Unexplored
Rock Art Site of Manpur Village
Dr.
Nitesh Kumar Mishra1, Anshu Mala Tirkey2, Baleshwar Kumar3Besra
1Assistant
Professor, SoS in AIHCA, Pt. RaviShankar Shukla University, Raipur (C.G.)
2Research
Scholar SoS in AIHCA, Pt. RaviShankar Shukla University, Raipur (C.G.)
3MA.
In Archaeology & Museology (RU)
Abstract
This
paper basically consists of the analysis of the unexplored rock art of Manpur
village. The village consists of three rock art sites namely Bamhni Pahar,
Barda Chhhapa and Daldaliya Pahar. There will be detailed study of the figures
present in these rock arts. Manpur village consists of various tribal
communities namely Cherwa, Gond, Agaria and Korwa. The village consists of huge
population of the people of Cherwa tribe. According to the villagers this tribe
hasbeen worshiping in this site from generation to generation. There will be
detailed information about the rites and rituals of Cherwa tribe. The study of
these rock arts will enrich the history and chronology of the Balrampur
district.
Keywords–
pictograph, petroglyph, geoglyph,
prehistory, tribes, amphibians, aquatic, Barda Chhapa, Daldaliya Pahar, Bamhni
Pahar
Geographical features
Balrampur district lies on the northern part
of Chhattisgarh state. Balrampur district is located 27º25´48´´ N 82º10´48´´E
in the northern part of Chhattisgarh. The district is surrounded by the
neighboring state Surguja, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. There
are six blocks in Balrampur district namely - Balrampur block, Ramchandrapur
block, Rajpur block Shankargarh block, Kusmi block and Wadrafnagar block. The
district consists of Satpuda hill ranges, which covers a large part of the
region. There are various mountains present in district namely Bhurunda
mountain, Ghatoria mountain, Khadaoli mountain and Mahadani mountain etc. The
main rivers which flow in this region are Chanan River, Kanhar River, Madhuri
River, Sonsu River, Iradha River and Sukhaien River.
Manpur village lies in Wadrafnagar block of
Balrampur district. This village is situated 25km away from sub-district
headquarter. The main river which flow in this region is Moran River. The
Manpur village is surrounded by mountain ranges. The village has abundant of
flora and fauna. The abundant of flora and fauna make the life possible of the
people in this region from prehistoric time till today.
1. Introduction
Prehistory
consists of the history of ancient man, there tools and their artistic skills.
The art made on the rocks by the prehistoric man was known as rock arts. The
prehistoric man was fond of making paintings with natural color. The early man
has the skill of making colors with natural herbs and used these colors for
paintings. The rock arts are basically of three types like pictograph,
petroglyph and geoglyph. Pictograph means the figures made by the colors like
red, yellow, blue and white etc. the pictographs are made on the ceilings and
wall of the rocks. Petroglyph means the
figures made by carving or engraving whereas in geoglyph the figures are made
on the ground (rocks).¹ The rock arts were the form of art which was used by
the prehistoric man to express their feelings. The rock arts consist of the
hunting scene, their rituals, dance form, domestication, reproduction and
depiction of wild animals, amphibians and aquatic animals.² The depiction of
wild animals shows the availability of those animals in the region. and all the
depiction of various figures throws light on the knowledge of the prehistoric
man.
2. Literary
review
Numerous
rock art has been discovered in the Chhattisgarh region. Many research scholars
have work in this field. The first rock art was discovered in 1910 in Raigarh
district, the Singhanpur site. The site of Singhanpur was discovered by CW
Anderson. ³ In Chhattisgarh region more 100 rock arts sites were discovered.
The district of Chhattisgarh like Jashpur, Durg, Keskal, Surguja and Bastar consists
of numerous rock art. Some important rock arts discovered by different experts
are Kulgaon, Alor, Guraoudi, Khairkheda, Gotitola, Sita ramguda, Udkhuda,
Kanhagaon and Chandeli. Likhaarra, Rengle, Jaimarga and Tamta consists rock
arts in Jashpur region. Manoranjan Ghosh have also discovered rock arts in
Raigarh district.⁴These rock arts consists animals figurines, anthropomorphic
figure, palm prints and geometrical designs. “Dancing elements of Indian rock
art painting with special reference to Chhattisgarh, in Kosala”2008 by
Kulbhushan Mishra. The author has discussed about the dance form depicted on
the rock arts. “Sarangarh Tahsil ke Chitrit Shailashraya” was a paper written
by Bharti Shorti, has shed light on the magnificent rock arts of Sarangarh and
Raigarh in 2009.
3. Aim
of study
The
prehistoric rock art will play an important role in the chronological history
of Balrampur district. In the area of Balrampur region there was no research
work done in the field of prehistoric rock art, so this research will add a new
chapter to the history of Balrampur district. The study of rock arts in
Balrampur district is very beneficial for the state, research scholars and
historians.
4. Research
Methodology
This
research paper consist of primary data, excessive field work has been done.
Documentation work also has been done of this site. The rites and rituals have
been discussed in this paper, which is still followed by the tribal people.
5. Analysis
The
Bamhni Pahar is located in Manpur village Wadrafnagar block. The Bamhani
Mountain consists of a prehistoric rock, its longitude and latitude is
23º42´58.57´´ and 83º23´4.23´´. The site is situated around 2 km away from the
residential place of the village. The river Moran flows from one side of the
mountain. Chengla Mountain is present on the other side of the river. The rock
art is present on the red sand stone mountain (the sand stones are
siliciclastic sedimentary rocks that consist mainly of sand size grains,
bounded together). The site is on the top of the mountain and it seems like a
watch tower. The shelter is facing towards the south direction. The rock art
site consists of the pictograph. The rock art is drawn in the shelter (kandra).
All the figures are drawn in yellow color. The rock art consist of only wild
animals. The rock art basically consists of the figure of deer and one bull.
All the deer are in standing position. The deer’s are 12 in numbers. The deer’s
are depicted by the line drawing. The measurements of the deer’s are, height
×length ×bread 12×16×6.5cm, 13×19×6.5 cm, 14×19×8cm, 12×20×7 cm, 11×20×4.5 cm,
13×20×6 cm, 13×20×7 cm, 11×19×6 cm, 10×21×6 cm, 11×17×5 cm, 11×20×8 cm, 5.5×15×9 cm. The rock art also consists of
a figure of bull, measuring 17×25×8 cm. There were many deer’s drawn in this
painting, but due to natural calamities the figures are being destroyed and
color is getting faded.
6. Barda
Chhapa
Next
rock art site is located in Barda Chhapa Pahar. The latitude and longitude of
this site is 23º44´4.44´´ north and 83º23´13.19´´ east. This rock art site is
situated around 4 km from the residential place. The shelter is facing towards the south
direction. Charpania is the river which flows near by the mountain. The rock
art is painted on the red sand stone mountain. The rock art consists of the
pictograph and petroglyphs. The rock art consists of the petroglyph, which
consists of human figurine whose hand is hanging down wards. The next figures
are geometrical design, snake and three geometrical designs. The geometrical
designs are rectangle in shape, inside the design there are three vertical
lines and in each column triangle design is made. Apart from petroglyphs,
pictographs are made in red color. The pictograph consists of humped bull and a
human. The figure depicts the rela dance form; people are holding the hands of
each other and dancing in group. The rock art consist of a human with head
gear, he is standing on the horse. Hunting scene is also depicted in this rock
art, a man holding bow and arrow. There are figures of humped bulls and deer.
There is an unidentified figure, looks like a comb. “H” like figure is also
depicted in this painting. Painting also consists of the figure of human,
standing erect. This site consists of five cup marks as the associated material
along with these paintings.
7. Daldaliya
Pahar
Thenext
rock art is present in Daldaliya Pahar, village Manpur. The latitude and
longitude of this site is 23º44´17.99´´ north and 83º24´54.05´´ east. The rock
art shelter is facing towards the west. The main river which flows near the
mountain is Daldaliya river. The rock art consists of pictographs like animal
figurine, aquatic animals, human figurine and geometrical designs. The
paintings are made in red color, yellow color and blue color. The animal
figurine consists of deer (Cervidae), Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), leopard
(Panthera pardus), monkey (Cercopithecidae) and swamp deer (Rucervus
duvaucelii). In these paintings on deer
is depicted as grazing while the swamp deer are depicted in herds. These deer’s
are drawn in red color. A Nilgai is drawn in yellow color and outline is made
by red color and another Nilgai is drawn in red color. The monkeys are drawn in red color; they are
depicted as jumping on branches of trees.
The leopard is drawn in yellow color. There are amphibians like
tortoises in red color. There is an aquatic animal fish, which is drawn in blue
color. Apart from animals there are figures of human in red, yellow and blue
colors. The human made in blue color are doing rela. There are geometrical designs
in red color. There are also the designs made in red color which looks like
grass, which are around 15 in number
8. The
rituals of tribal community
The
main tribal community in Manpur village is Cherwa tribe. The village consists
of the Baiga’s of the Cherwa tribe. There is the tradition of worshipping the
mountains (known as ‘Pat’ puja) among the tribal communities. The tribal people
enchant the name of that mountain which consists of rock arts. The ethnic
people worshiped the place of rock arts (they believed that these rock arts and
the place belongs to their ancestors) when they were nomadic people. But when
the ethnic people started living settled life they worshiped their ancestors at
home or they give place to their ancestors on the slope of the mountains.
The
Pat puja is done by the baiga of the village once in a year. On the day of
worship the baiga do fasting and early in the morning he goes to have bath in
the river. The baiga wear new dhoti and carry water in the pot to the worship
place. baiga plaster the worship place with the cow dung. They give place to
the various pat devta and keep arwa rice in their name. They lit dhup dhuwan in
khapra during the puja. They enchant the name of their ancestors. The baiga
offer tapaan (mahuwa) to the god. The baiga scatter wet arwa rice on the floor;
if the animal eats the rice then they sacrifice the animal (goat like parsa and
golwa), (cock like golwa, kasseri, teli and kariya) for the devta’s. The head
part is eaten by the baiga whereas the remaining part is eaten by the people.
In the pat puja women are not allowed only men participate in this puja. Not
only this, the tribal people have there on art (paintings), which is drawn in
different ceremonies. The designs of the tribal art are similar to the designs
present in rock arts. To understand the reality of the rock arts it is
necessary to understand the arts of tribes.⁵
9. Conclusion
During
the exploration of the Manpur village, we came to know that, the prehistoric
man lived here for longer period of time. The village Manpur is geographically
very rich, it consists of mountains, rivers and forests. These natural
resources attracted the prehistoric man to stay here. The mountain provided
those natural shelters, the rivers fulfil their need of water and the forests
provided them various plants and animals as food for their growth. This village
consists of the rock arts namely Bamhni Pahar, Barda Chapa and Daldaliya pahar.
These painting gives us the knowledge about the fauna of the forests like the
wild animals namely deer, swamp deer leopard, monkey, Nilgai and humped bull.
Apart from this there were availability of amphibians and aquatic animals like
tortoise and fish.
These
rock art paintings will add a new history to the historical chronology of Balrampur.
And it will also be beneficial for the history of northern Chhattisgarh. The
study of the rock arts will enlightens the relation and importance of rock arts
with tribal communities. But these rock arts are getting destroyed by the
natural calamities. And it is necessary to protect these rock arts as these
rock arts are getting ruined.
Reference
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Ghosh A, “An Encyclopedia of Indian Archaeology”, Munsiram
Manoharlal Publisher Pvt. Ltd. ICHR New Delhi, (1989), pp281
[2].
Pandey Jai Narayan, “Puratatwa Vimarsh”, Prachaya Vidhya Sansthan,
Allahabad, (1983), pp324
[3].
Kumar Giriraj, “Rock Art of India”, Sharda Publishing House, New
Delhi, (2015), pp21
[4].
Kumar Giriraj, “Rock Art of India”, Sharda Publishing House, New
Delhi, (2015), pp22
[5].
Chakraverty Somnath, “Early Rock Art and Tribal Art in India”, B.R.
Publishing Corporation, New Delhi, (2018), pp161