Treasure house of rock caves – Bhimbetka Caves

“If Parul comes along, then I am in.” I said with a wink. All my friends pummeled with whatever they had. Finally a weekend had come with all of us having a holiday. We decided to go to Mandu and see the places around. I had planned to go home, but the Mandu trip held me back. Parul was coming; it was confirmed so all the more reason why I wanted to go. Parul was my colleague and was great fun to be with.

We took the train and reached Mandu after the overnight journey from Ahmedabad. We went to the Bhimbetka caves from here and I was just beside myself with excitement to see the lovely red and white structures here. The entire place was awe inspiring and I forgot everyone for some time as I explored the area – even Parul. I saw the lovely paintings and sculptures there and all of them depicted dancing, hunting, horse riding, animal fighting and many household scenes. It was nice to see the disguises and the honey collection, and also the decoration of bodies. Then there were animals like the wild boars, tigers, bisons, elephants, lions, dogs, antelopes, crocodiles and lizards that were depicted. There were many symbols which pertained to popular rituals.

“Did you know that substances like manganese, soft red stone, wooden coal and hematite are used to makes these colours?” a voice said behind me and I saw Parul giggling at my involvement with the caves. Teasing me she asked me what intrigued me so here. I told her I was just so over awed by the whole place and smiled looking at Pathak and Yuvraj fooling around taking photos in the distance. As Parul and I walked ahead, I told her that in fact sometimes even the animal fat and leaf extract were used to make paint. I also knew that this is the reason the paint has remained as such. The oxide on the rocks ensured that the substances were fresh with the chemical reaction with the oxide.

Bhimbetka caves were around 45 km from Bhopal. There were at least 1000 caves here. All of them with beautiful paintings showering the lifestyle of people who have lived her in the past. These caves were more than 12,000 years old.

Most of the paintings here depicted animals, hunting scenes, dancing, religious ceremonies and events like burials too.

“Good we brought our lunch along” said Yuvraj munching into the poha ( puffed rice) we had brought along. Parul, efficient as ever gave us coffee from her flask. We all teased her saying she would be a great wife and then thanked ourselves for having brought water too as there is nothing available here in Bhimbetka.

“This could be more than 10m long, isn’t it?” mused Bhairav and we turned to look at what he was seeing. Yes paintings were quite huge and the colours used were mainly white and red. Some shades of yellow and green were also seen.

We were quite exhausted after the long journey we had but the entire ambience relaxed us and soon the fatigue was a thing of the past.

The Bhimbetka caves belong to the time which dates back to prehistoric to the medieval age. Mythology has it that these are the caves where the Pandavas of the Indian epic Mahabharata were in hiding.

Then we went across to the Zoo here. Here there were the loveliest figures of the animals. As we went to the zoo we also saw some beautiful formations of rocks. These rock caves had entrances which looked like the snake’s mouth. It looked as if it was a huge snake and it had its mouth wide open.

We all took care that we did not litter the place around. In fact, Parul got very furious when she saw a group of people littering the place. She was almost going to have a row with them but I stopped her saying we would clear it up. This is one thing on a World Heritage Site. We should never litter it for it loses all its beauty and grace. Also never to write anything on the walls. What is the use of having a lovely site and then spoiling it?

Thus this archaeological site in the state of Madhya Pradesh in India is certainly one for the greatest wonders and I was happy we came here. As all of us were discussing about the place, we felt that if we stayed here for a long time, we might even understand the intriguing art of watching the rocks talk. It is said that in the Paleolithic age, this used to be a practiced art. These caves gave the evidence of the oldest life living here around 35,000 years back.

With the ambience of sal and teak around and the lovely lifestyle depictions of the past, we came back much more enriched and refreshed.