Discovery of New Rock Art Sites and Its

Rock Art:
Recent Researches and New Perspectives
(Festschrift to Padma Shri. Dr. Yashodhar Mathpal)
(Vol. I)

Rock Art:
Recent Researches and New Perspectives
(Festschrift to Padma Shri. Dr. Yashodhar Mathpal)

(Vol. I)

Ajit Kumar

New Bharatiya Book Corporation
Delhi

India

Publisher :
NEW BHARATIYA BOOK CORPORATION
208, IInd Floor, Prakashdeep Building,

4735/22, Ansari Road, Daryaganj,
New Delhi - 110002
Ph. : 011-23280214, 011-23280209
E-mail : deepak.nbbc@yahoo.in

All rights reserved. No part of the work may be reproduced,
stored in retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of the publisher.
The Editors are not responsible for the views and
opinions expressed by the contributors.

© Publisher

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
Abhyan. G. S
Raj. K. Varman
Sachin Tiwary

Printed at :
Jain Amar Printing Press
Delhi – 110007

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.
Mathpal has tried to visualize the life of the prehistoric man and has captured some really beautiful
glimpses of these on his canvas. His reproductions breathe with a life of their own and have received
praise from art-lovers all over the world. His paintings have been exhibited in France, Italy, Portugal,

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.
Dr. Ajit Kumar

vii

Contents
Page No.
v-vi

vii-xi

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

1-22

23-33

ITALY
3
Prehistoric Pleistocenic Cave Art in Italy
Dario Seglie

34-46

PAKISTAN
4
Cup-Marks in Gadap, Karachi (Sindh, Pakistan)
Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro

47-58

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
Laurianne Bruneau

59-71

72-78

79-99

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

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
UTTAR PRADESH
11
Rock Art of Fatehpur Sikri Region with Special Reference to
Bandrauli and Madanpura
Arakhita Pradhan
RAJASTHAN
12

Study of Rock Art and Associated Archaeological Cultures in
Harauti Plateau, South-Eastern Rajasthan, India
Shaik Saleem
GUJARAT
13
Rock Paintings and Tribal Art in Gujarat: A Case Study
Urmi Ghosh Biswas
14
Prehistoric Investigations in Kutch, Gujarat
Shaik Saleem
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

100-105
106-112

113-121

122-133

134-163

164-174
175-180

181-202
203-216

217-230
231-237

ix
19

Handprints in the Rock Art and Tribal Art of Central India
Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak and Jean Clottes

CHHATTISGARH
20
Some Aspects of Rock Art Research in Chhattisgarh with
Reference to Bastar and Adjoining Regions
G.L.Badam, Bharti Shroti and Vishi Upadhyay
BIHAR
21
Rock Art of Kaimur Region, Bihar
Sachin Kumar Tiwary
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
NORTH-EAST
24
A Note on the Rock Engraving of the North- East India
L. Kunjeswari Devi and S. Shyam Singh
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

238-246

247-274

275-286

287-296

297-304

305-315

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

341-366

x
MAHARASHTRA
29
Rock Art of Maharashtra
Kantikumar A. Pawar
30
Petroglyphs on the Laterite Rock Surface at Kudopi, District
Sindhudurg, Maharashtra: Evidence of Prehistoric Shamanistic
Practices?
Satish Lalit
GOA
31

Rock Art of Goa- A Few Observations
M. Nambirajan

KARNATAKA
32
Rock Art at Kurugodu, District Bellary, Karnataka
M. Mahadevaiah and Veeraraghavan N.
33
Further Discovery of Rock Art at Tatakoti (Badami), North
Karnataka
Mohana R.
34
A Note on the Rock Art in Coastal Karnataka
T. Murugeshi
TAMIL NADU
35
Rock Art in Vellore Region
Rajan K.
36
Prehistoric Hunting from Palanimalai Paintings, Tamil Nadu –
An Ethno-archaeological Study
R. N. Kumaran and M. Saranya
37
An Iron Age-Early Historic Motif on the Rock Paintings of Tamil
Nadu
V. Selvakumar
KERALA
38
Petroglyphs in Kerala with Special reference to Those in Edakkal
Rock - Shelter, Kerala
Ajit Kumar
39
Some Fresh Observations on the Human Figures in Edakkal Rock
Engravings, Kerala
Praveen C. K. and Vijay Sathe
40
Rock Art in Kerala: Emerging Facets and Certain New
Interpretations
Jenee Peter

367-379
380-386

387-394

395-414
415-424

425-432

433-446
447-456

457-460

461-474

475-481

482-490

xi
41
42

43
44

Rock Art in the Great Migration Corridor of East Anamalai Valley
Benny Kurian
The Excavation of the Rock Shelter in the Anjunad Valley: A
Preliminary Report
N. Nihil Das and P. P. Joglekar
White Paintings from Anjunadu Valley
Shabin Mathew
Discoveries of Rock Engravings from the Districts of Palakkad
and Ernakulam, Kerala
V. Sanalkumar

491-521

Contributors

545-550

522-528

529-539
540-544

Discovery of New Rock Art Sites and It’s Implications for Indian
Archaeology in Central Indian Context
Ruman Banerjee1, Radha Kant Varma2 and Alistair W. G. Pike3
1

2
3

Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol, BS8 1UU, U.K. (Email:
arxrb@bristol.ac.uk)
18c, Hastings Road, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India (Email: radhak37_kant@ rediffmail.com)
Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton, SO17 1BF, U.K. (Email:
a.w.pike@soton.ac.uk)
initiated
latter

the
Abstract: Central Indian rock art is long known for its exceptional rock paintings; depicting crucial stages of human
evolution in the subcontinent. The inception of its discoverywas by Carleylle from the Mirzapur region of Central India
during the later half of nineteenth century till toda. During the first part of twenty first century a plethora of rock art sites
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.
, the process continued

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

archaeologists

Rock Art: Recent Researches and New Perspectives (Festschrift to Yashodhar Mathpal)

204

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

Banerjee et al. 2014: 204-217

205

north and no
orth-east; in the South by Sidhi distrrict and it sh
hares the bou
undary with
h Satna distrrict in the
west.

Figure 1: Map of Study
y Area

Discoveriies and th
heir naturee
A few of th
he painted rock-shelter sites of Miirzapur and
d Rewa distrricts and th
heir unique morphic
elements exp
plicitly delin
neate their im
mportance in Central In
ndian rock art research in the conteemporary
times. Differrent aspectss of these discoveries pave a way
y towards the
h genesis of various kinds of
knowledge and/or iden
ntities in a restricted geeographic sp
pace and eco
o-geologicall niche. Thee painted
rock-shelter of Valwavi in Mirzapurr district dep
picts a probaable ceremonial processsion which has never
been documeented in the rock-shelterr archaeolog
gy of Centrall India beforre (Fig. 2).

Figure 2: Cerremonial pro
ocession in
palanquin

Figurre 3: Catchin
ng an uniden
ntified wild
animal

This scene depicts a ban
nd of people playing dru
ums, surroun
nded by my
ythical animaals, geometrric motifs
and a pair of large snak
kes, where two other people are trrying to cattch an unideentified wild
d animal

rock-shelter
206

Rock Art: Recent Reesearches and New Perspectivves (Festschrift
ft to Yashodharr Mathpal)

(Fig. 3). Thiss scene, wheere musical instrumentss like drumss are involveed, along wiith mythicall animals
introduce a sense of rev
velry and rittual celebrattion. In Cen
ntral Indian context, thiss particular thematic
element is qu
uite unique to this regio
on. This land
dmark scene of Valwavi might also portray supeernatural
and sacred belief system
ms of the preehistoric and
d/or historic period artists, embeddeed within their social
organization
n, but yet unexplored, untapped and unscraambled. Tew
wari and Bharti (1988) in their
research pap
per linked the mythiccal motifs and themes from a sp
pecific rock-helter of Mirzapur
(presently So
onbhadra diistrict) with the ‘Lorikay
yan Episodee’. Tewari (20011) in his work also mentioned
that ‘some paintings of the historicall period are clearly associated with religious ritu
uals and activities. A
chronology has been suggested mainly on
n the basiss of compaarative conssiderations, relative
superimposiitions and su
ubject matteer’. The chro
onological asssessment, either relativ
ve or absolutte, of the
new discoveeries is beyon
nd the scopee of this worrk, however certain them
matic variatio
ons in the ro
ock art of
Central Indiaa suggest ad
dvanced forms, use of space, technique and sty
yle which have been co
onsidered
here very cau
utiously. Teewari (1990) in his previious work co
oncludes thaat a war-scen
ne at the Kaauva-Koh
rock-shelter imparts preeliminary clu
ues, where a warrior is depicted ‘ho
olding an eleephant in eaach of his
raised handss and both his feet tram
mpling an eleephant undeer them. Thiis figure may be associaated with
,
o is the hero of a popularr folk-lore kn
nown as ‘Lo
orikayan’ in the area’.
‘Lorika’ who
The ‘Lorikay
yan Process’’ is not unifform to all the sites of Central India and invariably differrent sites
exemplify diifferent sets of data and
d various ty
ypes of know
wledge. Valw
wavi is a go
ood example behind
this reasonin
ng, which deepicts mythiical animals and human
ns, deer hunting scenes, marching deers and
also househ
hold scenes. The centraal theme of this rock-sshelter can be related to alleged marriage
ceremony ass well, althou
ugh this analogy might support the ‘Lorikayan’ tale, domin
nant in the diistricts of
Banaras, Allaahabad and Mirzapur and popular among the local tribals. Lorikayan revolves around the
nd his lover Canda. Interrestingly in these three districts the versions
love affair off the Ahir heero Lorik an
of the folklorre is differen
nt and have been sung in a differen
nt way throu
ugh differentt linguistic mediums
like Avadhi,, Bhojpuri, Maithili, Maaghahi and Chhattisgarrhi. Already published literatures from this
region confirrm the fact (Pandey, 19987; Khandelwal and Ch
handra, 19611: 51-4). Thee study at th
he site of
i
Valwavi rev
veals copiou
us amount of vandalissm. Devanaagari and Hindi scrip
pt have beeen found
superimposeed on the un
nique themattic element of the site.

Figure 4: Vandalism
m in the form
m of inscriptiions

Banerjee et al. 2014: 204-217

through

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.

named

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

localites
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
cognitive capacities only; when they can relate to the rock paintings in a way or other. When the
paintings pose significant amount of challenge to the localities in terms of interpretation and perception
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
District

Figure 8: A cleaned painted
motif

Figure 9: Lime plaster on
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’

Banerjee et al. 2014: 204-217

209

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
The lack of knowledge among the local people about prehistoric paintings and sites along with delayed
conservational measures by trained archaeologists and anthropologists are the primary reasons of
archaeological site destruction, in and around the areas of Mirzapur and Rewa. Malla (1999) in his
paper ‘Conservation and Management of Rock Art Sites’ very elaborately discussed the issues related
to damage and destruction of rock paintings and hence rock art sites. However the instance of ‘Bhairo
Baba ki Pahari’ in this region is quite startling, where precious paintings have been seen as impurity
destroying the religious space. The cultural diversity of Indian society and perception of Hindu religion
among the different sects of people within the society also intervene with the protection and
preservation of the sites. Villagers, religious practitioners, like the sadhus, have varied notions towards
prehistoric art and painted rock-shelters. According to the local belief, for the sadhus, it is a place for
meditation and isolated rock-shelters deep inside the jungle provide a sense of solace and tranquility to
these specific groups of people. Therefore, they try to alter an archaeological site to a home base or
regular shelter for human use as a long term residence. Prehistoric paintings in such a place are seen as
obstacles and regarded as distracting to meditation and/or other regular daily activities. The immediate
reaction is translated in the form of lime plaster to create sanctity and sacredness in the site for
supposed meditative purposes. Similar cases have been identified in other parts of Central India as
well. Which implies this phenomenon of site destruction due to several anthropogenic factors is more
or less uniform and do not vary much in different places of Central Indian landscape. Dubey-Pathak
(2013) documented the discovery of new site cluster named ‘Dharkundi rock art sites’ in the Satna
district of Madhya Pradesh. She reported that ‘On questioning the head sadhu about any rock art in the
vicinity, he said that he and his companions knew of a few sites and they had been wondering about
their purpose. They also told me that out of curiosity about the colours they had tried to rub and wash
the paintings with coconut bark and water, but to their surprise the colours had remained intact!’ From
this description it is clear that a serious lack of awareness is one of the major impediments towards the
conservation and preservation of the valuable cultural heritage sites in several regions of Central India

210

Rock Art: Recent Researches and New Perspectives (Festschrift to Yashodhar Mathpal)

and not only Mirzapur and Rewa. The inability to comprehend the information and processing of the
past information together in these regions are hindering the protection of global cultural heritage and
local identity. The local villagers interpret the rock art motifs according to their religious belief systems,
be it sacred or profane; the migrant workers and present day hunters of the game interpret the same
rock art motifs through their cognitive capacities and world view and on the other hand the religious
practitioners perhaps have their own perceptions about rock art motifs. In summary, a plethora of
differential interpretation exists in a single region on painted rock shelters and their alleged purposes,
and almost none of them are deemed suitable for the survival, protection of the painted motifs. Malla
(1999), mentions that ‘this human vandalism not only indicates lack of sensitivity and knowledge but
also an alienation from the human family’. He further argues that ‘It is necessary to provide a general
educational programme for the public to develop an awareness of the responsibility towards
preservation of our cultural heritage. This goal may be achieved by organizing exhibitions, lectures
with colour slides, video films and group discussions with the public. It will also require personal
involvement of rock art researchers’. Therefore the premise of conservation and preservation of rock art
in Indian context is more than a decade old, but the problem of different forms of vandalism stemming
from different sorts of misinterpretations is still persisting. Here we have been able to discuss and
elaborate examples from a few case studies from the regions of Mirzapur and Rewa districts of Central
India. Needless to say the problem is far deep rooted in different parts of Central Indian region, where
several rock art sites are yet to get discovered and documented. It is important to create mass
awareness to discover, identify, select and document the rock-art sites using state of the art scientific
techniques to preserve and conserve the rock art sites for future research on heritage issues, science and
humanities. Rock art provides information (Renfrew and Morely, 2009) about past life ways in an
archival format, just like texts and computers generate and deliver information in the contemporary
world for present day societies. The ancient knowledge should be protected in the vulnerable regions
of Central India, since past is the key to the present and vice versa. Moreover Indian rock art is poorly
studied and not well represented globally, although Central India is home to one of the highest
concentrations of rock art sites in the world, similar to African and Australian corpus. The painted sites
along with their archaeological deposits might provide unique clues to unravel the origin of rock art in
India and also the effects of diffusion, change and wave of advance of rock art elements inter-regionally
when approached and researched based on logical hypothetico-deductive paradigms and reasoning
processes. Varma’s (1981, 1984, 1986, 2002,2008) excavation in the painted rock-shelter sites of
Mirzapur, revealed the presence of a number of skeletal materials including other archaeological
materials that would provide significant data on Late Upper Palaeolithic and/or Meso-Chalcolithic diet
(Waterman, 2012), modes of subsistence (Richards, 2002), disease pattern (Mccarrison, 2012) among the
prehistoric people and genetic information (Haak, W, et al. 2008) when studied in a coherent manner
asking the right questions. Therefore, the pursuit of rock-shelter archaeology has tremendous potential
in India, particularly in the light of new discoveries; the data should be analyzed and cross examined
from different perspectives to interpret the past information in a holistic manner.

Banerjee et al. 2014: 204-217

211

Identity Crisis and Identity Generation in Rock Art
Indian rock art research right from the pre-independence times to the present day has been successfully
able to demonstrate the importance of rock art research in the subcontinent. Several scholars worked in
tandem to produce quality work demonstrating the richness of the corpus and indicating what future
has in store for future archaeologists, anthropologists and students of Indian rock art (Wakankar and
Brooks, 1976; Mathpal, 1984). Some of the scholars rightly interpreted the local diversity and context of
rock art, along with their importance for regional study and inter-regional comparative approaches
(Imam, 2013). However none of them discussed about the concepts of identity generation and identity
crisis in Indian rock art and archaeology. Indian rock art by now has a fairly rich history (Chakraverty,
2003), but the elements of uniqueness, which this corpus offers have been largely ignored and received
limited attention both nationally and globally. Rock art as visual and archival mediums and as a
platform for information exchange provides necessary data about past identities and how they were
formed on restricted landscape overtime. This spatiotemporal relationship of identity generation
through rock art and its landscape have been so far ignored in Indian rock art. Each rock art site and
every motif on the landscape delineates discreet identities, providing relevant information about
prehistoric hunter-gatherers, foragers, continuity and change, demic diffusion and evolution of rock art
in a given region across time and space. Unlike Europe and other parts of the world, in India rock art
studies failed to acknowledge and recognize the value of fresh discoveries in rock art research by
means of theoretical and scientific premises leading to the identity crisis in rock art and archaeology in
Indian context. Concepts, theories and methodologies that were never valid for the study and research
of Indian rock art got incorporated from European intellectual traditions in pre-independent India.
Somehow the same trend continued for a long time, damaging the very essence of research and
valuable archaeological data was misinterpreted. Several such publications can be cited here, however
that goes beyond the objectives of this paper. Both Indian rock art and archaeology is a continuous
tradition (Chakraverty, 2009; Mishra 2013). Ignoring this very premise, while formulating research
design and conducting research work in Indian archaeology, would invariably cause misinterpretation
invoking identity crisis. This has happened in Indian rock art, where most of the times old and new
sites were studied in isolation irrespective of their cultural heritage and anthropological value. Barring
a few examples (Tewari, 1990; Bednarik, et al., 2005; Ravindran, et al., 2012; Varma, 2012; Taçon, et al.,
2013, Banerjee and Srivastava, 2013), the entire research paradigm has been mostly descriptive and not
analytical. Independent theoretical avenues of inquiry which are quite unique to the ancient traditions
of rock art and rock paintings have not been dealt with properly, incorporating rigor and logic. Hence,
the crisis of an independent identity for Indian rock art continued and gets piled up with more and
more site discoveries and influx of complex data. In recent times due to better access and renewed
interest in Indian art, archaeology, anthropology and cultural studies several young scholars are taking
interest in social sciences, cognitive neuroscience, genetics, behavioral sciences and other related
aspects of ancient materials. Instead of importing western thoughts and methodologies for Indian
dataset, new avenues of cognitive views are emerging within mainland India, which should gradually
tackle the problem of identity crisis, especially in rock-shelter archaeology. The identity generation

Rock Art: Recent Researches and New Perspectives (Festschrift to Yashodhar Mathpal)

212

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 ecogeographical 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

the

Banerjee et al. 2014: 204-217

213

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.

References
Banerjee, R and Srivastava, P.K. (2013). ‘Reconstruction of contested landscape: Detecting land cover
transformation hosting cultural heritage sites from Central India using remote sensing’.
Land Use Policy, Vol.34, 193-203.
Banerjee, R.; Pike, A.W.G. and Verma, R.K. (2013). ‘Preliminary report on the newly discovered site of
Uraihava, Mizapur District, India’. International Newsletter on Rock Art, 66, 4-9.
Bednarik, R. G. (1994). ‘A Taphonomy of Paleoart’. ANTIQUITY 68: 68-74.
Bednarik, R.; Kumar, G.; Watchman, A. and Roberts, R.G. (2005). ‘Preliminary Results of the EIP
Project’. Rock Art Research, 22(2): 147-197.
Brown, P. (1923). ‘Notes on the prehistoric cave paintings at Raigarh’ in Prehistoric India. (Eds.) P.
Mitra, pp: 245-255, Calcutta, Calcutta University.
Carleylle, A.C. (1883). ‘Notes on lately discovered sepulchral mounds, cairns, caves, cave paintings
and stone implements’. Proceedings of the Asiatic society of Bengal. pp. 49-55.
Carleylle, A.C. (1899). ‘Cave paintings of the Kaimur Range’. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,
Calcutta.
Chakrabarti, D. K. and R. Singh (1998). ‘Archaeology between Ballia and Robertsganj in Uttar Pradesh;
Notes on some early historic routes of the area’. South Asian Studies 14(1): 103-118.

214

Rock Art: Recent Researches and New Perspectives (Festschrift to Yashodhar Mathpal)

Chakraverty, S. (2009). ‘Interpreting Rock Art in India: A Holistic and Cognitive Approach’. XXIII
Valcamonica Symposium. pp. 94-107.
Chakraverty,S. (2003). ‘Rock Art Studies in India: A Historical Perspective’. The Asiatic Society, Kolkata.
Chandramouli, N. (2002). ‘Rock Art of South India’. Bharatiya Kala Prakashan, India.
Chandramouli, N. (2013). ‘Rock Art of Andhra Pradesh: A New Synthesis’. Aryan Books International,
India.
Cockburn, J. (1883a). ‘On the recent existence of the Rhinoceros indicus in the Northwestern Provinces’.
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 52 (2): 56-64.
Cockburn, J. (1883b). ‘A short account of the petrographs in the caves and rockshelters of the Kaimur
range in the Mirzapur District’. Proceedings of the Asiatic society of Bengal. Pp. 125-126.
Cockburn, J. (1888). ‘On Palaeolithic implements from the drift gravels of the Singrauli Basin, South
Mirzapur’. Journal of the Anthropological institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 17: 57-65.
Cockburn, J. (1899). ‘Cave drawings in the Kaimur Range, Northwest Provinces’. Journal of the Royal
Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, January. 31, 89-97.
Drake-Brockman, D. (1911). ‘Mirzapur: A Gazetteer’. Superintendent, Government Press, United Provinces.
Dubey-Pathak, M. (2013). ‘The Dharkundi Rock Art Sites in Central India’. International Newsletter on
Rock Art, 66, 10-17.
Haak, W.; Brandt, G.; de Jong, H.; Meyer, C.; Ganslmeier, R.; Heyd, V.; Hawkesworth, C.; Pike,
A.W.G.; Meller, H. and Alt, K. (2008). ‘Ancient DNA, strontium isotopes and osteological
analyses shed light on social and kinship organization of the later stone age’. Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105, (47), 18226-18231.
Imam, B. (2013). ‘The historical perspective of prehistory through a study of Meso-Chalcolithic rock art
and contemporary tribal mural paintings in Jharkhand, Eastern North India’, XXV
Valcamonica Symposium.
Imam, J. (2013). ‘Contemporary Tana Bhagat Puja to a Meso-Chalcolithic rock art site at the Thethangi,
Chatra District, North Jharkhand, East Central India’, XXV Valcamonica Symposium.
Jayaswal, V. (1983). ‘Excavation of a Painted Rock-Shelter at Laharia-Dih, Mirzapur District’, In Singh,
P. and Prasad Singh, T (Eds.) Bharati, No.1 pp. 127 – 133.
Khandelwal, K and Chandra, M. (1961). ‘New Documents of Indian Paintings’, Lalit Kala, No. 10.
Luard, C. E. (1908). ‘The Central India state gazetteer series’, Thacker, Spink.
Macroscopic and Biomolecular Approach’ , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham. ETheses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3593/
Malla, B.L.(1999). ‘Con