I was lucky to have visited this place at all because I didn’t even know about it when I went to Bhopal a few years back. It was a chance meeting with a fellow tourist in a café who introduced me to this place’s existence. Her enthusiasm and sense of fulfillment she derived from her trip to Bhimbetka aroused my curiosity too! It was convenient to accommodate too as it is only 46 km from the city, only a day’s excursion. So, early next morning I took the local bus to Bhimbetka and what a marvelous short trip it was. Bhimbetka is located right in the middle of a tropical forest which is home to an amazing variety of flora & fauna. Unbelievable that it’s only 46 km from the state capital.

1. Celebrate India - World Heritage Day
Revisiting Bhimbetka on World Heritage Day
With people from such incomparable backgrounds, languages in so many scripts, food with
such myriad flavors, clothes with such contrasting designs, cultures with no commonalities and
a history going farther back than anyone else’s in the entire world, words like diverse, unique,
mysterious, and ancient seem like such understatements when used to describe this fascinating
place we call India. However, this blog is about a place that is famous for none of the above.
The mysterious and magical destination I am talking about is the World Heritage site
of Bhimbetka rock
shelters, located in
the Raisen district,Madhya Pradesh. The site is beyond ancient; it’s pre-historic and is popular
for its cave paintings that exhibit the earliest traces of human life in India. And, I am not talking
about a few thousand years, I am talking about a beauty that is anywhere between 30,000 to
1,00,000 years old. Ya! Try wrapping your brains around that one; took me a while too.
I was lucky to have visited this place at all because I didn’t even know about it when I went
to Bhopal a few years back. It was a chance meeting with a fellow tourist in a café who
introduced me to this place’s existence. Her enthusiasm and sense of fulfillment she derived
from her trip to Bhimbetka aroused my curiosity too! It was convenient to accommodate too as
it is only 46 km from the city, only a day’s excursion. So, early next morning I took the local bus

2. to Bhimbetka and what a marvelous short trip it was. Bhimbetka is located right in the middle
of a tropical forest which is home to an amazing variety of flora & fauna. Unbelievable that it’s
only 46 km from the state capital.
As for the cave paintings themselves I just can’t say enough that is why I’m not going to. But, it
should suffice to say that they are the closest depictions of events that took place during a
period of time about which they are the only recorded evidence. There are hundreds of
paintings but neither will you be able to see them all in one day nor will you be allowed to, for
fear that people might tamper with them or damage them. However, there are plenty still that
are open for viewing to general public but from a small distance.
I had seen cave paintings before this one but not from that time period. That is why it was truly
captivating. The paintings were no great works of art but they were great when seen in context
of the time in which they were painted. They were crude representations of the cave dweller’s
life and rituals, usually depicting hunting, dancing, animal fighting, horse riding, along with
many animals like tigers, elephants, horses, wild bears, antelopes etc. I realized that many of
the paintings were overlapping others which seemed to be even older but what was most
fascinating was how the colour still survived on the rocks.
I wish I could spend more time elaborating my experience but hey my job is just make you a
little bit more aware and a whole lot more curious. Therefore, I will finish right here because
after this there is not much to tell because that’s where the trip ended and I went back with the
bus to the city.
I shall take your leave now,
Until next time,
Travel safe and Travel Happy,
Ciao.