Rock art imageries, including the abundant heritage of megalithic monuments thickly congregated in different pockets of Central and Western India provide a vivid record of archaeo-astronomical belief systems, nurtured by the prehistoric societies by means of stone carvings, drawings and megalithic monuments, used as observatories or sites delineating astronomical orientation. Archaeo-astronomy is a branch of knowledge where, science, technology, prehistory and mythology all come together. Prehistoric societies in different pockets of India understood and appreciated equinoxes, solstices, novae and supernovae, constellations, zodiac, eclipses and shaped their world view including cosmogonical and mythological ideas accordingly as evidenced by various rock art motifs depicting sun, moon, lunar phases, other complex images like wavy and dashed lines, often associated with human burials, hunting, mating and battle scenes. The continuation of various astronomical symbols, particularly the Sun motif can be easily identified from Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Harappan and Megalithic pottery. This paper aims to review the existing framework of archaeo-astronomical research in India incorporating fresh data exclusively from Central Indian rock art exploring and debating the plausible ritual aspects in Indian rock art.

1. Ruman Banerjee
British Rock-art Group Symposium
Saturday 02 May 2015, Bristol

2. What is Archaeo-astronomy in Indian context?
Prehistoric societies in different pockets of India understood and appreciated
equinoxes, solstices, novae and supernovae, constellations, zodiac, eclipses
and shaped their world view including cosmogonical and mythological ideas
accordingly as evidenced by various rock art motifs depicting sun, moon, lunar
phases, other complex images like wavy and dashed lines, astral motifs often
associated with human burials, hunting, mating and battle scenes
Basic Principles after Vahia et. al, 2009
The planets moved relative to the stars.
The brightest stars were the easiest to spot.
We need Sun, Moon, Stars, meteors, comets and Planets + Keen Observation
through generations, below location of sunrise point over a period of one year

3. Research Questions
1.To conduct an intensive survey and documentation of Rock art sites related
to the concepts of archaeo-astronomy
2.To determine the point of sunrise and sunset during solstices and
equinoxes
3.To understand weather the painted rock-shelters have anything to do with
the circulation of sun, moon and seasons
4.To find the inter site similarities and differences
5.To determine the precise geographical coordinates of every site under
purview
6.To understand what are the astronomical symbols in Central Indian rock art
7.To delineate how rock-shelters and rock art are inextricably related?
8.To unpack what is the relation between astral motifs and other motifs and
how value addition takes place here
9.To demarcate the place of rituals in archaeo-astronomy?

4. Methodology
1.Detailed study of ancient monuments and sacred cities within their
cultural context, eg. Megalithic monuments, when related to sunrise and
sunset etc.
2.Simulation of ancient observations and situations, like novae and
supernovae etc.
3.Harappan script and pattern recognition
4.Rock art (paintings, engravings, Geoglyphs, Location and shape of
rock-shelters, Megalithic burials
5.Ethnography , oral compositions, , Mythology, written materials etc.
1. Rigorous literature review and Local consultation
2. Asking the right questions identifying the problems
3. Field work, Landscape system science and Landscape Geometry
4. Documentation, Cataloguing, comparison of the data
5. Excavation, Mapping, Model building, scientific input
6. Disseminate plausible answers for peer review and theoretical
framework

5. Study Region

6. Burzahama (5000-3,500 BP), Kashmir valley, India, Photo courtesy, IGNCA,
New Delhi, Apparently the engravings represent a hunting scene
Dataset, Literature review
and Comparison

7. Sky map showing the region of HB9 in 5,000 BP. to facilitate easy comparison with the
drawing, rough patterns drawn in the map. The large circle in the centre is the full
Moon in the month of August in roughly 5,000 BP, and the smaller damaged circle to its
left marks the position of HB9, after, Iqbal , et al., 2009, Journal of Astronomical History
and Heritage
Orion
Taurus
Cetus
Andromeda or Pegasus

8. Rock art from Liktse, Kashmir showing a super human controlling the
Sun and the Moon. © Indira Gandhi National Gallery of Art, New Delhi

9. Association of the Harappan seal with the Night sky at sunset at the
onset of Monsoon
Winter Solstice sunset
framed by two Menhirs at
Nilaskal in South India

10. Engraved Sun motif at Panchmukhi site, Mirzapur district, Courtesy,
IGNCA

11. Engraved Sun motif or floral
design? Example of a site from
Manipur, Photo courtesy, IGNCA
Painted Sun motifs or floral
design? Bedia rock-shelter at
Mirzapur district, India,
Dstretched, Photo by the
author

12. Direction of the Sun at sky is changing, Uraihava site, Mirzapur
District, Dstretched, Photo by the author

13. The Cosmos at Uraihava, Mirzapur district, Dstretched. Photo by the
author

14. In, Prehistoric Art of India, by E.
Neumayer, 2013
The author opined that these are
Megalithic period painting and engraving
without assigning any archaeo-
astronomical connotation
I argue that these are sun and moon
motifs, purposefully designed and
established on the rock surface

15. Landscape of Rock art at Bhilwara district in Rajasthan, Photo by the
author

16. Supernova explosion or ritualistic Sun motif
with infilled humans and animals, Dstretched
photo by the author

17. These rock-shelters never receive direct
sunlight throughout the year, although
they are open air sites, but the content
is hidden or the actual rock art is hidden
from direct sun rays and wind action

20. A hidden landscape, Sacred landscape based on the
movement of the sun

21. Rock-shelter in Bundi district, That doesn’t receive direct sunlight, represent
astral motifs and design element, Dstretched, photo by the author

22. Rock-shelters that receive direct
sunlight

23. Dstretched Astral motifs
from Bundi, Photo by the
author

25. Worshipping the Sun ?

27. Astral motifs or just decoration,
Dstretched, photo by the author,
Two different sites in Rajasthan
A constellation of stars or nebulae
associated with stylized Mesolithic
deers , Dstretched photo by the
author

28. Domestic decoration at a
multiethnic village in Bhilwara,
Rajasthan

29. Megalithic burial sites are also
important archaeo-
astronomical markers that
record the Sun’s movement
across the sky, Site Loicha,
Bhilwara district, Rajasthan,
Photo by the author

30. Barwadi Punkhri,
Courtesy, Mr. Bulu Imam
NAP, Photo courtesy, Mr. Bulu Imam
Megalithic monuments from Jharkhand, See
book, Antiquarian Remains of Jharkhand, by
Mr. Bulu Imam, 2014
Photo Courtesy: Mr. Subhasis
Das

31. ConclusionConclusion
1.Indian rock art is full of hunting, battle, household scenes. Art directly related
to archaeo-astronomy is rare
2.Study and in-depth research on Megalithic monuments and excavation of
burial sites might impart solid clues to understand the development of ancient
belief systems during the Neolithic-Chalcolithic
3.The analysis of rock art and relating motifs to different natural phenomena
invite stringent caution
4.However, the landscape of the art should be thoroughly researched and
sacred regions representing sacred rock art sites, hence ritualistic evidence
could be gathered and compared from different regions of India
5.The pursuit of archaeo-astronomy should be linked with ethnographic studies,
where the traditions of nature-worship are still very much alive
6.Last, but not the least; data, field-work, computation, algorithms, research
questions and final interpretations should be linked incisively, inclusively and
lucidly before making any conclusive claims

32. The setting of Two rock-shelters in the Bhilwara district of Rajasthan,
Photo by the author
Thank you very much for your kind attention