Chapter-1

Pre-historic Rock Art/Paintings

The term Rock Art is used for pre-historic art, belonging to the Stone Age, when human
beings depended for their supply of food primarily on hunting animals and other
creatures, as well as gathering fruits, vegetables, edible roots honey etc and the art
mainly depicts themes centring around these items. This art generally includes
representations of wild animals, individually or in groups, stationary or fleeing, usually
shown being hunted by human beings. However there are also the representations of the
floral world as well as geometric forms. When the basic needs of food, water, clothing
and shelter were fulfilled people felt the need to express themselves. Painting and
drawing were the oldest art forms practised by human beings to express themselves,
using the cave walls as their canvas.
Almost all early painting in India survives in caves, as very few buildings from Ancient
India survive, and though these were probably often painted, the work has been lost. The
history of cave paintings in India or rock art range from drawings and paintings from
prehistoric times, beginning around 30,000 BCE in the caves of Central India, typified by
those at the Bhimbetka rock shelters to elaborate frescoes at sites such as the rock-cut
artificial caves at Ajanta and Ellora, extending as late as the 8th – 10th century CE.

The first discovery of rock paintings was made in India in 1867–68 by an archaeologist,
Archibold Carlleyle, in Vindhyan ranges of Banda and Mirzapur districts, twelve years
before the discovery of Altamira in Spain (site of oldest rock paintings in the world). John
Cockburn, Anderson, Mitra and Manoranjan Ghosh were the early archaeologists who
discovered a large number of sites in the Indian sub-continent. In India, remnants of rock
paintings have been found on the walls of caves situated in several districts of Madhya
Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Bihar and
Uttarakhand.

Some of the examples of sites early rock paintings are Lakhudiyar (1 lakh caves ) in
Uttarakhand, Kupgallu in Telangana, Piklihal and Tekkalkotta in Karnataka, Bhimbetka and
Jogimara in Madhya Pradesh etc. Bhimbetka rock shelters (World Heritage Site), Madhya
Pradesh, Discovered in 1957 by V S Wakankar, India with rock art ranging from the
Mesolithic to historical time.

In archaeology, rock art is human-made markings placed on natural stone; it is largely

synonymous with parietal art. A global phenomenon, rock art is found in many culturally
diverse regions of the world. It has been produced in many contexts throughout human
history, although the majority of rock art that has been ethnographically recorded has
been produced as a part of ritual. Such artworks are often divided into three forms:
petroglyphs, which are carved into the rock surface, pictographs, which are painted onto
the surface, and earth figures, formed on the ground.
**Why Pre-historic ?
Because there was no paper or language and hence no books or written documents.

**Why did pre-historic people draw these pictures?

They may have drawn and painted these pictures to make their shelters more colourful
and beautiful or to keep a visual record of their day-to-day life.

Hunting scenes

Image of group dance

linear representation and geometrical patterns

**Some of the general features of Prehistoric paintings (based on the study of
Bhimbetka paintings)

1. Used colours, including various shades of white, yellow, orange, red ochre, purple,
brown, green and black.
2. But white and red were their favourite.
3. The paints used by these people were made by grinding various coloured rocks.
4. They got red from haematite (Geru in India).
5. Green prepared from a green coloured rock called Chalcedony.
6. White was probably from Limestone.
7. Some sticky substances such as animals fat or gum or resin from trees may be used
while mixing rock powder with water.
8. Brushes were made of plant fiber.
9. It is believed that these colours remained thousands of years because of the chemical
reaction of the oxide present on the surface of rocks.
10. Many rock art sites of new painting are painted on top of an older painting.
11. In Bhimbetka, we can see nearly 20 layers of paintings, one on top of another.
12. It shows the gradual development of the human being from period to period.
13. The symbolism is inspiration from nature along with slight spirituality.
14. Expression of ideas through very few drawings (representation of men by the stick
like drawings).
15. Use of many linear representation and geometrical patterns can be seen.
16. Scenes were mainly hunting and economic and social life of people.
17. The figure of flora, fauna, human, mythical creatures, carts, chariots etc can be seen..
18. The young and the old equally find place in these paintings.
19. Children are painted running, jumping and playing. Painting of Community dances can
also be seen.
20. There are paintings of people gathering fruit or honey from trees, and of women
grinding and preparing food.
21. Some of the pictures of men, women and children seem to depict a sort of family life.
22. In many of the rock-shelters we find hand prints, and dots made by the fingertips.
 Images of Hunting scenes

Bison chasing human being

**Hunting scene:
1. The hunting scenes depict people hunting in groups, armed with barbed spears,
pointed sticks, arrows and bows.
2. In some paintings these primitive men are shown with traps and snares
probably to catch animals.
3. The hunters are shown wearing simple clothes and ornaments.
4. Sometimes, men have been adorned with elaborate head-dresses, and
sometimes painted with masks also.
5. Elephant, bison, tiger, boar, deer, antelope, leopard, panther, rhinoceros, fish,
frog, lizard, squirrel and at times birds are also depicted.
6. The Mesolithic artists loved to paint animals. In some pictures, animals are
chasing men. In others they are being chased and hunted by men.
7. Some of the animal paintings, especially in the hunting scenes, show a fear of
animals, but many others show a feeling of tenderness and love for them.
8. There are also a few engravings representing mainly animals.
9. Animals were painted in a naturalistic style, humans were depicted only in a
stylistic manner.
 Images of animals and bird

Image of animals in group

**Wizard Dance of Bhimbetka prehistoric painting drawn on one of the cave walls.

 This painting is the earliest evidence of development of music and dance

in which mask were used.
 The human figures drawn in painting are geometric, linear, schematic
bold and lyrical.
 All three figures are shown in full of rhythm and movement. In the left of
the painting, there is a full standing figure in a lively dancing pose. A lady
wearing a mask with horns on her head is sitting in a dancing mood while
a male having a mask with horns is dancing with full rhythm in front of
her.

Note**
Schematic- symbolic and simplified
Linear- Made by using lines
Lyrical- related to art and music