WORLD CLASS ROCK ART IN KONKAN, INDIA:

Cow, Garge, Kulkarni, Apte, and Risbud,

2018, Photo used by permission.

On 4 May, 2019, in a posting titled "ANCIENT ROCK ART OF INDIA - THE WORLD'S EARLIEST?" I wrote "very early human occupation of the Indian sub-continent has been known for some time, and the Harappan civilization of the Indus River drainage was one of the earliest centers of city life in the world, almost rivaling the early civilizations of the Fertile Crescent. While we should have known to expect India to have a large amount of rock art they have sort of been off the rock art radar for quite some time. This is now being made up for with extensive scholarly studies of rock art on the sub-continent." (Faris 2019) And now, as if in response to this, we have this recent report on world class rock art from the southwest coast region of India known as Konkan.

Rhinoceros, Garge, Kulkarni, Apte,

and Risbud, figure 3, 2018. 

Photo used by permission.

"The western coastline of India encompassing coastal districts of Maharashtra, Goa, and Kamataka collectively known as Konkan, extends 720 kilometres north-south. Lying between the Arabian Sea to the west and the mountain ranges of Western Ghats to the east in the state of Maharashtra, Konkan includes the regions of Thane, Greater Mumbai, Raigarh, and Ratnagiri. Geographically this region is traversed by seasonal rivers that drain the heavy monsoonal rainfall from the crest of the Sahyadri Hills." (Garge et al. 2018:39)

Deer, Garge, Kulkarni, Apte,

and Risbud,  figure 4, 2018. 

Photo used by permission.

"Evidence of human existence during the prehistoric period is very limited in this region; however, there is continuous evidence of human settlement(s) throughout the historical, medieval and modern period." (Garge et al. 2018:40)

Elephant and many other animals,

Garge, Kulkarni, Apte, and Risbud, 

figure 4, 2018. 

Photo used by permission.

Rock art in this region had been intermittently reported from about 1990, but the first large scale systematic surveys were conducted by hobbyists (locals) from 1980 onward. Sudhir Risbud, later joined by Dhananjay Marathe and Surendra Thakudesai, explored the region and in 2010 formed a group called Unexplored Konkan to discover and record this rock art. Efforts snowballed as other locals became interested, and in 2018 the State Archaeology Department got involved and set up a fund for the study. "As of January 2019 there have been 52 confirmed and explored sites, and over 1,000 petroglyphs discovered. A further 16 sites have been confirmed but (have) yet to be fully explored and recorded." (Standage 2019) 

Elephant, Garge, Kulkarni, Apte,

and Risbud,  figure 4, 2018. 

Photo used by permission.

"They are spread almost over 170 km in length and 25 km in width in a straight line along the coast. After documenting these, they are classified into six categories as under:
Animal figures - Herbivores such as elephants, rhinos, deer family animals, pig, rabbit, buffalo, wild boar, monkey, etc. and carnivores like tiger, etc.
Birds - Peacock and large unidentified bird species.
Aquatic animals - Shark, stingray, and many more unidentified species of fish.
Amphibious animals - such as tortoise, alligators, etc.
Anthropomorphs - Human figures including mother goddess like figures.
Abstract - Various geometrical patterns." (Garge et al. 2018:42)

You will notice that the larger than life elephant in the fourth illustration, as well as the smaller one by the end of his trunk, appear to have their ears raised above their heads. Raised, flapping ears in an elephant is supposedly a sign of anger and I wonder if this is an attempt to portray the emotion of the subject of the petroglyph, the elephant.

Garge, Kulkarni, Apte, and Risbud,

 figure 10, 2018. 

Photo used by permission.

Garge, Kulkarni, Apte, and Risbud,

 figure 11, 2018. 

Photo used by permission.

There are also complicated geometric patterns that reminded me immediately of Rangoli designs like those created for Diwali and other Hindu festivals.

Rangoli design, Wikipedia,

Public Domain.

"Rangoli is an art form, originating in the Indian subcontinent, in which patterns are created on the floor or the ground using materials such as colored rice, dry flour, colored sand or flower petals. Designs are passed from one generation to the next, keeping both the art form and the tradition alive." (Wikipedia) While the main purpose of Rangoli designs is decoration, they are also thought to bring good luck, and they are traditionally done by the women of the family. (Wikipedia)

It would appear that the petroglyphs reported so far are only the beginning, and that we can hope to see considerably more wonderful rock art from India in the future.


NOTE: I want to thank Rhutvij R. Apte and his co-authors for their work, and for providing their paper and photos, and cooperating with RockArtBlog on this report. Check it out at the address below. Also, the reference above to Rangoli designs is wholly mine, this is not from their report.

REFERENCE:

Faris, Peter
2019 Ancient Rock Art of India - The World's Earliest?, https://rockartblog.blogspot.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangoli

Standage, Kevin
2019 The Konkan Petroglyphs - Introduction, March 14, 2019, https://kevinstandagephotography.wordpress.com

Tejas M. Garge, B.V.Kulkarni, Rhutvij R. Apte, and Sudhir Risbud
2018 Petroglyphs in Konkan: Historiography, Recent Discoveries, and Future Endeavours, Purakala 2018, Volume 27-28, pages 39-47.