I recently had an occasion to visit Bhimbetka 45 km
from Bhopal on Hoshangabad Road in Madhya Pradesh.
It is a magnificent repository
of rock paintings within a number of natural
rock shelters. It symbolizes a blending
of antiquity, art and environment. This contiguous
area conserves all the phases of the
earliest settlement of man, of which, some
are visible on the surface in the form of
paintings from Mesolithic to the Mediaeval
era and some are hidden under the
undisturbed layers from the Paleolithic to
the historical periods, as evidenced by
archaeological surveys. Bhimbetka, a rare
‘living site’ in its natural environment is
unique not only because of its prosperity
in art and antiquity, but also because it has
not remained concealed in the darkness
of time. The area is surrounded by dwellings
of tribes, mainly Gond adivasis.
These caves and the paintings were first came to limlight when
30 years back a gentleman named Vishnu accidentally
discovered the site. The place is also associated with Mahabharat period.
It is believed that during their Banbas Pandav Putra stayed
in the area. The place is called ‘Bhimbetka’ because
legend goes that it was ‘sitting
place of Bhim’, the strongest among the Pandavputras.
According to local dwellers, some of the paintings
and impressions of palms in the rock
shelters of Bhimbetka were made by the
Pandavas during their banishment. a spectacular ancient
rock site suddenly came into limelight in
the year 2002, when it was included in the
list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.
It encompasses an area of 12,172 ha with a core
of 1832 ha, and falls within Ratapani Wildlife
Sanctuary. The santuary is full of wild cats, bisons, boar, deer
and other animals.
As the cultural core is surrounded by a
rich cover of primeval forest, it forms an
integral part of environment and biodiversity.
The forest is typically of tropical
dry deciduous type dominated by
Wrightia tinctoria R. Br., Holarrhena
pubescens (Buch.-Ham.) Wall. ex G. Don,
Mitragyna parviflora (Roxb.) Korth. and
Chloroxylon swietenia DC. in drier places
and Syzygium heyneanum (Duthie) Wall.
ex Gamble and Terminalia arjuna (Roxb.
ex DC.) Wt. & Arn. along the streams.
The forest communities are frequently interrupted
by scrub jungles, grassy localities
and also barren sites, which are often
occupied by huge flattened boulders. The
forest shelters a number of valuable medicinal
and other economically potential
plants and wild animals, predominantly a
variety of insects and rodents. Ironically,
the denudation of natural forest cover and
illicit felling of trees continue to be a
problem, though the Department of Forests
attempts to enforce strict protection.
The loss of tree cover would directly affect
the rock shelters and paintings, because
trees provide the essential buffer to them.
A majority of the tribal populace derives
its sustenance and livelihood from the forest.
A vast amount of knowledge on the multifarious
uses of plants is preserved among
these societies through folklore. Herds of
livestock are seen to roam freely within
the protected areas, which causes enormous
loss to biodiversity. Over-exploitation of
valuable medicinal plants by traders through
local adivasis has resulted in a decline in
the population of several medicinal plants
of high potential. Thus it is time to take
stock of existing biodiversity with a conservation
perspective.
National Botanical Research Institute,
Lucknow has been entrusted with the task
to study the floristic diversity of Bhimbetka
forest, including lower plants like
lichens, Bryophytes and Pteridophytes
and to assess the economic potential. A
preliminary survey was conducted from
9 to 12 July 2004, with co-operation and
financial assistance from the Archaeological
Survey of India, Bhopal. To conserve a
large complex site such as Bhimbetka, a
holistic approach and a time-targetted management
plan is necessary so that its multidimensional
characters could be retained
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