Bhimbetka World Heritage Site
Aditi Ghosh
Spent this morning in the amazing Bhimbetka which means Bhima’s place of rest. As per the legends, Bhima (one of the five Padav brothers) used to rest in this place during their exile. The Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka is located on one of the seven hills of the Vindhya Range in the central plateau. It is just one hour drive from Bhopal (MP). These are natural rock formations and you can see various shapes like tortoises, mushrooms, snakes, etc.
Not because of the legend, but these rock shelters are UNESCO World Heritage sites for the pre-historic paintings on the rock surface dating back to the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods. Some of the earliest traces of human life, right from the Stone Age. Just unbelievable! The earliest paintings illustrate scenes from the lives of hunter-gatherers —a time when humans were nomadic and collective civilization is yet to evolve. Rock paintings are made on bare rocks and many of these cave paintings overlap—implying that the rocks were painted across successive historical time periods.
Bhimbetka reflects a long interaction between people and the landscape, as demonstrated in the cave paintings (Petroglyphs). Another cave painting of the same pre-historic age is ‘Altamira’ in northern Spain. To protect these paintings, Spain has put many restrictions on the tourists. On the contrary, the paintings in Bhimbetka can be easily touched by tourists without much protection. It makes me anxious about its existence for the future. Maybe in India, we are blessed with so many archeological treasures, that we sometimes take it easily.
The writer is a globe traveler
