NCERT Textbook: Prehistoric Rock Paintings (Introduction to Indian Art) | Old & New NCERTs for IAS Preparation (Must Read) - UPSC PDF Download

 Page 1


PREHISTORIC ROCK
PAINTINGS
T 
HE distant past when there was no paper or language
or the written word, and hence no books or written
documents, is called prehistory or as we often say,
prehistoric times. How people lived in those times was
difficult to surmise until scholars began to discover the
places where prehistoric people lived. Excavation at these
places brought to light old tools, pottery, habitats, bones
of ancient human beings and animals, and drawings on
cave walls. By piecing together the information deduced
from these objects and the cave drawings, scholars have
constructed fairly accurate knowledge about what
happened and how people lived in prehistoric times. 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.
Why did prehistoric people draw these pictures? They
may have drawn and painted to make their shelters more
colourful and beautiful or to keep a visual record of  their
day-to-day life, like some of us who maintain a diary.
The prehistoric period in the early development of
human beings is commonly known as the Old Stone
Age or the Palaeolithic Age.
Prehistoric paintings have been found in many parts of
the world. We do not really know if Lower Palaeolithic people
ever produced any art objects. But by the Upper Palaeolithic
times we see a proliferation of artistic activities. Around
the world the walls of many caves of this time are full of
finely carved and painted pictures of animals which the
cave-dwellers hunted. The subjects of their drawings were
human figures, human activities, geometric designs and
animal symbols. In India the earliest paintings have been
reported from the Upper Palaeolithic times.
1
2022-23
Page 2


PREHISTORIC ROCK
PAINTINGS
T 
HE distant past when there was no paper or language
or the written word, and hence no books or written
documents, is called prehistory or as we often say,
prehistoric times. How people lived in those times was
difficult to surmise until scholars began to discover the
places where prehistoric people lived. Excavation at these
places brought to light old tools, pottery, habitats, bones
of ancient human beings and animals, and drawings on
cave walls. By piecing together the information deduced
from these objects and the cave drawings, scholars have
constructed fairly accurate knowledge about what
happened and how people lived in prehistoric times. 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.
Why did prehistoric people draw these pictures? They
may have drawn and painted to make their shelters more
colourful and beautiful or to keep a visual record of  their
day-to-day life, like some of us who maintain a diary.
The prehistoric period in the early development of
human beings is commonly known as the Old Stone
Age or the Palaeolithic Age.
Prehistoric paintings have been found in many parts of
the world. We do not really know if Lower Palaeolithic people
ever produced any art objects. But by the Upper Palaeolithic
times we see a proliferation of artistic activities. Around
the world the walls of many caves of this time are full of
finely carved and painted pictures of animals which the
cave-dwellers hunted. The subjects of their drawings were
human figures, human activities, geometric designs and
animal symbols. In India the earliest paintings have been
reported from the Upper Palaeolithic times.
1
2022-23
AN INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART
It is interesting to know that the first discovery of rock
paintings was made in India in 1867–68 by an
archaeologist, Archibold Carlleyle, twelve years before the
discovery of Altamira in Spain. Cockburn, Anderson, Mitra
and Ghosh were the early archaeologists who discovered a
large number of sites in the Indian sub-continent.
Remnants of rock paintings have been found on the walls
of the caves situated in several districts of Madhya Pradesh,
Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Bihar. Some
paintings have been reported from the Kumaon hills in
Uttarakhand also. The rock shelters on banks of the River
Suyal at Lakhudiyar, about twenty kilometres on the Almora–
Barechina road, bear these prehistoric paintings.
Lakhudiyar literally means one lakh caves.The paintings
here can be divided into three categories: man, animal and
geometric patterns in white, black and red ochre. Humans
are represented in stick-like forms. A long-snouted animal,
a fox and a multiple legged lizard are the main animal motifs.
Wavy lines, rectangle-filled geometric designs, and groups
of dots can also be seen here. One of the interesting scenes
depicted here is of hand-linked dancing human figures.
There is some superimposition of paintings. The earliest are
in black; over these are red ochre paintings and the last
group comprises white paintings. From Kashmir two slabs
with engravings have been reported. The granite rocks of
Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh provided suitable canvases
to the Neolithic man for his paintings. There are several such
sites but more famous among them are Kupgallu, Piklihal
and Tekkalkota. Three types of paintings have been reported
from here—paintings in white, paintings in red ochre over
a white background and paintings in red ochre. These
Hand-linked dancing figures, Lakhudiyar,
Uttarakhand
2
Wavy lines, Lakhudiyar, Uttarakhand
2022-23
Page 3


PREHISTORIC ROCK
PAINTINGS
T 
HE distant past when there was no paper or language
or the written word, and hence no books or written
documents, is called prehistory or as we often say,
prehistoric times. How people lived in those times was
difficult to surmise until scholars began to discover the
places where prehistoric people lived. Excavation at these
places brought to light old tools, pottery, habitats, bones
of ancient human beings and animals, and drawings on
cave walls. By piecing together the information deduced
from these objects and the cave drawings, scholars have
constructed fairly accurate knowledge about what
happened and how people lived in prehistoric times. 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.
Why did prehistoric people draw these pictures? They
may have drawn and painted to make their shelters more
colourful and beautiful or to keep a visual record of  their
day-to-day life, like some of us who maintain a diary.
The prehistoric period in the early development of
human beings is commonly known as the Old Stone
Age or the Palaeolithic Age.
Prehistoric paintings have been found in many parts of
the world. We do not really know if Lower Palaeolithic people
ever produced any art objects. But by the Upper Palaeolithic
times we see a proliferation of artistic activities. Around
the world the walls of many caves of this time are full of
finely carved and painted pictures of animals which the
cave-dwellers hunted. The subjects of their drawings were
human figures, human activities, geometric designs and
animal symbols. In India the earliest paintings have been
reported from the Upper Palaeolithic times.
1
2022-23
AN INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART
It is interesting to know that the first discovery of rock
paintings was made in India in 1867–68 by an
archaeologist, Archibold Carlleyle, twelve years before the
discovery of Altamira in Spain. Cockburn, Anderson, Mitra
and Ghosh were the early archaeologists who discovered a
large number of sites in the Indian sub-continent.
Remnants of rock paintings have been found on the walls
of the caves situated in several districts of Madhya Pradesh,
Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Bihar. Some
paintings have been reported from the Kumaon hills in
Uttarakhand also. The rock shelters on banks of the River
Suyal at Lakhudiyar, about twenty kilometres on the Almora–
Barechina road, bear these prehistoric paintings.
Lakhudiyar literally means one lakh caves.The paintings
here can be divided into three categories: man, animal and
geometric patterns in white, black and red ochre. Humans
are represented in stick-like forms. A long-snouted animal,
a fox and a multiple legged lizard are the main animal motifs.
Wavy lines, rectangle-filled geometric designs, and groups
of dots can also be seen here. One of the interesting scenes
depicted here is of hand-linked dancing human figures.
There is some superimposition of paintings. The earliest are
in black; over these are red ochre paintings and the last
group comprises white paintings. From Kashmir two slabs
with engravings have been reported. The granite rocks of
Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh provided suitable canvases
to the Neolithic man for his paintings. There are several such
sites but more famous among them are Kupgallu, Piklihal
and Tekkalkota. Three types of paintings have been reported
from here—paintings in white, paintings in red ochre over
a white background and paintings in red ochre. These
Hand-linked dancing figures, Lakhudiyar,
Uttarakhand
2
Wavy lines, Lakhudiyar, Uttarakhand
2022-23
PREHISTORIC ROCK PAINTINGS
paintings belong to late historical, early
historical and Neolithic periods. The subjects
depicted are bulls, elephants, sambhars,
gazelles, sheep, goats, horses, stylised
humans, tridents, but rarely, vegetal motifs.
But the richest paintings are reported from
the Vindhya ranges of Madhya Pradesh and
their Kaimurean extensions into Uttar
Pradesh. These hill ranges are full of
Palaeolithic and Mesolithic remains, and they
are also full of forests, wild plants, fruits,
streams and creeks, thus a perfect place for
Stone Age people to live. Among these the
largest and most spectacular rock-shelter is
located in the Vindhya hills at Bhimbetka in
Madhya Pradesh. Bhimbetka is located forty-
five kilometres south of Bhopal, in an area of
ten square kilometres, having about eight
hundred rock shelters, five hundred of which
bear paintings.
The caves of Bhimbetka were discovered
in 1957–58 by eminent ar chaeologist V.S.
Wakankar and later on many mor e were
discovered. Wakankar spent several years in
surveying these inaccessible hills and jungles
to study these paintings.
The themes of paintings found here are of great variety,
ranging from mundane events of daily life in those times to
sacred and royal images. These include hunting, dancing,
music, horse and elephant riders, animal fighting, honey
collection, decoration of bodies, and other household scenes.
The rock art of Bhimbetka has been classified into
various groups on the bases of style, technique and
superimposition. The drawings and paintings can be
catagorised into seven historical periods. Period I, Upper
Palaeolithic; Period II, Mesolithic; and Period III,
Chalcolithic. After Period III there are four
successive  periods. But we  will confine
ourselves here only to the first three phases.
Upper Palaeolithic Period
The paintings of the Upper Palaeolithic phase
are linear representations, in green and dark
red, of huge animal figures, such as bisons,
elephants, tigers, rhinos and boars besides
stick-like human figures. A few are wash
paintings but mostly they are filled with
Can you figure out what the
artist is trying to depict in
this painting?
Cave entrance, Bhimbetka,
Madhya Pradesh
3
2022-23
Page 4


PREHISTORIC ROCK
PAINTINGS
T 
HE distant past when there was no paper or language
or the written word, and hence no books or written
documents, is called prehistory or as we often say,
prehistoric times. How people lived in those times was
difficult to surmise until scholars began to discover the
places where prehistoric people lived. Excavation at these
places brought to light old tools, pottery, habitats, bones
of ancient human beings and animals, and drawings on
cave walls. By piecing together the information deduced
from these objects and the cave drawings, scholars have
constructed fairly accurate knowledge about what
happened and how people lived in prehistoric times. 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.
Why did prehistoric people draw these pictures? They
may have drawn and painted to make their shelters more
colourful and beautiful or to keep a visual record of  their
day-to-day life, like some of us who maintain a diary.
The prehistoric period in the early development of
human beings is commonly known as the Old Stone
Age or the Palaeolithic Age.
Prehistoric paintings have been found in many parts of
the world. We do not really know if Lower Palaeolithic people
ever produced any art objects. But by the Upper Palaeolithic
times we see a proliferation of artistic activities. Around
the world the walls of many caves of this time are full of
finely carved and painted pictures of animals which the
cave-dwellers hunted. The subjects of their drawings were
human figures, human activities, geometric designs and
animal symbols. In India the earliest paintings have been
reported from the Upper Palaeolithic times.
1
2022-23
AN INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART
It is interesting to know that the first discovery of rock
paintings was made in India in 1867–68 by an
archaeologist, Archibold Carlleyle, twelve years before the
discovery of Altamira in Spain. Cockburn, Anderson, Mitra
and Ghosh were the early archaeologists who discovered a
large number of sites in the Indian sub-continent.
Remnants of rock paintings have been found on the walls
of the caves situated in several districts of Madhya Pradesh,
Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Bihar. Some
paintings have been reported from the Kumaon hills in
Uttarakhand also. The rock shelters on banks of the River
Suyal at Lakhudiyar, about twenty kilometres on the Almora–
Barechina road, bear these prehistoric paintings.
Lakhudiyar literally means one lakh caves.The paintings
here can be divided into three categories: man, animal and
geometric patterns in white, black and red ochre. Humans
are represented in stick-like forms. A long-snouted animal,
a fox and a multiple legged lizard are the main animal motifs.
Wavy lines, rectangle-filled geometric designs, and groups
of dots can also be seen here. One of the interesting scenes
depicted here is of hand-linked dancing human figures.
There is some superimposition of paintings. The earliest are
in black; over these are red ochre paintings and the last
group comprises white paintings. From Kashmir two slabs
with engravings have been reported. The granite rocks of
Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh provided suitable canvases
to the Neolithic man for his paintings. There are several such
sites but more famous among them are Kupgallu, Piklihal
and Tekkalkota. Three types of paintings have been reported
from here—paintings in white, paintings in red ochre over
a white background and paintings in red ochre. These
Hand-linked dancing figures, Lakhudiyar,
Uttarakhand
2
Wavy lines, Lakhudiyar, Uttarakhand
2022-23
PREHISTORIC ROCK PAINTINGS
paintings belong to late historical, early
historical and Neolithic periods. The subjects
depicted are bulls, elephants, sambhars,
gazelles, sheep, goats, horses, stylised
humans, tridents, but rarely, vegetal motifs.
But the richest paintings are reported from
the Vindhya ranges of Madhya Pradesh and
their Kaimurean extensions into Uttar
Pradesh. These hill ranges are full of
Palaeolithic and Mesolithic remains, and they
are also full of forests, wild plants, fruits,
streams and creeks, thus a perfect place for
Stone Age people to live. Among these the
largest and most spectacular rock-shelter is
located in the Vindhya hills at Bhimbetka in
Madhya Pradesh. Bhimbetka is located forty-
five kilometres south of Bhopal, in an area of
ten square kilometres, having about eight
hundred rock shelters, five hundred of which
bear paintings.
The caves of Bhimbetka were discovered
in 1957–58 by eminent ar chaeologist V.S.
Wakankar and later on many mor e were
discovered. Wakankar spent several years in
surveying these inaccessible hills and jungles
to study these paintings.
The themes of paintings found here are of great variety,
ranging from mundane events of daily life in those times to
sacred and royal images. These include hunting, dancing,
music, horse and elephant riders, animal fighting, honey
collection, decoration of bodies, and other household scenes.
The rock art of Bhimbetka has been classified into
various groups on the bases of style, technique and
superimposition. The drawings and paintings can be
catagorised into seven historical periods. Period I, Upper
Palaeolithic; Period II, Mesolithic; and Period III,
Chalcolithic. After Period III there are four
successive  periods. But we  will confine
ourselves here only to the first three phases.
Upper Palaeolithic Period
The paintings of the Upper Palaeolithic phase
are linear representations, in green and dark
red, of huge animal figures, such as bisons,
elephants, tigers, rhinos and boars besides
stick-like human figures. A few are wash
paintings but mostly they are filled with
Can you figure out what the
artist is trying to depict in
this painting?
Cave entrance, Bhimbetka,
Madhya Pradesh
3
2022-23
AN INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART
geometric patterns. The green paintings are of dancers
and the red ones of hunters.
Mesolithic Period
The largest number of paintings belong to  Period II that
covers the Mesolithic paintings. During this period the
themes are multiple but the paintings are smaller in size.
Hunting scenes predominate. The hunting scenes depict
people hunting in groups, armed with barbed spears,
pointed sticks, arrows and bows. In some paintings these
primitive men are shown with traps and snares probably
to catch animals. The hunters are shown wearing simple
clothes and ornaments. Sometimes, men have been
adorned with elaborate head-dresses, and sometimes
painted with masks also. Elephant, bison, tiger, boar, deer,
antelope, leopard, panther, rhinoceros, fish, frog, lizard,
squirrel and at times birds are also depicted. The
Mesolithic artists loved to paint animals. In some pictures,
animals are chasing men. In others they are being chased
and hunted by men. 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. There are also a few engravings representing
mainly animals.
Though animals were painted in a naturalistic style,
humans were depicted only in a stylistic manner. Women
are painted both in the nude and clothed. The young and
the old equally find place in these paintings. Children are
painted running, jumping and playing. Community dances
provide a common theme. There are paintings of people
gathering fruit or honey from trees, and of women grinding
and preparing food. Some of the pictures of men, women
and children seem to depict a sort of family life. In many
of the rock-shelters we find hand prints,
fist prints, and dots made by the
fingertips.
The artists of Bhimbetka used many
colours, including various shades of
white, yellow, orange, red ochre, purple,
brown, green and black. But white and
red were their favourite colours. The
paints were made by grinding various
rocks and minerals. They got red from
haematite (known as geru in India). The
green came from a green variety of a stone
called chalcedony. White might have been
4
One of the few images showing
only one animal, Bhimbetka
2022-23
Page 5


PREHISTORIC ROCK
PAINTINGS
T 
HE distant past when there was no paper or language
or the written word, and hence no books or written
documents, is called prehistory or as we often say,
prehistoric times. How people lived in those times was
difficult to surmise until scholars began to discover the
places where prehistoric people lived. Excavation at these
places brought to light old tools, pottery, habitats, bones
of ancient human beings and animals, and drawings on
cave walls. By piecing together the information deduced
from these objects and the cave drawings, scholars have
constructed fairly accurate knowledge about what
happened and how people lived in prehistoric times. 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.
Why did prehistoric people draw these pictures? They
may have drawn and painted to make their shelters more
colourful and beautiful or to keep a visual record of  their
day-to-day life, like some of us who maintain a diary.
The prehistoric period in the early development of
human beings is commonly known as the Old Stone
Age or the Palaeolithic Age.
Prehistoric paintings have been found in many parts of
the world. We do not really know if Lower Palaeolithic people
ever produced any art objects. But by the Upper Palaeolithic
times we see a proliferation of artistic activities. Around
the world the walls of many caves of this time are full of
finely carved and painted pictures of animals which the
cave-dwellers hunted. The subjects of their drawings were
human figures, human activities, geometric designs and
animal symbols. In India the earliest paintings have been
reported from the Upper Palaeolithic times.
1
2022-23
AN INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART
It is interesting to know that the first discovery of rock
paintings was made in India in 1867–68 by an
archaeologist, Archibold Carlleyle, twelve years before the
discovery of Altamira in Spain. Cockburn, Anderson, Mitra
and Ghosh were the early archaeologists who discovered a
large number of sites in the Indian sub-continent.
Remnants of rock paintings have been found on the walls
of the caves situated in several districts of Madhya Pradesh,
Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Bihar. Some
paintings have been reported from the Kumaon hills in
Uttarakhand also. The rock shelters on banks of the River
Suyal at Lakhudiyar, about twenty kilometres on the Almora–
Barechina road, bear these prehistoric paintings.
Lakhudiyar literally means one lakh caves.The paintings
here can be divided into three categories: man, animal and
geometric patterns in white, black and red ochre. Humans
are represented in stick-like forms. A long-snouted animal,
a fox and a multiple legged lizard are the main animal motifs.
Wavy lines, rectangle-filled geometric designs, and groups
of dots can also be seen here. One of the interesting scenes
depicted here is of hand-linked dancing human figures.
There is some superimposition of paintings. The earliest are
in black; over these are red ochre paintings and the last
group comprises white paintings. From Kashmir two slabs
with engravings have been reported. The granite rocks of
Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh provided suitable canvases
to the Neolithic man for his paintings. There are several such
sites but more famous among them are Kupgallu, Piklihal
and Tekkalkota. Three types of paintings have been reported
from here—paintings in white, paintings in red ochre over
a white background and paintings in red ochre. These
Hand-linked dancing figures, Lakhudiyar,
Uttarakhand
2
Wavy lines, Lakhudiyar, Uttarakhand
2022-23
PREHISTORIC ROCK PAINTINGS
paintings belong to late historical, early
historical and Neolithic periods. The subjects
depicted are bulls, elephants, sambhars,
gazelles, sheep, goats, horses, stylised
humans, tridents, but rarely, vegetal motifs.
But the richest paintings are reported from
the Vindhya ranges of Madhya Pradesh and
their Kaimurean extensions into Uttar
Pradesh. These hill ranges are full of
Palaeolithic and Mesolithic remains, and they
are also full of forests, wild plants, fruits,
streams and creeks, thus a perfect place for
Stone Age people to live. Among these the
largest and most spectacular rock-shelter is
located in the Vindhya hills at Bhimbetka in
Madhya Pradesh. Bhimbetka is located forty-
five kilometres south of Bhopal, in an area of
ten square kilometres, having about eight
hundred rock shelters, five hundred of which
bear paintings.
The caves of Bhimbetka were discovered
in 1957–58 by eminent ar chaeologist V.S.
Wakankar and later on many mor e were
discovered. Wakankar spent several years in
surveying these inaccessible hills and jungles
to study these paintings.
The themes of paintings found here are of great variety,
ranging from mundane events of daily life in those times to
sacred and royal images. These include hunting, dancing,
music, horse and elephant riders, animal fighting, honey
collection, decoration of bodies, and other household scenes.
The rock art of Bhimbetka has been classified into
various groups on the bases of style, technique and
superimposition. The drawings and paintings can be
catagorised into seven historical periods. Period I, Upper
Palaeolithic; Period II, Mesolithic; and Period III,
Chalcolithic. After Period III there are four
successive  periods. But we  will confine
ourselves here only to the first three phases.
Upper Palaeolithic Period
The paintings of the Upper Palaeolithic phase
are linear representations, in green and dark
red, of huge animal figures, such as bisons,
elephants, tigers, rhinos and boars besides
stick-like human figures. A few are wash
paintings but mostly they are filled with
Can you figure out what the
artist is trying to depict in
this painting?
Cave entrance, Bhimbetka,
Madhya Pradesh
3
2022-23
AN INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART
geometric patterns. The green paintings are of dancers
and the red ones of hunters.
Mesolithic Period
The largest number of paintings belong to  Period II that
covers the Mesolithic paintings. During this period the
themes are multiple but the paintings are smaller in size.
Hunting scenes predominate. The hunting scenes depict
people hunting in groups, armed with barbed spears,
pointed sticks, arrows and bows. In some paintings these
primitive men are shown with traps and snares probably
to catch animals. The hunters are shown wearing simple
clothes and ornaments. Sometimes, men have been
adorned with elaborate head-dresses, and sometimes
painted with masks also. Elephant, bison, tiger, boar, deer,
antelope, leopard, panther, rhinoceros, fish, frog, lizard,
squirrel and at times birds are also depicted. The
Mesolithic artists loved to paint animals. In some pictures,
animals are chasing men. In others they are being chased
and hunted by men. 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. There are also a few engravings representing
mainly animals.
Though animals were painted in a naturalistic style,
humans were depicted only in a stylistic manner. Women
are painted both in the nude and clothed. The young and
the old equally find place in these paintings. Children are
painted running, jumping and playing. Community dances
provide a common theme. There are paintings of people
gathering fruit or honey from trees, and of women grinding
and preparing food. Some of the pictures of men, women
and children seem to depict a sort of family life. In many
of the rock-shelters we find hand prints,
fist prints, and dots made by the
fingertips.
The artists of Bhimbetka used many
colours, including various shades of
white, yellow, orange, red ochre, purple,
brown, green and black. But white and
red were their favourite colours. The
paints were made by grinding various
rocks and minerals. They got red from
haematite (known as geru in India). The
green came from a green variety of a stone
called chalcedony. White might have been
4
One of the few images showing
only one animal, Bhimbetka
2022-23
PREHISTORIC ROCK PAINTINGS
made out of limestone. The rock of mineral
was first ground into a powder. This may
then have been mixed with water and also
with some thick or sticky substance such
as animal fat or gum or resin from trees.
Brushes were made of plant fibre. What is
amazing is that these colours have survived
thousands of years of adverse weather
conditions. It is believed that the colours
have remained intact because of the
chemical reaction of the oxide present on the
surface of the rocks.
The artists here made their paintings on the walls and
ceilings of the rock shelters. Some of the paintings are
reported from the shelters where people lived. But some
others were made in places which do not seem to have been
living spaces at all. Perhaps these places had some religious
importance. Some of the most beautiful paintings are very
high up on rock shelters or close to the ceilings of rock-
shelters. One may wonder why early human beings chose
to paint on a rock in such an uncomfortable position. The
paintings made at these places were perhaps for people to
be able to notice them from a distance.
The paintings, though from the remote past, do not lack
pictorial quality. Despite various limitations such as acute
working conditions, inadequate tools, materials, etc., there
is a charm of simple rendering of scenes of the
environment in which the artists lived. The men shown in
them appear adventurous and rejoicing in their lives. The
animals are shown more youthful and majestic than
perhaps they actually were. The primitive artists seem to
possess an intrinsic passion for storytelling. These pictures
depict, in a dramatic way, both men and animals engaged
in the struggle for survival. In one of the scenes, a group
of people have been shown hunting a bison. In the process,
some injured men are depicted lying scattered on the
ground. In another scene, an animal is shown in the agony
of death and the men are depicted dancing. These kinds
of paintings might have given man a sense of power over
the animals he would meet in the open.
This practice is common among primitive people of
today also. They engrave or paint on rocks as part of
the rituals they perform at birth, at death, at coming
of age and at the time of marriage. They dance,
masked, during hunting rites to help them kill
animals difficult to find or kill.
5
Why has the animal been
shown so big and man
so small?
Painting showing a man
being hunted by a beast,
Bhimbetka
2022-23