Well, it is really hard to tell because
even learned men of science have been searching for an answer for
centuries, and still cannot give you an accurate answer. It is that
difficult.
Opinions of these men of great learning
differ. Some say man existed even 500,000 years ago. Some say they have
proof of man’s presence on our earth some40,000 years ago.
Not only the scientists but
archaeologists, zoologists, anthropologists and many others have been
trying to search and find links to the man’s past. How do these people
go about tracing the history of mankind? There were no books or written
documents, because there was no paper or language or the written word.
Lets first peep into the past and try to visualise our ancestor’s
behaviour and lifestyle.
Perhaps the oldest need of man after
food and water, clothing, shelter and procreation was to express himself.
Before language was born he either made guttural sounds from his throat to
communicate or used signs and symbols. But it was not enough.
Nature was the first teacher of man. It
created for him fear, respect and love for it and taught him ho to advance
in life, to become what he is today-good or bad, wise or foolish.
The noise of thunder, the flash of
lightening the soothing sound of the waterfalls and the banshee music of
the wind blowing through the woods, all influenced man’s mind. He not
only saw and observed his creator but also wanted to play along with and
be a part of it. Like nature he too was both creative and destructive.
For timing, he turned his ear to nature
and stomped his feet and moved his limbs to create dance. By modulating
sounds from his throat or by beating of two objects and later, strumming
strings, made from the guts of animals that he killed, he created music,
but he still wanted to find ways of expression, so he also drew and
painted.
Painting and drawing are the oldest arts
practised by human beings. The pre-historic man used the cave walls as his
canvas.
He also drew and painted perhaps to
depict his surroundings or to keep a visual record of the important events
in his life perhaps his effort to paint his history on cave walls was like
our writing a daily dairy.
Scientists believe that the man of stone
age (the time when he used stone weapons) lived in caves using these rock
shelters to protect them from rain, thunder, cold and scorching heat. They
also believe, and have discovered evidences to prove that these cave
dwellers were tall, strong and possessed brains larger than those of many
savage to fight the natural dangers and also run a race for his life with
an angry mammoth, a wooly rhinoceros, a dinosaur or a pack of wild boars.
While hunting the raindeer, the wild horse, bull or a bison he was himself
hunted inturn by the cave-bear, lions and other wild beasts inhabiting the
surroundings.
Yes, these early men found time to draw
and paint some excellent pictures. The walls of many caves around the
world are full of pictures of finely carved and painted pictures of
animals which the cave dwellers hunted. They also drew human figures other
human activities, geometric designs and symbols.
Scientists have learnt a lot about the
early history of man by exploring old cave shelters. They dig into the
buried by the mud of ancient floods and sand from the damp walls. They dig
farther to find another layer of bones and weapons telling of a still more
ancient people. In these layers they also find remains (bones) of strange
animals which have now disappeared from the face of this Earth. And out of
these remains and what man drew on the cave walls, the story of the men of
those ages is woven together bit by bit by the patient scientists who
bring these relics to light.
The early man has left many a traces of
his art on rock, be it figures drawn with charcoal or paintings made from
colours prepared from a stone called haemetite, from the colours extracted
from plants or engravings carved on stone. The paintings made with
charcoal or colours are called ’pictographs’ while abraded paintings
(The early man was clever enough to draw an outline of figures and rub the
unpainted area with another stone for the figures to stand out on stone
used as background for his paintings) are known as ‘petroglyphs’.
These pictographs and petroglyphs help
us to understand about the early man, his life style, his food habits, his
daily work and activities and above all it helps us understand his
mind-the way he thought.
It seems that apart from his needs,
these men living in caves certainly had a sense of beauty and hence of
art. After the discovery of these paintings and drawings their discoverers
called, them ‘Rock paintings and ‘cave carvings’.
Thankfully today it is accepted and
known as rock art. It is also included in the study of the arts.
It is indeed surprising that this rock
art of the early man was still practised by some cultures a couple of
decades back and continues to be practised even today in certain remote
places in the world.
It is even more surprising that the
first discovery of the stone age rock paintings was made in India itself
in 1867-68.
An archaeologist, Archibald Carlleyle
found some paintings in Uttar Pradesh. He had earlier dug up the physical
and cultural remains of these men from many such rock shelters. Thus, not
only the first pre-historic paintings were discovered in India but the
idea of their prehistoric nature was also born.
Although first specimens of rock art
dating back to the stone age also called the Mesolithic stage, were found
in India, yet the earliest record of rock art was discovered in India, yet
the earliest record of rock art was discovered in Australia in 1796-97 but
they were found to be made only in 1803. Despite the initial discovery of
rock art in India, for some reason it’s study did not make enough
progress for a almost a century and quarter. Many experts on Rock art
around the world did not even know till recently of the rich treasure of
Indian rock art.
It is said that there is a purpose, a
reason behind whatever man does. Of course it is not always possible for
people around to make sense of it immediately. It sometimes has taken ages
for mankind to understand, to solve the riddle as to why man acted in a
certain manner, Why did he draw these pictures?
It is not as if rock art had not been
noticed by people before. It only received a passing glance. In fact,
people did not understand the importance of the early man’s work. In due
course of time, man today has himself taken the lid off from a great
ancient art.
Rock art has inspired us to use this
invaluable data for our own research and learning about so many areas of
knowledge both of the arts and the sciences.
There is a small story about how men
later learnt to use these paintings for records and learning. There is a
rock art site in the Garhwal region of Northern Uttaranchal which is known
as Gwarkhiya-Udyar which means ‘The cave of the Gurkhas’. Now Gurkhas
are a martial race of Nepal some of whom migrated and settled in the
kumaon-Garwhal region.
There is no ‘Udyar’ of cave here as
such, but only a rocky recess. In fact the recess in the rock hangs from
eight meteres height linked to a massive boulder. Scholars and scientists
have wondered why the early man chose to paint on a rock at such an
uncomfortable position. It was much later, in the 19th century
that the Gurkhas-who had then begun to set up their own domain in the
kumaon hills had seen these cave paintings. They then painted similar
figures to serve as their sign posts or markings for the future wondering
Gurkha soliders.
The paintings of the early man at
Gwarkhyaudyar were perhaps made at these elevated position for people to
be able to notice them from a distance.
There is another legend about the way
people used caves to paint and record events. ‘Lakhu Udyar’ near
Almora in Uttrakhand is another famous rock art site. The name means
’Hundred Thousand caves’. It was here that two marriage parties had
once crossed their paths. There is a local superstition that a marriage
procession should never meet another particularly of the bride’s or
groom’s on the way. If it does, then bad luck befalls on both. In the
above case, members of the two processions got into an argument and it led
to a fierce battle. After the fight was over and a lot of blood was shed,
both the parties decided to paint the walls of the surrounding cave with
their blood. They did so to mark the event and let others know of the
bloody out come of such meetings.
The Indian rock art, unlike the European
rock art has more human figures whereas in Europe it seems the early man
chose to draw and paint more animal figures than his own species.
With the passage of time, some of these
paintings and carvings got faded and some were hidden beneath the
different layers of sand, and mud, which kept on despositing over the
walls of caves and hardened with time and changing climatic conditions.
When researchers began to study this art they realised that what they were
seeing was not one picture painted at one periods of many pictures drawn
and painted at different periods of time. Even today many artistes paint
one picture on their canvas and after some time, if they are not satisfied
or happy with it, they apply another layer of paint to ‘rub’ out the
first painting and re-use the canvas for a new idea. Actually, the first
painting is never erased. It stays under another layer of paints. This way
a single painted frame can have several pictures hidden underneath the
different layers of paints.
