A review of my recent book Rock Art of the Vindhyas appearing in the latest issue of Man and Environment by Prof. V.H. Sonawane

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Man and Environment XLIII(1) – 2018
Among the many things that our ancestors left behind,
nothing is more evocative and exciting than their signatures
on rock. Painted and engraved walls of caverns, rock
shelters, and boulders present us an avenue to walk through
archaic expressions of human societies as well as their
cultural traditions by use of lines, forms, and colours. Rock
art is regarded as a purposeful modification of bare rock
surface to produce preconceived forms and images, both in
paintings and engravings. It can also be defined as ‘human
made markings placed on natural stone’. Its antiquity
ranges from the Palaeolithc to the Historic period. Rock
art is an important evidence of human creation through the
vicissitudes of time and space.
The spectrum of Indian rock art is vast in terms of
their thematic and stylistic contents. It is outstanding in
its magnitude, vividness, and richness. In some respect
it is unique in the world, forming an important part of
cultural heritage. This book deals with rock art of the
Vindhyas, one of the most important regions of the Indian
subcontinent. Several scholars such as Archibald Carlleyle,
John Cockburn, Manoranjan Ghosh, Bridget Allchin, R.K.
Varma, and Rakesh Tewari have contributed to the subject
and worked in this area.
The present volume is an outcome of the Indian
Council of Historical Research sponsored research project
titled “The Documentation and Analysis of the Rock Art
of Uttar Pradesh with Special Reference to the Rock Art of
Mirzapur District”. Considering the various shortcomings
of attempts made by earlier researchers, the author has
adopted a multi-disciplinary approach employing recent
trends in research methodology to fully understand the
potential of the area. This book is a kind of report of the
survey carried out, as the author highlights the merits of
his assessment of the rock art imagery, of the chosen study
area. It has nine chapters besides an acknowledgement,
glossary, bibliography and index.
Chapter 1 has provided an archaeological as well as
geographical overview of the Vindhyan region in order to
set up a background to discuss Vindhyan rock art. Here,
attention is paid to the Pleistocene climatic regimes and
their human and animal components. Chapter 2 deals
with the steps followed in this research. This chapter also
critically evaluates earlier works and its bearing upon the
present research. Chapter 3 provides a real-time account of
the field survey carried out since 2009 to locate old as well
as new rock art sites. The archaeology of each site, along
with its documentation is also included here. In chapter
4, the author has discussed the rock art imagery of sites
like Wyndham Falls, Likhania Dani, Chuna Dari, Mukkha
Dari, Morhana Pahar and Lekhania Pahar along with their
descriptive details. This chapter basically deals with the
discussion on post-depositional processes based on field
observations. It intends to promote better understanding
of the chronology, settlement and subsistence implications
of Vindhyan rock art besides prospects for its long term
survival. Chapter 6 talks about chronology. Here it
emerges that Mirzapur rock art is of a Late Pleistocene
age. The next chapter is related to a stylistic analysis
and a discussion of the useful categories into which
Vindhyan material may be quantitatively placed. Chapter
8 provides an interpretation to the Vindhyan rock paintings
by considering them as local expressions establishing
the gender and ethnicity of the concerned groups. A
critical synthesis of the data incorporated from earlier
chapters and a summary forms the concluding chapter in
which ethnoarchaeological insights based on Vindhyan
ethnography is also included.Though a century and a
half of rock art research has offered many explanations
to understand its purpose and meaning, most of the
earlier attempts were provisional; waiting for counter
logical convincing explanations. Here I appreciate Ajay
Pratap for his refreshing approach and a new trendsetting
methodology. Such works would certainly set a better
model for other regions to carry out similar projects. This
book can inspire younger rock art researchers to take up
similar problem-oriented research.
V. H. Sonawane
403, Subhadra Greens, Surya Vilas Society,
Opp. GERI Compound, Gotri,
Vadodara 390021
Email: vhsonawane@rediffmail.com
Rock Art of the Vindhyas: An Archaeological Survey
Ajay Pratap, 2016. Archaeopress, Oxford.