Скачать или смотреть The Cave Story (Untold) # BHIMBETKA ROCK SHELTERS# The oldest petroglyphs in the world

There is a void between reality the way it was, and the way history portrays it. What we believe we know is just one historian’s perspective against another until they come to a unanimous acceptance and convince the world of its authenticity.

I remember as a child I used to look up at the stars and wonder what’s out there. Then I imagine all children are born with a sense of wonder.
As I grew into a young adult, that sense of wonder only seemed to deepen within me. I felt this immense need to discover, a place, a thing , a creature, anything that I could call my own. It should be a pure experience for my senses, something that no human had experienced before..
It has never happened. All that I have seen, experienced, felt is old.. it has been touched before, it has been seen before and it has been felt before…still ..

These caves are another of histories enigmas. Their true story buried behind that vast expanse, we call time…
It was only in 1957 when an archaeologist, Dr. Vishnu Wakankar noticed these structures from the train window on his way to Nagpur. They were similar to the rocks that he had previously studied in France and Spain. On the spur of the moment he decided to get off that train and go explore.. what he discovered were these ‘ Cave Shelters’.
He was definitely not the first to visit these structures …as these rocks are believed to have been witness to the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods. Yet he is the first to understand their significance in contempary times.
Standing within the walls of these structures you have no option but to stare into that abyss of time and imagine. Imagine the people that may have existed here, imagine their lives before civilization.

Spanning across 10 km, there are close to 750 rock shelters and seven hills in the area.
These caves have now been declared a UNESCO world heritage site, owing to their historical significance.
The Bhimbetka rock shelters are a canvas for some of the oldest paintings in India. Most of these are done in red and white on the cave walls. A multitude of themes were covered in this form of rock art and it depicted scenes like singing, dancing, hunting and other common activities of the people staying there.
The oldest of the cave paintings in Bhimbetka is believed to be about 12,000 years ago.

These rock caves are believed to be the oldest petroglyphs in the world. Despite there being more than 700 rock shelters, only 12 to 15 are open and accessible to visitors.

When I think of that time and what would have been humanities greatest concern, I can only think of the bare basic… survival. It was a harsh world where the strong survived. If I were to exist in that time, my creative expertise would be fully occupied in ways to ensure the survival of my species.
That is what I sought in each painting. The story I told my self was that somehow these paintings were related to the survival of early man .. he drew these pictures to understand what he was up against. He made plans and organised himself through art.
A hunt for food need not be about a kill, a simple tranquilizer could bring down a pray and provide meat for an entire family. This imaginative thought and procedure if effective would have to be recorded for the benefit of his future generations.

He drew and recorded his experiences. He learned and evolved and drew again to teach. This is all that I could gather from all around me .. survive.
Historians may tell a different story for they have facts to work with. My story is just one of imaginative thinking.
One irrefutable fact of this place that will not disappoint is the passage of time. No matter who you are, when you enter these shelters you know there once exited a world very different from the one we live in.
If you are in India and have time at hand.. do visit Bhimbetka. The ideal time to visit has to be during the winter. The months from October to March are ideal for visiting the caves. The monsoons are also a good time to visit as the tourist pressure stays low and the weather remains cool and windy. But if you decide to go during the monsoons then be assured that you are in for a treat. The vibrant forests all around are going to be rejuvenated from the rains and you would feel like entering a forested wonderland where time stopped turning eons ago.
Bhimbetka has no direct connectivity through rail or air. Roadways are the only means of transport, connecting it to the nearest city of Bhopal. The nearest airport is Raja Bhoj Airport in Bhopal from where taxis are available aplenty to reach Bhimbetka.
I hope you found our story engaging and interesting. For more such tales from our archives of exploration, don’t forget to like and subscribe to our channel
Until then….
Credits:
• Diamond eyes song – Music provided by NoCopyrightSounds.
• Movie clips of bush men from “The Gods Must Be Crazy”
• Opening scene from Monty python