Excursion

Caves

[ The paintings in Bhimbetka | Mara Caves | The Cave Shelters | Udaygiri Caves ]

The paintings in Bhimbetka
The paintings in Bhimbetka show that a single canvas was used by various people and at different times. The drawings and paintings can be classified under seven different periods:

• Period I - (Upper Paleolithic)
  These are direct representations, in green and dark red colour depicting huge figures like bisons, tigers and rhinoceros.
  
  
• Period II - (Mesolithic)
  The embellished figures are comparatively small in size and they show linear decoration of the body. Apart from the animals, there are also human figures and hunting scenes, which reveal the weapons they used - barbed spears, pointed sticks, bow and arrows. The depiction of communal dances, birds, musical instruments, mother and child, pregnant women, men carrying dead animals, drinking and burials too appear in rhythmic movement.
  
  
• Period III - (Chaleolithic)
  These paintings are similar to the pottery of the same age. These drawings reveal that during the period, the cave dwellers of this area had come in contact with the agricultural communities of the Malwa plains and started an exchange of their requirements with each other.
  
  
• Period IV & V - (Early History)
  In this group the figures have a schematic and decorative style, and are painted mainly in red, white and yellow. The association is of riders, depiction of religious symbols, tunic-like dresses and the existence of scripts of different periods. The religious beliefs are represented by the figures of the gods and evil forces.
  
  
• Period VI & VII - (Medieval)
  These paintings are geometric, linear and more planned ones, but show degradation and are naïve in their artistic style.

Top    

Mara Caves
The Mara Caves are situated in the Singhrauli tehsil of Sidhi district on Chitrakoot. The ancient caves stand in the middle of the jungle about 22 km from Singhrauli. Its majestic beauty can also be compared with the caves of Ajanta and Ellora.

Top    

The Cave Shelters
Some of the best cave shelters and groups of shelters around Pachmarhi are:

• Dhuandhar, This place has approached from the footpath to Apsara Vihar. And here, the paintings mostly in white include a group of archers with the typical Gond bun and hooped earrings.
  
  
• Bharat Neer, also known as Dorothy Deep has well executed animal paintings and when excavated in the 1930s yielded many pottery shards and microliths.
  
  
• In Asthachal also known as Monte Rosa there are four shelters with paintings, comparatively early linear drawings.
  
  
• Along the northern side of Jambu Dwip valley are some six shelters with many paintings of animals and human figures, including a detailed battle scene.
  
  
• Harper's Cave, so named because of one of its paintings - a man seated and playing a harp is close to the Jata Shankar Shrine.
  
  
• The Chieftain's Cave derives its name from a battle scene showing two chieftains on horses.
  
  
• A terrace that runs the length of the South, South East and East faces of Kites Crag has some fine cave paintings, the majority of which are in white or outlined in red.

Top    

Udaygiri Caves
13 km from Sanchi and 4 km from Vidisha are a group of rock-cut cave sanctuaries carved into a sandstone hill that stands sentinel-like on the horizon. An inscription in one of these states that it was produced during the region of Chandragupta II (382-401 AD), thus dating these caves to 4th-5th century AD.

The caves possess all the distinctive features that gave Gupta art its unique vitality, vigour and richness of expression; the beautifully moulded capitals, the treatment of the intercolumniation, the design of the entrance way and the system of continuing the architrave as a string-course around the structures.

They have been numbered probably according to the sequence in which they were excavated, beginning with Cave 1, which has a frontage adapted out of a natural ledge of rock, thus forming both the roof of the cave and its portico. The row of four pillars bears the 'vase and foliage' pattern of the eminent art historian Percy Brown. The shrines are progressively more spacious and ornate. Cave No.9 is remarkable for its large ceiling and massive, 8 feet high pillars, its long portico and pillared hall. Throughout, there is evidence that the master craftsmen of Besnagar practised their art with skill and artistry under the Guptas, four centuries later. In Cave No.5, a massive carving depicts Vishnu in his Varaha avatar, aloft one tusk. Yet another stupendous sculptures is of the reclining Vishnu.

Taken as a whole, this group is a rich representation of the vitality and strength of Gupta art and architecture.

Top