new district of Sonbhadra has been carved out from Mirzapur that used to form the southern part of the district. Mirzapur (Fig.1) is located just under the Vindhyan sandstone hills that received its dendritic drainage pattern from the prominent rivers of the region like the Ganges, Belan and Son (Chakrabarti and Singh, 1998).
The Vindhyan range being a border between the northern and peninsular India has a spread from Gujarat state in the West to Uttar Pradesh state in the north through the regions of Madhya Pradesh state. This range is situated at the southern border of the Gangetic valley, going through Mirzapur and at the northern part it forms the border of the lower Sivalik and the Himalayan Ranges. The Upper Vindhyan formations comprising sandstone, quartzite and shale along with the valleys of Mirzapur have been the home of prehistoric hunter-gatherers for a long time as revealed by the presence of various rock-shelters having numerous imageries and scattered stone tools on their surfaces. Mirzapur town being the headquarters of this district is bounded by the district Sonbhadra, in the south, districts of Rewa (Fig. 1) and Sidhi, in the south-west, district Allahabad in the north-west, district Banaras and Sant Ravidas Nagar in the north and district Chandauli in the north and north-east. The discoveries discussed in this paper were made in the border regions of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh; hence both the districts of Mirzapur and Rewa (24°19ʹ - 25°12ʹ30ʹʹ N & 81°.02ʹ -82°.19ʹ E) have been taken into account, since these two districts form the geographical boundary of present day landmass; although in the past they must have structured the landscape of the art for the hunter-gatherers and foragers. Rewa (Luard, 1908) is bounded by the districts of Mirzapur, Banda and Allahabad of Uttar Pradesh in the
205
B
Banerjee et al. 22014: 204-217
n
north and noorth-east; in the South by Sidhi distrrict and it shhares the bouundary withh Satna distrrict in the w
west.
Figure 1: MMap of Studyy Area
D
Discoveriies and th
heir naturee
A
A few of thhe painted rrock-shelter sites of Miirzapur andd Rewa distrricts and thheir unique morphic eelements expplicitly delinneate their immportance in Central Inndian rock aart research iin the conteemporary ttimes. Differrent aspectss of these ddiscoveries ppave a wayy towards t he genesis of various kinds of k
knowledge aand/or idenntities in a rrestricted geeographic sppace and ecoo-geologicall niche. Thee painted rrock-shelter of Valwavi in Mirzapurr district deppicts a probaable ceremonial processsion which hhas never b
been documeented in the rock-shelterr archaeologgy of Centrall India beforre (Fig. 2).
F
Figure 2: Cerremonial proocession in Figurre 3: Catchinng an unidenntified wild p
palanquin aanimal
T
2
206 Rock AArt: Recent Reesearches and NNew Perspectivves (Festschriftft to Yashodharr Mathpal)
((Fig. 3). Thiss scene, wheere musical instrumentss like drumss are involveed, along wiith mythicall animals
introduce a sense of revvelry and rittual celebrattion. In Cenntral Indian context, thiss particular thematic eelement is quuite unique to this regioon. This landdmark scene of Valwavi might also pportray supeernatural aand sacred bbelief systemms of the preehistoric andd/or historic period artis ts, embeddeed within their social
irzapur
organizationn, but yet uunexplored, untapped and unscraambled. Teww
rresearch papper linked the mythiccal motifs aand themes from a spp
--((presently Soonbhadra diistrict) with the ‘Lorikayyan Episodee’. Tewari (20011) in his wwork also mmentioned tthat ‘some p aintings of tthe historicall period are clearly asso ciated with rreligious rituuals and activities. A cchronology has been suggested mainly onn the basiss of compaarative conssiderations, relative ssuperimposiitions and suubject matteer’. The chroonological asssessment, eeither relativve or absolutte, of the n
new discoveeries is beyonnd the scopee of this worrk, however certain themmatic variatioons in the roock art of C
Central Indiaa suggest addvanced forms, use of sspace, technique and styyle which have been coonsidered h
here very cauutiously. Teewari (1990) in his previious work cooncludes thaat a war-scenne at the Kaauva-Koh rrock-shelter imparts preeliminary cluues, where aa warrior is ddepicted ‘hoolding an eleephant in eaach of his rraised handss and both hhis feet trammpling an eleephant undeer them. Thiis figure may be associaated with ‘Lorika’ whoo is the hero of a popularr folk-lore knnown as ‘Loorikayan’ in tthe area’.
T
The ‘Lorikayyan Process’’ is not unifform to all tthe sites of Central India and inva riably differrent sites eexemplify diifferent sets of data andd various tyypes of knowwledge. Valwwavi is a goood example behind tthis reasoninng, which deepicts mythiical animals and humanns, deer hun ting scenes, marching ddeers and aalso househhold scenes. The centraal theme of this rock-sshelter can be related to alleged mmarriage cceremony ass well, althouugh this analogy might ssupport the ‘Lorikayan’ tale, dominnant in the diistricts of
districts the revolves ar B
Banaras, Allaahabad and Mirzapur aand popular among the local tribals . Lorikayan oound the love affair off the Ahir heero Lorik annd his lover CCanda. Interrestingly in these three versions o
of the folklorre is differennt and have been sung iin a differennt way throuugh differentt linguistic mmediums like Avadhi,, Bhojpuri, MMaithili, Maaghahi and Chhattisgarrhi. Already published literatures ffrom this rregion confirrm the fact (Pandey, 19987; Khande lwal and Chhandra, 19611: 51-4). Thee study at thhe site of V
Valwavi revveals copiouus amount of vandalissm. Devanaagarii and HHindi scrippt have beeen found ssuperimposeed on the unnique themattic element oof the site.
Figure 44: Vandalismm in the formm of inscriptiions
rock-shelter
207
The identified and readable part of the vandalism reads (Fig. 4) ‘SESH SRAHAS MUKHVARNANHARI DINAN KE DUKH HARAT BHAVANI’ which according to the local people and local belief is a part of ‘SHIV-PARVATI CHARIT’ or the chronicles of ‘Lord Shiva’ and his wife ‘Goddess Parvati’. From another part of the same rock-shelter, but away from the supposed holy ritual or thematic element the sacred ‘Gayatri Mantraii’ has been documented. This fact confirms the presence of different Hindu sects in the region perceiving rock art in differing perspectives. One of the field guides, who belong to the Kol tribal group of Mirzapur region, tried to relate the painted theme to a marriage ceremony or some sort of ritual involved with some mythical unidentified animals and mentioned about the love affair of Lorik and Canda. On the other hand the vandalisms in the painted parts of the shelter in the form of hymns and narratives suggest the dominance of present day Hindu religious elements in the same area. This dualism in terms of perception and interpretation of individual rock art motifs and themes among the local people, who could be the ethnic groups of the region and/or Hindus, is a striking feature of Central Indian rock art, particularly in the regions of Mirzapur and Rewa. In this case we noticed that attempts to interpret the motifs have been made by both the groups of contemporary society in the border areas of Mirzapur and Rewa who are not specialists in rock art or trained archaeologists and anthropologists. Such unique evidence was only found at Valwavi, which indicates that this particular section of the entire painted canvas is reasonably young; although the motifs are not dated by means of absolute chronology yet. Other parts of the shelter exhibit different morphic elements in red ochre, same as the previous. But thematically and motif wise the paintings suggest long antiquity within this particular shelter. It appears to be the case, that the same rock-shelter was visited and revisited by different groups of people overtime, having different ideologies that enabled the creation of diverse morphic elements and sometimes unique elements that have not been reproduced elsewhere in the entire region.
Banerjee et al. 2014: 204-217
Similarly the discovery of the rock-shelters in Sehore in Mirzapur district, brought to light the presence of six giant mammals or quadrupeds (Fig. 5). The paintings were found in the ceilings and a few anthropomorphs in yellow colour were found at the basal and middle part of this shelter (Fig. 6). Profuse superimposition and use of different colour along with decorative patterns made it impossible for us to understand the type of animals individually.
Figure 5: Giant mammals or quadrupeds Figure 6: Anthropomorphs in yellow colour
through
208 Rock Art: Recent Researches and New Perspectives (Festschrift to Yashodhar Mathpal)
Only a deer and a bison’s head were prominent enough to understand and interpret the complicated effects of superimposition along with taphonomical alterations (Bednarik, 1994). The anthropomorphs were found to be executed in a separate part of the same shelter and all of these paintings seemed very old, in terms of superimposition, techno-stylistics and taphonomy. No vandalism was found here. This again reminds the fact that the contemporary villagers of the region leave meaningful traces of their
paintings pose significant amount of challenge to the localities in terms of interpretation and perception cognitive capacities only; when they can relate to the rock paintings in a way or other. When the
then perhaps they get frustrated and vandalize the painted collage indiscriminately and randomly without a pattern. Further evidences from the Rewa district would confirm this fact. It is equally important to understand what these motifs convey. There has been a tendency in Central Indian rock art, particularly in Mirzapur and Rewa to group the motifs, instead of identifying unique morphic and thematic elements intertwined within the superimposed panels (Pratap and Kumar, 2009). The nature of vandalisms, structure-function and corresponding effects have also been ignored thoroughly; which should have been incorporated to make sense of the entire rock art corpus including the landscape in the present day conditions. Profuse superimposition and presence of different kind of motifs with varying style, colour combinations and techniques represent the urgent need of categorization and classification of rock-shelter sites based on discreet parameters. In the case of Sehore, future work is tenable in the light of the recent discovery including the identification of these naturalistic cum decorative elements and comparison of the painted motifs with that of other shelters when the paintings invoke similarity. The last rock-shelter within this group is locally known as ‘Bhairo Baba ki Pahari’ in the Rewa district which has been highly vandalized and the first of its kind discovered and documented in this region (Fig.7).
Figure 7: Rock shelter in Rewa Figure 8: A cleaned painted Figure 9: Lime plaster on
District motif paintings
This rock-shelter represents different types of painted motifs like, anthropomorphsiii, therioanthropomorphsiv, marching animals, hunting scenes, stick like human figures, and other unidentified motifs. Unfortunately all these motifs are under a layer of modern day lime plaster. It is possible to clean the paintings using water, but it might deteriorate the state of the paintings as well
(Fig. 8). A few motifs were cleaned using natural water for the sake of documentation and to assess the
damage that had already been caused by the lime plaster to the rock art (Fig. 9). Local amateur rock art specialists and villagers who accompanied me with all these discoveries informed that ‘sadhusv’
209
Banerjee et al. 2014: 204-217
normally choose these locations away from the village areas and human interferences to reside on a long term basis. Undoubtedly, this has been the case for this specific rock-shelter, ‘Bhairo Baba ki Pahari’ where the religious practitioners have failed to understand the value of the prehistoric painted motifs and unintentionally vandalized the collage. Therefore, it is quite evident that lack of coherent knowledge about past societies and cultures poses a danger for the painted rock art sites in this region. Various forms of vandalisms either by local villagers, workers coming to the jungles for mining sandstone and collecting woods, groups of pastoralists entering the forested areas for grazing their animals or the sadhus actually residing in the rock-shelters; all are totally ignorant about the prehistoric paintings, archaeological sites and ancient anthropogenic deposits. Specifically rock-shelters like these, representing a wealth of data in terms of morphic patterns and number of painted motifs impart important clues to understand the cultural evolution within the local micro-area under study. Regional study, based on specific problem oriented research gets hampered when valuable sites with important sets of data get mutilated and vandalized.
The Issues of Conservation and Protection of Rock Art Sites
210 Rock Art: Recent Researches and New Perspectives (Festschrift to Yashodhar Mathpal)
211
Banerjee et al. 2014: 204-217
Identity Crisis and Identity Generation in Rock Art
212 Rock Art: Recent Researches and New Perspectives (Festschrift to Yashodhar Mathpal)
through rock art is another issue, where rock art being an agent of past memories, experiences and information create a sense of belongingness. A particular type of awareness, in terms of present day social context; that these are ancient forms of knowledge representing the interaction of past human societies and cultures is the fundamentals of present day socio-cultural identity and solidarity, particularly when the archaeological record is continuous. The protection, preservation and conservation of painted motifs enable humankind to respect and appreciate the evolution of social choice, decision making and ancient technologies. The variable developmental phases of ancient traditions in the form of rock paintings can be elucidated from the careful examination of superimpositions, chrono-stylistics, techno-stylistics and morphic variability within the same eco-geographical region. Rock art being powerful and particularly serving religious purposes in specific parts of India create and define identity for the local people. A form of art becomes a form of living tradition in the contemporary world (Imam, 2013). Phases of ancient knowledge systems get reinterpreted and welcomed into the present day belief systems and world views. In this way rock art can generate identity for itself and for the local people, when understood within the purview of present day conditioning and social setting, especially in Central Indian context. Rock art, when perceived categorically based on differential belief systems and/or is contextually misinterpreted; suffers from vandalisms and mutilations by the same people. Most of the Indian urban dwellers so far, have not taken serious interest in rock shelter archaeology and anthropology. However the scenario is gradually changing in India with increased government funding and social awareness. University students of various disciplines are more aware about their rich cultural heritage and some of them are working towards the protection and upkeep of both tangible and intangible cultural heritages in the Central provinces of India. New rock art sites are being discovered in Central Indian region by several scholars, researchers and government organizations. These are the preliminary steps towards identity generation, where the cultural heritage of a specific region receives renewed interest, in-depth scrutiny and revitalization. Indian archaeology on the other hand gets richer and richer through all these new discoveries of unique sets of data on rock art and in future through thorough scientific analyses of the new and old paintings; it can claim international reputation in rock shelter archaeology.
Conclusion
Central Indian rock art is one of the richest living cultural heritages on earth. From the prehistory to the contemporary the character, ramifications and manifestations of this extraordinary cultural resource has shown continuity, revival and rejuvenation. It incorporates the ever enigmatic puzzles of human evolution, migration, subsistence pattern, demic diffusion, palaeoenvironment, cognitive neuropsychology and finally the ways of lives of several human groups and races overtime in the Indian subcontinent. Recent decade has seen the discovery of many new rock art sites in the regions of Mirzapur and Rewa, where vandalism has been rampant, which sometimes defaced the painted rock canvas completely. The agencies of vandalism are yet unknown, but it may be concluded that ignorance about the prehistoric science and lifeways of past peoples among the localites and villagers is one of reasons of this unintentional but pernicious activity, which reflects major identity crisis. Other factors are lack of proper education and lack of overall interest in preserving and conserving the
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cultural heritage of the region. The content of rock paintings have been challenging enough for the local people, where the contents have been misinterpreted, solely based on dominant folklore and mythologies, prevalent in the region. The paintings and sometimes the entire site is vandalised due to this false conception and religious beliefs, deep rooted in the contemporary socio-cultural traditions. However, in some exceptional cases, discovery of new rock art sites in the recent past were welcomed by the villagers in the areas of Mirzapur and Rewa districts and they took initiatives to find out more such painted sites. A few of them on the basis of importance have been included in this paper to establish the role of new discovery, interpretation of the paintings (either prehistoric or historic) and vandalism within the purview of Indian rock-shelter archaeology and cultural heritage studies delineating the capacity of rock art involved with identity crisis and identity generation. Finally we observed a renewed and avid interest among the local people in the archaeological sites of the region, which would prove fruitful for Indian culture and heritage studies and research work in future in mainland India.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Archaeological Survey of India, Janpath, New Delhi, for providing all the necessary permissions to conduct field work in Central India. The first author is indebted to the people of Mirzapur and Rewa districts for their cordial help, hospitality and fruitful discussions about the paintings and rock-shelters. The authors extend their sincere gratitude to Professor Ajit Kumar for the invitation to contribute a research article in the Festschrift in the honor of Dr. Prof. Yashodhar Mathpal.
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Endnote
i A particular type of alphabet predominant in India, Nepal, Tibet and is written from left to right. ii A hymn from the Rigvedic text named after the deity Savitr or Sāvitrī.
iii Rock paintings that represent human forms, but not totally human like motifs.
iv Rock paintings that represent both human and animal elements, like human body with a deer head, In some
ethnic indigenous tribes of India, the animal head might reveal particular types of masks.
v According to Hindu religion a Sadhu is a holy man, a wondering ascetic who denounced material cravings,
sensual gratifications, attachements and aims to attain complete liberation by means of spiritual practices.
