PRE HISTORIC ROCK PAINTING AND ART OF INDUS VALLEY

  ABOUT

 UNIT -1  CLASS XI Paninting

IN this lesson and learning  you are going to have a  brief idea  about prihistoric art and bheambedka cave Located at the distance of 45km from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Bhim bethaka hillocks are made of sandstone. The following focusing pont.

• PRE HISTORIC ROCK PAINTING
• ART OF INDUS VALLEY
• BHIM BHETHAKA,
• SUBJECT MATTERS OF PRE-HISTORIC ART,
• THE DANCE OF WIZARDS – BHIM BETHAKA.

INTRODUCTION

Right from the development of the human life, man was interested in art. Thousands of years back when he used to live in caves, the stone weapons and tools of that age gives us that clue. The pre historic painting  period is the beginning of the history of mankind. The pre historic period can be roughly calculated when the first civilization began to take shape. Thus the history of India is no exception to the above mentioned fact.  

PRE- HISTORIC ART

Prehistoric art is the art work created by the primitive people when there was no written record of the society.

In fact, Prehistoric art is the only record of early civilization. These art symbols were the only means of communications. It was created during the first known period of human culture about two million years ago. This period covers the evolution of man.

PERIOD:

 As the man used the tools and weapons made of stones, that age is known as Stone Age. It has been divided into three ages:

• Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age)

• Mesolithic Age (Middle Stone Age)

• Neolithic Age (New Stone Age)

Stone age is divided into these three broad divisions on the basis of the specialization of the stone tools made during that particular time. These primitive people used to move in the groups of small families, mainly lived on hunting.

LOCATION:

 The important places where Neolithic paintings are found in India are following: Mirzapur, Raigarh, Panchmani, Hoshangabad, Banda and Bhopal.

BHIM BHETHAKA

 Bhim Bhethaka caves have recently been discovered here which created a revolution in the field of pre-historic paintings of India. These caves offer a glimpse of cave painting of pre-historic era. They are the treasure mine of prehistoric art. It is believed that these paintings are twenty thousand to fifty thousand years old.

Located at the distance of 45km from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Bhim bethaka hillocks are made of sandstone.

Bhimabetaka remains a great witness to the evolution of mankind’s civilization through its numerous rock weapvons, tools and bones. More than anything else these cave paintings are the greatest wealth the natives of Bhimabetaka left behind. It is said that Bhim with his Pandava brothers used to sit on the giant rocks in this area during their exile so the local termed that region as Bhim Bethaka.

These paintings are done in red and white colours. They are extremely lively and meaningful.

SUBJECT MATTERS OF PRE-HISTORIC ART

• We find gradual development of the primitive man and pre historic art.
• They took inspiration from nature for his paintings.
•  Thay created paintings by adding spirituality.
•  Hunting scenes are in abundance. Maximum depiction of man with bow and We find gradual development of the primitive man and pre historic art. 4. Group Dance and music scenes have been painted by primitive people to celebrate the festivities and recreation.
•  Daily life scenes are also drawn through which we come to know about the life style of that period.
•  Pet animals like dog, cow, horse etc are drawn like family members. Dogs are shown having chain around their neck.
•  Depiction of wild animals was one of the most liked subject of the primitive artist.
•  Warriors and horse riders are also drawn in abundance.
•  Religions festivities are also drawn for celebrations.

MATERIAL USED FOR PRE-HISTORIC PAINTINGS

Coloured earth, vegetable dyes, roots and animal fat had been used for these paintings which have been not faded after the dust and heat of thousands of years. Whatever colours man would gather from the nature he had tried to paint with the same. Mainly the red, yellow and white colours are used. Lines have been used that too with economy.

These colours were extracted from the local pigments found in earth like Geru and lime and the local rocks were the only picture space of primitive man. The colours were mixed with animal‟s fat and then applied on walls.

PAINTINGS

THE DANCE OF WIZARDS – BHIM BETHAKA

The scene of group dance shows that they did perform jungle ritual for their recreation. This is the earliest evidence of the development of music, dance and theatre and perhaps the use of masks also.

On one side a standing figure in the joyful mood and two more figures in the middle having masks with horns on the head can be seen. This could have been performing of some religious rituals or the witch doctor is dispelling evil spirit from a person.