36 Rock Art of India

Urmi Gosh Biswas

Introduction

Paintings and bruisings on natural surfaces of caves, shelters and boulders is together termed as rock art. It is a global phenomenon and one of the earliest human artistic manifestations. It is fast emerging as a major field of study and research all over the world with a multidisciplinary approach. India is fortunate to be home to large concentrations of this art form, an important cultural heritage. The spectrum of rock art available in India is vast and varied both in stylistic and thematic content. Its chronology can be traced from the Upper Palaeolithic continuing through different periods up to Historic times and probably even echoing in the artistic articulations of present day tribal and ethnic communities. Rock art in India is found distributed through the length and breadth of the entire country in a rather similar context but with regional variations. Along with India some other zones rich with presence of rock art are South Africa, Australia, North and South America and Europe.

2. Where can one find rock art within India?

In India, rock art sites have been reported from rocky landscapes comprised of sandstone or sedimentary rocks. This primarily refers to the Vindhya, Cuddapah, Kaladgi and Bhima basins, and Satpura and Aravalli ranges scattered over the states of Madhya Pradesh, Krnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Highest density of sites is found in Vindhyan ranges in Madhya Pradesh and its Kaimurean extensions into Uttar Pradesh. Considerable numbers of sites are also present in the granite hills of peninsular India. These areas include the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Datia district of Madhya Pradesh. However, sandstone and granite pockets stretching from Ladakh, Zanskar valley in extreme north to Kerala in the south and from Odisha, Assam and Manipur in the east to Gujarat in the west are known to have rock art sites.

3. Some important rock art sites

Some of the important rock art sites in north India are Dras, Kargil, Mulbekh, Nurla and Leh in Ladakh region. It needs mention that rock paintings are few here due to its high altitude, topography and climate. Many rock engravings were found along the upper reaches of the Indus and her tributaries in the Karakoram hills and also in Ladakh. These are probably of a later date. Rock engravings have also been reported from the vicinity of the city of Chilas on banks of river Indus as well as Zanskar Valley. Even in the foothills of the Himalayan range, close to the ancient city of Almora near Chamoli in Garhwal, several rock paintings have been reported. Sites containing paintings have also been found at Varanasi, Allahabad and Agra in the Ganga Yamuna valley in Uttar Pradesh. It was here that Archibald Carlyle had first noticed rock shelters with paintings in the Mirzapur district in the 1860s. In this area 115 rock art sites exist in a single district of 11,310 sq. km. Some important shelters of Mirzapur region are called Bhaldharia, Bijayagarh, Likhunia, Kauva-Khoh, Hathvani, Lakhma and Mukhadari.

As has been already mentioned, the sandstone region of central India is studded with rock art sites. Many rock shelters have been discovered mainly in the Vindhyan region and some from Satpura ranges. In the state of Madhya Pradesh most important rock art sites are found centering Bhopal, its capital city. The renowned Bhimbetka complex of rock shelters which has been inscribed as the World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 2003 are located 40 kilometers south of Bhopal, in the Raisen district. The petroglyphs in Auditorium Cave (Bhimbetka III F-24) are thought to be of Acheulian age. They include ten cupules (or cup marks) and a long meandering line. These Acheulian petroglyphs are the oldest rock art currently known in the world.

Besides Bhimbetka, some other well-known sites in this region are Kharwai, Jaora, Kathotia, Firengi, Gupha Maser, Lakhajoar, Adamgarh and Panchmarhi in Mahadeo hills. As mentioned in the early section, rock art sites in India have been reported from mountains comprised of sandstone or sedimentary rocks.

In south of India, some important sites are Kupgal (Sanaganakallu), Badami, Maski, Piklihal, Tekkalakota in Karnataka, Budagavi, Chintakunta, Kethavaram, Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh, Alambadi, Padiyandal in Tamil Nadu and Edakkal and Ezuthupara rock shelters in Kerala.

Compared to these heavy concentration of sites in Madhya Pradesh and the Deccan, Northeastern states have hardly reported presence of rock art sites; in eastern India, a few in Odisha, like, Vikramkhol in Jharsuguda District, Gudahandi in Kalahandi District Ushakothi in Sambalpur District and some others. In Bihar rock paintings have been reported from Kaimur range at Makwa, Patesar, Jhaniapahar, Dugdha and Isco in Hazaribag District and rock engravings from Ghatsila in Singhbhum District. A. K. Prasad reported 86 rock shelters containing rock paintings from Nawada and Jamui districts of Bihar and Kodarma and Giridih Districts of Jharkhand. A few rock art sites have also been reported from states of Bengal and Manipur from eastern India. Further research in these areas can bring in light more sites. Presence of some rock art sites in in Vaghai hill in Vidarbha region has been reported.

4. Nature of rock art in India

Broadly rock art in India can be divided under two heads. They are Pictographs and Petroglyphs.

4.1 Pictographs are primarily in the form of paintings that are found on the walls and ceilings of naturally formed caves and rock shelters. In India the pictographs show an affinity towards various shades of red colour, the shades varying from dark violet to yellowish brick red. Chemical analysis and microscopic examination of the pigments obtained from sites show presence of red haematite nodules, containing iron oxide. Besides red, the next most frequently used colour was white which was obtained either from calcium carbonate nodule or kaoline clayey deposits. Many pictographs have been executed both in red as well as white colours in which the white colour was generally used for filling up the figures and red as outline. In many of these paintings the colour white has faded out leaving the red outline. Some very early rock paintings were depicted in green and yellow (found in rock art sites of central India and Odisha) with the use of mineralized chalcedony of the respective colours. The green paintings are unfortunately in a very poor state of preservation. So, in India the pictographs are monochrome (majority), bichrome and polychrome in nature. Regarding the pigments it has been proposed that the paint was obtained either by diluting the colour in water or by tempera. Though microscopic tests could not establish presence of any binding medium or adhesive in the pigments, however use of organic binding adhesives, cannot be ruled out, which probably has not survived for such a long period. The colours were used in liquid form and not in powders and generally without colouring of the background. The paintings used to be done on unplastered, unprimed rock surfaces, which would not be smoothed nor dressed or polished before painting. Interestingly there was absolutely no use of blue colour.

The paintings were done on vertical, near-vertical and horizontal rock faces and at times on curved as well as under surfaces of projecting or overhanging rocks. At certain places, the floors of the rock shelters show scooped out circular depressions with traces of paints on them, which were definitely used for preparing the colours. The use of fibrous material derived from plants cannot be ruled out for rock paintings. Traces of use of dry colours have also been found, either in the form of crayons, stencil or spray technique.

4.2 Petroglyphs or rock bruisings form the second most important type of rock art which were done either by rubbing, hammering, scooping or pecking of rough granite surface. Rarely are bruisings found on quartzite rocks because of the extreme toughness of the stone. At times dots and cup-marks have been found in some shelters which have been made by hammering the surface gently, and some of the cup-marks are as deep as 50 cm with an equal diameter throughout its depth. These include shallow dots, small holes, conical and U-shaped cup-marks and were probably done by a drilling technique with the help of metallic instruments. Cup marks are attracting the attention of rock art scholars and archaeologists now days.

Another interesting feature of rock art not only in India but also other parts of the world is that both the paintings as well as bruisings have been found in superimposed layers where a single surface has been used for several times. For rock art studies the term ‘superimpositions’ is used which means when one rock art motif is placed over another or an earlier motif.

5. History of Rock Art Research

Globally, presence of rock art was first reported by Spanish archaeologist Don Marcelino Santiago Tomas Sanz de Santuola in November 1879, when his 12 year old daughter Maria noticed animal pictures on the ceiling of Altamira caves in northern Spain. In India Archibald Carllyle an English officer in Archaeological Survey of India, noticed paintings on the walls of a few shelters, near Sohangighat, in the forested region of Kaimur ranges in Mirzapur District, in Uttar Pradesh in 1867-68. This was a remarkable and very interesting discovery as it was made twelve years before Marcelino De Santuola’s discovery of Altamira caves in Spain. Carlyle’s accounts of his discoveries were later published in Indian Antiquary by Vincent Smith in 1906. Noteworthy contributions made by Carlyle was that he related the microliths, pieces of charcoal and red haematite found on the floor of rock shelters with the prehistoric people who made stone implements, thereby concluding that the chronology of the paintings began in the Stone Ages. By analyzing the subject matter of the paintings he had also realized that all the paintings were not made in the same time and belonged to different ages.

Following this remarkable beginning, John Cockburn, an officer of the Opium Department of British Government presented the first scientific paper on Indian rock paintings in 1883. The legacy of rock art research in India was further carried on by Francke, C.A Silberrand, C.W Anderson and Percy Brown. Apart from the English archaeologists who initiated rock art studies and made noteworthy contributions, indigenous efforts were put forward by many researchers.

In 1921, Manoranjan Ghosh, Curator of Patna Museum, studied the rock art complex of Mirzapur region as well as several sites at Raigarh and Adamgarh near Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh and produced a monograph of Indian rock art in 1932. Though engravings were already brought to light in South India, K.P. Jayaswal in 1933 mentioned rock engravings (petroglyph) in Vikramkhol in Sundargarh district of Odisha, now in Jharsuguda district. Following this more engravings were later brought to light from several places like bank of river Indus, Kupgallu hill near Bellary and Gotgiribetta ridge near Bangalore. In the 1930s, G.R.Hunter and D.H Gordon noticed painted shelters of Mahadeo Hills in Panchmarhi in Madhya Pradesh. Mention needs to be made of another noteworthy contribution by A. H. Brodrick, who has tried to compare and place Indian paintings in a global perspective.

In southern India, petroglyphs or rock bruisings were noticed quiet early by Fred Fawcett in 1892 with the assistance of Hubert Knox and Robert Sewell on Kupgallu hill of Bellary District. Fawcett had examined the site of Kupgallu and had discovered some more rock carvings in the Edakkal caves in Kozikode District of Kerala in the 1890s though its explicit mention was first made in 1901. Noteworthy contributions towards early rock art studies in South India were also made by Leonard Munn.

In 1947 after achievement of India’s independence from British colonial researchers made arduous efforts to establish an indigenous research tradition for India. This saw large-scale excavations being carried out at rock art sites like Piklihal by Allchin in 1960, at Tekklakota by NagarajaRao and Malhotra in 1965. Since then, more than 5000 shelters have been reported from all corners of Indian subcontinent.

A grand new chapter of rock art research in India was unfolded with V.S Wakankar adding an entirely new dimension to the field of study for which he is honoured with the title as ‘Founder of modern rock art studies in India’. While traveling to Nagpur from Bhopal in a train, Wakankar had noticed dissected rocks, resembling archaeological monuments over a sandstone hill. This led to the discovery of Bhimbetka rock shelters in 1957 near Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, one of the best-known sites in the world with large concentrations of rock paintings. V.S. Wakankar along with S.K. Pandey, his friend and colleague from Sagar University, began excavations at Bhimbetka. In the mid-1970s V.N. Misra, too conducted excavations at Bhimbetka along with Wakankar. In the process of such studies centering Bhimbetka project, public awareness of this site was heightened, in turn making rock art a major discipline for study. Wakankar had carried out a broad survey of painted shelters in the country along with listing of chronology based on style, content and superimposition, and also its archaeological context in historical perspective. With his work he successfully laid the foundations to an Indian homegrown research tradition of rock art studies. Wakankar, together with R.R. Brooks had published Stone Age Paintings in India. Following V.S. Wakankar’s discovery a number of researchers and explorers focused in and around central India.Some of the rock art specialists who worked during the 1970’s were: Jagadish Gupta, Bridget Allchin, Nagaraja Rao and Malhotra, K. Paddayya, A. Sundara, K.Rajan, R.K Varma, V.N. Misra, J. Jacobson, later G.S. Tyagi and YashodharMathpal.

It was in 1988 the first Australian Rock Art Research (AURA) Congress was held in Darwin in Australia, 343 leading researchers from all over the world participated in the Congress including eight scholars from India. This proved to be an excellent platform for Indian rock art researchers to create awareness amongst rock art experts from all over the world about the rich heritage of rock art in India. This Congress also saw the foundation of ‘The International Federation of Rock Art Organizations’ (IFRAO). Inspired by these developments, back home, on 3rd December 1988, Indian Rock Art Research Association (IRA) was formed at Santiniketan in West Bengal Inspired by the foundation of ‘The International Federation of Rock Art Organizations’ (IFRAO) in 1988 the Indian Rock Art Research Association (IRA) was formed at Santiniketan in West Bengal in India. To further promote rock art studies in India and to continue the task left behind by V.S.Wakankar the foundations of Rock Art Society of India (RASI) was officially laid in 1990. A journal named ‘Purakala’ by RASI has been publishing research papers regularly since 1990 and is devoted to projection and appreciation of Indian treasure of rock art and sharing the views on this subject with scholars and experts globally.

Recent years saw a lot of development in rock art studies and are making significant contribution by individuals as well as organisations. During the twentieth century, a variety of methodological techniques were employed. The earliest researchers tended to focus on describing the most elaborate and aesthetically pleasing aspects of rock art, but as studies became increasingly formalized, more systematic approaches were applied. Organisations like the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) has conceived and launched major academic programmes which are intended to explore artistic manifestations and analyse its global context. Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the premier organization for the archaeological research and protection of cultural heritage of India, under the Department of Culture, Government of India, has long been involved in promoting, conserving and preserving rock art of India. One of the major contributions of the ASI for the promotion of rock art research is that it has played a major role in getting Bhimbetka to be inscribed on the World Heritage list as a World Heritage site on 3rd July 2003 under the UNESCO sponsorship. The Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS) also known as National Museum of Mankind, at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh is taking steps to popularize rock art. Along with these the National Research Laboratory, The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage and The Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), aims to encourage and promote rock art research in the country

6. Rock Art Interpretation

One of the most fundamental questions that come up in rock art studies is to know the meaning of what is depicted in rock art. Unfortunately much of this interpretation is still done in an observer-relative manner. In order to understand rock art one must understand that rock art is much more than a thing of beauty. It was mostly intended towards compelling Nature to work for man. In reality rock art traditions of the world are far from naturalistic in the modern sense. Their meanings can never be accessible to a cultural outsider, so any attempt at identifying the intent and content of this cultural practice becomes nothing but a reflection of the cultural insight of the interpreter’s mind and perception only. Understanding rock art should allow an expert or a scholar to refrain from attempting any iconic interpretations and leave it for someone belonging to the culture and sharing the reality construct of the artist. Therefore any iconographic description of rock art which is required for study should have the term ‘like’ as a suffix for example ‘hut like’, ‘animal like’. It is necessary to understand that this system of representation was everywhere not inspired by the same perceived needs and cultural bodies of ideas.

7.  Characteristic Features of Rock Art in India

7.1 Upper Palaeolithic Period

Unlike some of the rock paintings of Europe and Australia, which are securely dated by using AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometer) dating through pigment analysis, the chronology of Indian rock paintings has not been established by an absolute method of dating. Though attempts are being made, still it is in an experimental stage. Therefore researchers and scholars have primarily taken to the analysis of thematic content, superimpositions, and style of rock art along with other parameters to determine a tentative chronology.

However according to recent trends and understanding, ascertaining a chronology for rock in terms of stylistic conventions is not always considered scientific. Keeping this in mind the data in the following section will help us to form a general awareness of rock art content, style and a tentative periodization that has so long formed the basis of rock art studies in India.

Rock art in India probably had very early beginning. Two Acheulian petroglyphs excavated from Auditorium rock shelter (III-F 24) at Bhimbetkain Madhya Pradesh is considered to be the oldest known rock art in the world. These consisted of a large circular scooped out cupule and a pecked meandering line running to its periphery. Recently nearly 500 cupules from Daraki-Chattan near Bhanpura in the Chambal valley have been assigned to the Palaeolithic.

Interestingly, evidence of art like expression in India was found as early as in the Acheulean deposits of the Lower Paleolithic period in the form of haematite and quartz crystals. A particular haematite nodule from locality V at Hunsgi (Karnataka) bears stratiation marks on its worn out facet which is suggestive of the fact that it had been used as a crayon to colour or mark a rock surface. Moreover quartz crystals from the base of the Lower Paleolithic deposit found from Singi Talav (Rajasthan) were also collected for their visual qualities and must have been used for body decoration or similar other purposes.

V.S. Wakankar had associated some of the green coloured paintings at Bhimbetka with the Upper Paleolithic phase of Indian prehistory though some researchers feel otherwise. The possible basis for this supposition is that faceted green earth (what he called terra verta) has been found in the Upper Palaeolithic deposits of one of the excavated rock shelters (III A-24) at Bhimbetka Scholars have basically distinguished early paintings from later ones by a high degree of craftsmanship and a characteristic uniformity. For example use of controlled and fine lines is a characteristic feature. Pre figurative art covering large spaces of virgin rock shelter is considered to be early globally as well as in India. Paintings consisting of geometric patterns or intricate designs form the most conspicuous feature of this earlier style. The basic element of all archaic rock art is dominated by curvilinear motifs like concentric circles, spirals with variations and intermediate forms including geometric motifs. In several paintings these intricate designs often identified as labyrinthian are composed of rhombic meanders and honeycomb patterns along with their multiple derivatives and cover a large space of virgin rock shelter surface. None of these are superimposed on any of the earlier paintings.

Early rock art in India has also been characterized by perfect ‘S’ shaped human figures depicting activities which look like as if they are hunting, dancing and running. These dynamic S-shaped human figures have been superimposed on the intricate designs of earlier paintings drawn in red ochre.

7.2 Mesolithic Period

Rock art of Mesolithic period is mostly in the form of pictographs. According to scholars the Mesolithic paintings essentially portray a hunting gathering population. It is uniform in style and content all over India. It is full of varied descriptive details with a very wide spectrum. Animal forms are naturalistic depictions while the human figures are static and abstract. Amongst human figures the male figures are stick like while the women are bulky box shaped with intricate body designs as infilling comprising of spiral or honey-comb design patterns. Mesolithic rock art in India is also characterised by X-ray depictions in which internal organs of the body of an animal or human being are shown.

The paintings depicting hunting like activity predominate the rock art of this period and provide a fair detail of variety of game animals, both big and small. These include animals like gaur, humped cattle, buffalo, rhinoceros, elephant, tiger, leopard, boar, sambar, chital, chinkara, nilgai, blackbuck, monkey, jackal, fox, dog, rat and porcupine. The weapons depicted in these paintings were spears and arrows, tipped and barbed with microliths. Apart from hunting some other types of activities depicted look similar to present day butchering, fruit and honey collection, fishing dancing, singing, playing with musical instruments, drinking and eating inside a roofed house. Most of the paintings have been done in shades of red scarlet, purple, chocolate, orange and white. On the basis of superimpositions many layers can be seen. Archaeologists have also categorized some depictions as religious or cultic that is portrayals which signify a deeper meaning in their creation. These include mythical stories depicting huge defied animals chasing diminutive human beings, medical treatment and burial like activity.

Mesolithic engravings are few compared to the rock paintings. Subject matter includes animal like figures, abstract patterns and sometimes mere scratches.

8. Rock Art in India – Neolithic Chalcolithic Phase

Neolithic Chalcolithic phase leaves behind the trails of Mesolithic hunting gathering society to a stage where man started domestication of cattle, sheep and goat. The most important advantage of dating the rock art belonging to this period is the availability of reliable stratified archaeological data in the form of contemporary protohistoric art forms.

Dynamic art of the Mesolithic hunters and gatherers gets replaced by a progressively stiff and static art of the agriculturists and cattle-keepers. Thematic spectrum is extremely limited and confined mainly to the depiction of domesticated long-horned humped cattle. Hunting scenes give us an idea about the weapons and the fast changing technology of this period. The appearance of metal heads on bows and arrows, spears and axes are characteristic of this period. Complexity of technology is best represented by the depiction of chariots. Depiction of bullock carts as well as horse drawn chariots are common. Processions, accompanied by acrobats, boxers, load carriers and musicians, suggestive of social stratification are seen in Chalcolithic period.

Agricultural activities are rarely shown in the paintings in spite being the economic foundation of this period. Chalcolithic pictures in India represent a man’s world, in which women were depicted very peripherally both in Central and South India. Scenes depicting human copulation like activity are common. Rock paintings in south India is also characteristic of elegant long horned bull depiction and the bruisings commonly depict large implements. According to scholars the latter is suggestive of cultic weapons. In south India several rock art sites are situated in the vicinity of Megalithic burials and definitely some of the paintings and bruisings can be related to burial practices. One such painting shows a dead person within the burial inventory of a stone circle in Benakal forest.

Along with paintings, rock engravings and bruisings have been found, belonging to this cultural period. Several bruising of large sized implements have been found in south India. They have been found on prominent points on the granite hills, probably indicating their use as standards or cultic weapons. An engraving of a vessel at the site of Gupha Masir bears religious connotations. In Odrisha, engravings are made with thin lines and the petroglyphs prepared by scooping the rock surface may also be assigned to this phase on account of their overlaying positions upon the earlier ones. Similarly, rock engravings from Karakoram and Himalayas show human figures who appear to look like hunters carrying bows and arrows stalking ibex, deer and bovids.

9. Rock Art in India – Historic Phase

Rock art characterized by the presence of writings in Brahmi, Kharoshti, Shankha and even Nagari scripts have been grouped as rock art of the Historic period in India. Introduction of religious icons and symbols of various prevailing faiths is seen in the paintings and engravings. Depictions mostly in the form of petroglyphs have been found in north India in Ladakh and Chilas areas narrating Buddhist themes along with Kharoshti and Brahmi inscriptions. The paintings are dominated by portrayal of heavily caparisoned horses and elephants often with riders as if engaged in battle like activity, armored soldiers appear to be fighting with metal weapons resembling spears, swords, shields, daggers and occasionally bows and arrows. There is also procession like activity depicting scenes as if royal personages standing under canopies. In addition, there are pictures which resemble many aspects of the contemporary life of the people residing both in plains and forests, together with a variety of animals, birds and plants. Aesthetic sophistication of some of these paintings, particularly those from Badami in south India and Mahadev Hills is comparable with the famous fresco painting of classical Indian art and some show close parallels with the Kushana and Gupta sculptural styles in their descriptive details. Geometric and floral patterns, signs, symbols, etc. which are distinctly different from earlier paintings, show strong stylistic and thematic analogies with modern pictures found in houses in tribal belts.

10. Understanding Rock Art

For what reasons rock art was made in India still remains an enigma as none of the living traditions practice this art form anymore. However, rock art research has matured globally and various interpretive models are used for its understanding. Some of these approaches are, for example, in the beginning it was believed that rock art was simply ‘art for art’s sake’ which meant that it was made for decorating the living spaces of the people that it would be foolish to see any symbolic meanings in them. This term was coined by Edouard Lartet and Christy in 1864. Then came the concept of ‘totemism’ which was primarily propagated by anthropologists Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (1832-1917) and Salomon Reinach (1858-1932). According to them a correlation existed between human groups and animals or plants therefore rock art motifs are primarily depiction of artefacts or symbols that are associated or used by a clan’s totem which can either be their ancestor or an animal or plant. Another theory that was employed to understand rock was that of ‘sympathetic magic’, according to which rock art was done to ensure success in hunt or to effectively challenge those animals that were dangerous. This was one of the functionalist approaches to explain the purpose behind the practice of making rock art. Some researchers also took to making ‘structuralist analysis’ of the rock shelter’s art content. On the other hand cognitive archaeologists were convinced that explanation for prehistoric past can only be achieved through the cognitive sphere and that rock art studies provide a unique access into the prehistoric mind. Therefore the ‘shamanism and neuropsychological’ model was proposed by David Lewis-Williams and colleagues. This theory was adopted because ethnographic evidences from communities like San Bushmen of South Africa who still make rock art have associated the making of their rock art as part of shamanistic practices and rituals. So this model was propounded based on the human nervous system and images that are observed by any individual, experiencing an altered state of consciousness as trance and altered states are a part of shamanic rituals. This model mainly by David Lewis Williams helps one to identify images that may have resulted from shamanistic trances and thereby used to explain cave art.

In the Indian context, according to V.S. Wakankar the earlier paintings of large animals have religious association. Yashodhar Mathpal for example regards the majority of the art at Bhimbetka as a social and economic record. Similarly Erwin Neumayer and D.H. Gordon have assumed that paintings of armed men represent historic wars. In fact, various approaches employed towards rock art interpretation in India has been broadly classified as ‘art pour l’art’(art for art’s sake), economic, historical records, information transmission, worship, social solidarity, ritual symbolism and trance, diversified ritual communication, formation of iconographic units and as source of information.

11. Rock Art and Ethnography

Ethnographic analogy as a tool to assist rock art interpretation has been used by rock art researchers worldwide, though the validity of such analogy has also been challenged. In India no living tradition practices rock art anymore, unlike the Sans of South Africa or the Aboriginals of Australia. Therefore interpretation becomes challenging for the researchers. Rare examples of valid ethnographic rock art interpretation have been documented in India. Though the canvass may not be rocks, boulders or caverns, tribal communities like the Rathvas from Gujarat make the Pithora paintings, Savaras of Andhra Pradesh make Edising art and Sauras from Odisha make paintings on the walls of their houses. Interestingly all these art forms are ritual and generally executed by a shaman. In fact shamanism is still deep rooted in the tribal belief system in India and is still manifested in many of their rituals. A Shaman is an individual, (he/she) who acts as a guardian of a tribe’s overall health and welfareA shaman is still consulted by members of a tribe in case of disease of humans as well as cattle, theft, bareness of women, cows, buffaloes, goats, failure of monsoon or any such calamity. Generally it has been noticed that practice of shamanism is associated with image making

The art traditions that are practiced by several other tribes of India like Gonds, Murias, Garsias, Nagas, etc. are also symbolic and mostly intended towards appeasing ancestor souls or to guard off evil spirits. Study of tribal or indigenous arts may play some role in understanding rock art of India.

Though rock art is not made any more in India but tribal communities like the Rathwas of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh make the Pithora paintings, Sauras of Orissa make the Saura art and Savaras of Andhra Pradesh art. The only difference being that their canvass may not be rocks, boulders or caverns but the walls of their houses.

12.Conclusion

The vast corpus of rock art available in India was much more than a thing of beauty. It can be regarded as an influence of the mental as well as physical environment in which it was created. Rock art studies in India are gradually emerging as an important subject for research for specialists from various disciplines. It is on the threshold of adopting wider perspective in various areas like suitable dating techniques, geological background of rock art, computer applications, taphonomy, ethnographic and cognitive studies .It is therefore important to carry forward rock art studies as it enriches our understanding of the way of life of the people of different cultural periods and nurtures an understanding for a valuable cultural resource.

Web links

• http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/southindia/
• http://archaeologyonline.net/artifacts/iron-ore
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edicts_of_Ashoka
• http://ignca.nic.in/mausam/Mausam_Paper_Prof_Bopearachichi.pdf
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangam_literature

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