Bhimbhetka – Chasing Curiosity

His eyebrows were drawn together in concentration. With every stroke, he made on the rocky wall of his cave the image started to take a more realistic shape. From the wild ox to stags, from hunters to food gatherers, his drawings told stories from his daily life. His reflection from the burning woodfire in the middle of the cave danced off the wall casting a spell and making his drawings dance too. Belonging to the earliest traces of human life in India, he whose language was still somewhat limited stood at the threshold where mankind was about to take a massive leap. With knowledge comes power and with power the history of the evolution of mankind was rewritten. This is Bhimbhetka, and these are the cave dwellers' drawings that have survived the onslaught of time.

It is not unusual to feel a shiver down your spine just by imagining what would life have been like back then. How were our ancestors? Bhimbhetka opens up a whole new world for us to get answers for that.

The paintings on the walls of Bhimbhetka are not mere artistic expressions but stories of a storyteller who probably did not know that his drawings would turn the very direction of man’s history, let alone survive for so many years. The drawings even if somewhat faded clearly depict the life of the people back then. Their clever use of colours shows that they have already identified the concept of colours. Nestled amongst huge boulders, Bhimbhetka houses a number of caves and gives us glimpses of time long gone.

Of many things that man has always been curious about, one has always been about himself. Where do I come from has haunted men for ages. Though much remains undiscovered a good amount of progress has also been made. One such treasure trove of unveiling the truth of man’s evolution is Bhimbhetka of Madhya Pradesh.