INDIAN ARCHAEOLOGY

A Historical view of Vindhyan Rock Art and its Significance
Illustrated lecture by Dr. Ajay Pratap, Senior Professor and former Head of the Dept. of History, Banaras Hindu University

Chair: Shri B.M. Pande

The lecture introduces the idea of rock paintings being not simply archaeological but also historical source material. This, it is argued, is because rock paintings continued to be the main means of symbolic recording of things and events, well-after scripts and writing came in being. The main common purpose of painting on rocks from prehistory to history, seems to be ‘remembering’, ‘commemorating’ and ‘memorializing’. The painted spaces constitutes socially and cognitively charged material which by means of being contemporary to the times of their creation is open to historical interpretation.