Rare black rock art depictions found in Andhra Pradesh

Category
Art and culture
Published
3rd Jan, 2022

Context

In a recent finding, rare black stick-like drawings of human beings have been discovered in two caves at Paibogula village in Kurnool district close to the Kundu River in Andhra Pradesh.

About

Key-highlights of the Finding

These drawings are supposed to be dating back to the Megalithic Period (1500 to 500 BC) and early Historical period (500 BC to 600 AD).
These newly explored rock art sites in the Kundu river valley in Gadivemula Mandal are 40 km from Kurnool city.
These caves are locally known as Yedoorlagayi; Siddhulagayi, and Gurralapadah.
These sites have rock art in black, red, and white pigments, along with cupules or cup marks of varying sizes, which need to be studied further for the exact dating, he added.
These cupules were made on gneissic granite, a very hard and erosion-resistant rock type.
The largest of these measures 10 cm in diameter and 5 cm in depth.

What is Rock Art?

These rock art, drawing, painting, or similar work on or of stone, usually belonged from the ancient or prehistoric era.
Rock art includes pictographs (drawings or paintings), petroglyphs (carvings or inscriptions), engravings (incised motifs), petroforms (rocks laid out in patterns), and geoglyphs (ground drawings).
The ancient animals, tools, and human activities depicted often help shed light on daily life in the distant past, though the images are frequently symbolic rather than representative.

Painting	Detail
Madhubani painting (Mithila painting)	Originated in the Madhubani village of Bihar, this painting is done on walls, floors of holy places, canvases, etc. These brightly colored Madhubani paintings are characterized by their geometrical patterns and are widely practiced in the Madhubani district in Bihar.
Warli Paintings	This form of tribal art belongs to one of the major tribes, the Warlis, in Maharashtra. It mostly depicts the daily activities of the local people such as farming, dancing, praying, hunting, sowing, etc., and the elements of nature.
Kalamkari Painting	The Kalamkari art form is practiced in Andhra Pradesh and some villages in Tamil Nadu. Kalamkari usually depicts scenes from epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata, musical instruments, animals, Buddha and Buddhist art, flowers, and Hindu symbols like swastika. Kalamkari is an organic hand-printing or block-printing Indian folk art form. The painting is done using a Kalam or a bamboo reed on fabric and natural and earthy colors and vegetable dyes are used like indigo, green, rust, black, and mustard.
Gond Painting	This art form is Indian folk and tribal art. They are practiced by the people of the Gond community in Madhya Pradesh
Tanjore Painting (Thanjavur painting)	It is an ancient Indian folk art form that originated in the town of Thanjavur in South India.
Rajput Painting (Rajasthani paintings)	The Rajput paintings originated and flourished in the Rajputana royal courts in the state of Rajasthan around the 17th and 18th centuries. The main illustrations are the Hindu epics, Mahabharata and Ramayana, and scenes from Hindu mythology.
Mysore Painting	The Mysore painting has evolved in the Mysore city of Karnataka and employs thin gold leaves.