Bhimbetka: The wonder caves

Did you know that Bhimbetka is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that consists of 750 Rock Shelters that are spread over an area of 10 km? Wow! That’s a lot of caves! Also, these Rock Shelters feature prehistoric paintings, the oldest ones are around 100,000 years old! So, read on to find out more interesting facts about this amazing place.

The most recent paintings are from the medieval age and they depict schematic images of animals, birds and hunting. Using art, the caves depict the everyday life of the Paleolithic age and one can make out how people survived in that era. The name Bhimbetka comes from ‘Bhim betka’ meaning ‘sitting place of Bhima’,one of the Pandavas, the five sons of king Pandu and the queen Kunti, in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. This site was discovered by V.S Wakankar, Paleontologist of Vikram University, in 1957. 400 of these Rock Shelters are distributed over 5 hills that are decorated with paintings from the Paleolithic to the Medieval times.

The Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka lie in the Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh which is 45 km south of Bhopal. Among the colours in Bhimbetka, red and white are the most dominant and used mainly by the artists. Red colour was made from iron ore like, haematite. White came from a white clay called Kaolin and was also a common colour. Other colours like, green and yellow were used occasionally and were prepared from copper minerals and black was obtained from manganese and charcoal. Can you imagine that people at that time could make all this, without any high-tech equipments?

After reading the above information, we are sure you are excited to visit this amazing place. Before concluding, we have an exciting information to share which will make your journey more interesting. Did you know that there is a rock at Bhimbetka which is shaped like a turtle and another one like a tree growing on it! That’s it for now. All that is left is for you to go and explore! Are you ready to be awed?

Team members: Aadi, Abhay, Aisha, Ashley, Paarth, Samah and Sarah (The Shriram Millennium School, Noida).

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EdTerra Edventures conducts various other domestic programs for the youth. If you go to school and are under 17 years of age, ask your school to contact us to arrange a visit to your school for an introduction to the “Bhopal, Sanchi & Bhimbetka: The Heart of MP” and other journeys under EdTerra’s Going Global Program.

For queries call +91-11-48885800 or visit EdTerra Browse Journeys page to know more about the programs we offer to school students. Visit our Facebook page by clicking HERE.