Bhimbetka Caves, India

About 45 kms from Bhopal, and often ignored by Indians, lie the Bhimbetka Caves. A world Heritage Site, these caves exhibit the earliest traces of life in India. Analyses show they exhibit life in existence here over 100,000 years ago. Decked with stone age rock-paintings, some of these are analysed to be over 30,000 years old.

The name itself means “Sitting place of Bhim (Mahabharata)”.

The entire area is covered by thick vegetation, has abundant natural resources in its perennial water supplies, natural shelters, rich forest flora and fauna, and bears a significant resemblance to similar rock art sites such as Kakadu National Park in Australia, the cave paintings of the Bushmen in Kalahari Desert, and the Upper Paleolithic Lascaux cave paintings in France. Out of the 700 identified shelters in the world, about 240+ are in Bhimbetka. The smooth shape of the rocks has led some explorers to believe they may have been underwater once.

The rock shelters and caves of Bhimbetka have a number of interesting paintings which depict the lives and times of the people who lived in the caves, including scenes of childbirth, communal dancing and drinking, and religious rites and burials, as well as the natural environment around them, apart from hunting, dancing, music, horse and elephant riders, animal fighting, honey collection, decoration of bodies, disguises and masking and household scenes.