Green Images in Indian Rock Art

Abstract

In India, particularly in central India, a large number of early images were created using green pigments. Within the green images or images in the earliest style, one can see that some extremely naturalistic animal figures were made with green and dark red, and rarely in a polychrome (green, red and yellow) style. Only a few images have survived. The human figures, represented in a typical S shape in a smaller size or with an S-twist body in single outline, are highly artistic and very dynamic figures. The figures are mostly represented as dancers. Wakankar found green pigment in the Upper Paleolithic levels in Bhimbetka, and hence these images were put in the Upper Paleolithic period. These green images mainly exist in rock art sites in the surroundings of Bhimbetka in the Raisen, Sehore and Vidisha districts.

1. Introduction

Many rock art sites in India have been found in the central Indian sandstone regions. Indian rock art has been studied for more than a century. An Englishman, Archibald Carlyle, first noticed rock paintings in 1867, and John Cockburn, in 1881, visited painted sites in the Kaimur range (district of Mirzapur). C. A. Silberrad (1907), C.W. Anderson (1918), B. Allchin (1958), D. H. Gordon (1939) and M. Ghosh (1932) also worked on Indian rock art sites. From 1957 to 1987, V.S. Wakankar discovered many such sites all over India. In particular, he discovered and excavated Bhimbetka, where he revealed stratified sequences from the Lower Paleolithic to Early Historic times (Wakankar and Brooks 1976). The Bhimbetka rock art site is a group of rock art sites in Madhya Pradesh that was put on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2003 (Dubey-Pathak 2014).

The Indian sub-continent contains thousands of painted and engraved shelters and boulders. They appear all over the country (Figure 1), but particularly in its center, in Madhya Pradesh state. The orthoquartzitic sandstone of the Vindhya Hills exists in horizontally deposited layers, which were warped and broken by later tectonic movements of the earth’s crust. These broken and warped sandstone plates, whose different hard layers are exposed in erosional gorges or in tectonically caused breaks, form inclining hills and table lands that constitute a common feature of the central Indian landscape. Central India is the richest zone of Prehistoric rock art in India, and the Vindhya Hills, Kaimur Hills, and Satpura Hills are well known for rock art. The Betwa source region is the core region for Indian rock art, near Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. Hundreds of painted shelters (Figure 2) have been found here. Rock art sites in India have mostly been found in the central Indian sandstone regions. The hills are formed of sandstone, which weathers relatively fast to form rock shelters (Figure 3) and caves. They are located in the dense forest and were ecologically ideal for occupation by early people. The earliest rock art in India reflects the lifestyle of the hunting and gathering people of the late Stone Age. Human–animal relations are at the very center of this art. The animal figure in Mesolithic rock art is drawn in a more naturalistic form and the human figure is in a more abstract form. As per Wakankar, green paintings belong to the Upper Paleolithic period. After excavating at Bhimbetka, he found that Upper Paleolithic assemblages had a lower percentage of geometric microlith types than the later Mesolithic assemblages, and he found green nodules in microlith-bearing strata which also had a low percentage of geometric types. Green images have only been seen in the earliest phase. After the Upper Paleolithic or early Mesolithic, we have not found any green-colored images.

At the end of the Ice Age, the Prehistoric period, also called Mesolithic, would last from perhaps 10,000/8000 BC (?) to 2500 BC. The Protohistoric period, from perhaps 2500 BC to 300 AD, is also called Neolithic/Chalcolithic. It is characterized by the depiction of agricultural activities, in particular plowing, and domestic animals. The images from that period are more difficult to attribute to a particular culture as many of the motifs (men with bows and arrows, hunting scenes, dancing) existed before and would continue to be represented later. The third period, called Historic, would last from 300 to 800 AD. Later, the Late Historic or Medieval period, post-Gupta, whose chronology is more assured thanks to the presence of particular weapons (the style of the swords, for example), would last from 800 to 1300 AD. The paintings differ from those of the earlier periods in both subject and style. They include inscriptions; symbols; various animals, including camels; bullock carts; archers; scenes with fighters using shields; and elephant and horse riders, with the animals sometimes heavily caparisoned and the warriors using metal weapons. The paintings are in a much better state of preservation than those belonging to earlier periods on which they are often superimposed. Painting in shelters has never stopped. Some “Historical” figures can here and there be attributed to the 19th century, and others (handprints, crude figures) were even made in the past decades. In some remote areas, geometric motifs or religious symbols are still painted nowadays (Dubey-Pathak and Clottes 2021). Madhya Pradesh thus enjoys quite favorable geographic conditions for an excellent Prehistoric and historic life and culture.

Three main techniques have been used for creating images on the rocks in India: painting, engraving and carving. When painting, one applies a pigment of whatever color onto the rock surface. The most frequent colors chosen are generally red ochre and white, but they can occasionally be brown, black, yellow or green. Their choice depends upon the local culture, on the natural pigments available and on chronology. Thus, in Madhya Pradesh, green images are thought to belong to the very beginnings of rock art in the region. Engravings are made by superficially incising/bruising/scraping the rock surface with a tool in order to create an image. We have not seen any carvings in central India and very few engravings. In the Dharul and Pachmarhi area, a few figures are only engraved, or engraved and then painted over, as both techniques can be and often are associated. The Bhimbetka shelters show evidence of Paleolithic settlements. Stone age tools have also been discovered at various places along the Narmada river valley. The abundance of scenes of all sorts in Indian rock art, particularly in Madhya Pradesh, is one of its major, most original and most appealing characteristics.

In addition, Central India is one of the rare places in the world where one can find spectacular extensive rock art still regularly visited for traditional ceremonies as well as several forms of tribal art with striking similarities to rock art in their imagery and function. This means that traditions are still alive in the remote forest areas of the state.

2. Discussions

Rock art images are mostly painted with earth pigments: hematite or red (iron-rich ochres), wads (manganese-rich ochres), umbers, green earths (terres vertes), white earths (chalks, kaolinite, and diatomite), coals and other solid hydrocarbons and vivianite-rich blue earths. The earth pigments are not pure, single-mineral pigments but share the property of being mixtures. It is this group of pigments that is of greatest importance in the production of Prehistoric art (Siddall 2018).

The surroundings of Raisen, Sehore and Vidisha district are partially covered with sandstone deposits that occasionally form numerous small and large shelters such as Bhimbetka. The region also possibly contains several chromophore minerals plus accessory phases including, but not limited to, clays, carbonates and quartz. As deposits on the Earth’s surface, they would have been both obvious and attractive sources of pigment at Lakhajuar, Jaora, Jhiri, Kharwai, Urden, Ramchhajja, Kathotiya and Gufa Maser. Many were used during the earliest times with more or less green images. Most rock art, then, consists of paintings. Among the colors used, red is overwhelmingly dominant in all periods. It comes from iron oxides such as hematite, whose nodules are easily found in the jungles. White (from white, clay-like kaolin) has also been widely used, particularly in recent times. The green and yellow colors are derived from the chalcedony or copper minerals and coal black obtained from manganese. But the earliest images have been painted with green pigments. For the most part, these images have been seen within clusters of later art. Superimpositions are so frequent that large panels from earlier times are not so clearly visible. In most cases, green images can be seen in small groups of dancers or sometimes in a single animal. Images are drawn with yellow and green pigments, and also with green and red. Rarely did they create an image with green, yellow and red. But these polychrome images are nearly invisible. One can see them after using D-Stretch-lre & yrd. The remains of these early images show that execution with respect to green pigment has been carried out very artistically. In particular, in human images, bodies are full of movement and rhythm, and beautifully folded in an S shape. Early people were probably highly influenced by dancing poses and their fast movement.

To apply the paint, in addition to using their fingers or the palm of their hands (handprints), they might resort to paint brushes easily made from bamboo, palm trees, animal hairs and feathers. Green figures belong to the earlier phases of this art. The humans in those early times are in a characteristic S form and generally shown in active postures, such as running or dancing. The techniques were applied from the simplest outlines of humans and animals to form complex designs with geometric patterns. Sometimes bodies are filled with intricate patterns in the form of vertical and parallel lines, which could be different motifs related to their different rituals. This shows the uniqueness of the style of that time. The earliest art is nearly covered by images from later periods. “The particular portions of rock were probably sacred parts of shelters or the artist painted upon the old drawings simply to enhance the power of his new pictures. It might be a taboo to erase the old drawings” (Mathpal 1984, p. 9). Interestingly, the chosen panels are never in the dark. But for that, any rocks with an overhang, from small ones only a few meters across to long and huge cliffs, could have been chosen to paint on.

Green paintings have been found mainly in the Raisen and Sehore districts. These two areas of the Vindhyan range contain heavily painted shelters. The sandstone Vindhyan range is roughly six hundred meters above sea level and one hundred meters above the Deccan plain, from which it stands out on the horizon. Even from several miles away, the Bhimbetka hills are prominent in the landscape with the big masses of rocks (Figure 4) that crown them. It is obvious that the spectacular character of the place has attracted people since the most remote times. The famous world heritage site Bhimbetka is in Raisen district.

Internationally, Bhimbetka is the best-known site in India. Its core area extends over 1892 hectares covering five hills within the Vindhyan Hills. Many small painted shelters—some say hundreds—have been observed on those hills. Only the Bhimbetka hill is easily accessible, and less than twenty painted shelters are opened daily to the public year round with convenient paths and guides. Despite their major importance, the Bhimbetka rock art sites did not attract scientific attention before 1957. Dr. Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar, their discoverer, used to say that when travelling along the hills on a train, he noticed the spectacular sandstone rock formations along the ridge. He was fascinated by them and by their surrounding landscape and wondered about their archeology. On an impulse, he stepped down from the train to explore and thus discovered Bhimbetka. From that momentous time, he started studying the numerous painted shelters, and he did not stop until his death in 1988. He published articles, research papers and books in which the Bhimbetka rock art and its archeological context played a major part (Wakankar and Brooks 1976). From hunting scenes to religious folk symbols, the subject matter in Bhimbetka art is particularly rich, representing many aspects of life from early times to later periods. The subjects of the rock art have been classified into different categories, such as human figures, animals, scenes (hunting, battle, music and dance, rituals and family), mythology, nature, decoration and material culture.

In 1973, Wakankar excavated shelters IIIA-28 to 31 and IIIF-24. He found a late Upper Paleolithic skeleton of a child who had been ceremoniously buried (IIIA-28). It had a long bone pendant on the neck, most probably painted before burial, a rubbed hematite fragment and a stone on which color had been prepared next to the skeleton. A round stone alignment protected the body. From the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic deposits of all the excavations, green, red and white stones used for preparing color were recovered. Green was not found in later layers and was used only in the very earliest rock art in the Vindhya Hills. Wakankar assumed green exclusively belonged to the late Paleolithic or the early Mesolithic.

Green pigments derive from de-crystallized chalcedony, with such pigments frequently being found in humid soils in trap regions. The de-crystallization of chalcedony seems to work quite fast under certain humid conditions. Green earths or terres vertes are grey green to blue green pigments derived primarily from the minerals celadonite (K [Mg, Fe²⁺] Fe³⁺[Si₄O₁₀] [OH]₂) and glauconite ([K,Na][Mg,Fe²⁺,Fe³⁺][Fe³⁺,Al][Si,Al]₄O₁₀[OH]₂). Mineralogically, the green earths are clayey micas, and their main coloring agents are celadonite, glauconite and sometimes smectites, chlorites and serpentines. These minerals have been differentiated by using Raman spectroscopy (Ospitali et al. 2008). In addition, the paragenesis of these minerals is associated with different geological environments. Celadonite is produced through the alteration of basaltic rocks, whilst glauconite is derived from marine clays and sandstone (greensands) (Siddall 2018). Green and yellow pigments are very rare and were used only in the very earliest rock art in the Vindhya Hills (Neumayer 2012).

Human figures are generally dominant in rock art, and in any case are nearly always present, even among the earliest paintings. In the earliest images, animals have been painted in a very naturalistic style, with humans in a most creative style, particularly S-shaped humans. Sometimes they are shown in a very small size, but the running or dancing S-shaped figures look so rhythmic and full of artistic expression. They are shown in long rows or groups. They may be stick-like figures and stiff or, on the contrary, be quite dynamic, in an S shape, seeming to be running, dancing and hunting. Others have double lines for the body and arms and sometimes an inner decoration, though far less than is the case with animals. Their heads are rarely detailed. In some panels, they are shown with open mouths, even if they may occasionally sport some intricate headgear like a Mesolithic man. They often wield weapons, such as bows and arrows, shields, variously tipped spears or axes. Interestingly, all the green human images are not S-shaped. Sometimes these green human figures have been painted a bit stiff and not so rhythmically. The styles of the stiff figures and the S-shaped figures are probably both simultaneous, but never the part of the same compositions. S-shaped dynamic figures, mostly shown as dancers, and stiff figures were mostly associated with animals, and sometimes they are shown as hunters. These green images are beautifully shown with stylistic expressions, even when in a smaller size, which shows the high efficiency of skilled artists. These green images were probably created during the transitional period between the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic times. We have noticed the same style between the green and red dancers during these periods. After that, this particular S-shaped style totally vanished and was not seen in later periods. Unfortunately, green images from the earliest times are not in a good state of preservation. Recently, green and yellow paintings have been found in a rock art site at Umariya in Madhya Pradesh.

3. Some Important Sites with Green Images

3.1. Bhimbetka (Raisen District)

At Bhimbetka, Wakanker excavated three shelters out of eleven excavated shelters during the years 1971–1975, and pigment nodules of red, yellow ochre and blue-black manganese were found in both Mesolithic and Chalcolithic layers. Also, he found green pigments in the Upper Paleolithic layer; however, green pigments have not been found in any later layers. Three different groups, Bhonrawali, Bhimbetka and Lakhajuar, have green-colored images.

In Bhonrawali, the Boar rock shelter is depicted with three green S-shaped dancers, but only the middle dancer is fully visible; the right-side dancer probably wears a necklace (Figure 5). Two Mesolithic human figures are superimposed on the green dancers. On the extreme left of these images, a dancer or shaman wearing a bird mask is painted in red.

In Bhimbetka, green images are not so clearly visible. A panel of ten deer in different sizes is composed of overlapping green images. Animals, and not only humans, are also painted in green. There is a line drawing of an animal in green. As per Mathpal, shelter III F1 has many green images, but they are in a very poor state of preservation. “30 fragmented drawings of dark red and emerald green in the right portion of the shelter only ten can be identified as human figures and four as animal figures. Green figures overlap (Figure 6) the red figures. The animals represented are two bulls, one boar and a fish. The boar and fish are drawn in emerald green. One of the hunters in green wears a horned mask and has a long stick (Mathpal 1984, p. 78). Many faded traces of green have been observed on the ceiling of III f23. “There are at least ten painted shelters at Bhimbetka in which green paintings are superimposed by paintings which we have classified in Mesolithic” (Wakankar and Brooks 1976, p. 31). A polychrome painting where red, green and yellow colors were used is covered by an almost opaque thick patina layer. Such images are always mostly fragmentary. The earliest polychrome paintings are found mainly composed of a reddish brown smooth patina. This patina is susceptible to exfoliation (Neumayer 2012).

Lakhajuar is in the third group of the Bhimbetka area; the shelters of this group have many of the earliest green images. A runner or dancer is shown with green head dress and open mouth, painted in red with green lines. In another image, a hunter with his bow and arrow aims at a peacock sitting on a tree; the image is painted in red with traces of green contours lines around the hunter. A woman is painted in red with traces of green partially preserved. A very interesting dancing scene in green is composed of a long chain of S-shaped dancers (Figure 7) with open mouths, probably singing or chanting for a ritual or ceremony.

The Jaora site is in the Ratapani Forest Sanctuary, about forty-five kilometers by road from Bhopal city. We have noticed green images in mainly five shelters. The most important one is the biggest shelter (30/35 m long) with an extensive overhang (5 m), which is painted all over. Two huge boulders rather close to the wall have been used to make paintings. White images are superimposed on red ones. There is one distinct green dancer with some outlining in red around the middle of the body (Figure 8), and at least six other smaller green characters with rounded headgear that seem to be dancing in a group. A curved green line seems to encircle them on top. On their left are red S-shaped dancers. In the bottom part of the panel are many recent crude red horse riders and fighters associated with finger marks. On the roof is a large white animal with a decorated body. Below it and to its left are two clearly visible big red geometric patterns. In the next rock shelter, with two other circular concavities, is a small green animal on top of white figures, just below a red human image.

Another important shelter (12 m × 4 m × 4 m) is similar in orientation to the preceding one. Its main decoration is a beautiful, well-proportioned dark red stag with green lines on its neck, green zigzag lines on its upper body and also straight horizontal lines on the middle part of its inner body (neck to belly). It looks to have been firstly painted with thin green double lines and, later on, outlined in thick dark red on top of the green line. The inner body is also filled with two dark red thick vertical lines (Figure 9) and its tail is painted with light red. It is beautifully superimposed on the same green figure (!) also superimposed on the early green and white Mesolithic humans and many white and faded red zigzag patterns are clearly visible inside the body. A crude small white bull of a very late time is also painted on it. One can see lots of green traces around the stag.

Some more green dancers (Figure 10) have painted on the lower left side of the stag. There are two white elephants (mother and baby) and two circles, as well as rare animals in green. This particular shelter is nearly full of green traces.

Jhiri is twenty-one kilometers south of Bhopal. It is in the Vindhya Range in the Ratapani Forest Sanctuary. The Betwa River springs from Jhiri, which means “Spring”. We have noticed many green dancing images. Most are not well preserved. Only after enhancing via D-Stretch is green clearly visible in most cases. At this site, nearly all the shelters have traces of green pigment. The Jhiri 2 shelter has a big overhang with a few white, black and red paintings. The decorated shelter facing north is 3 m × 1.30 m. A lower band has a white stag following a red humped bull, white stags, humans and an elephant with riders. Many traces of green below the white and red images can be seen. Jhiri 3 is another huge rock facing east. At the top (±5 m high) are a few white and red images of humans and animals. The lower part of the shelter begins with a fairly deep hollow (with a row of ten dancers and a humped bull inside), and then a rather long (±10 m) north face with apparent black and white images, but also some more ancient art (brownish-red) with traces of many small green animals, particularly cervids. Before Jhiri 10 (6/7 m long) are several concavities with a few figures. The first panel is entirely Mesolithic (except for some white superimpositions) and includes a jumping deer and several humans in different sizes hunting or dancing. More white Mesolithic figures on the right of the panel represent domestic activities. They are superimposed on red images. Then a small sketchy green dancer (Figure 11) appears over a kind of big, long-legged spotted red animal. The next panel is complex with many red, yellow and green dancers. The next small concavity is painted with many red images of humans and animals on the top of the greens.

Firangi is part of the Jhiri village inside the Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary. The most important shelter in the group has a length of ±20 m. The roof can be reached at a height of 3.50 m. It contains many layers of paintings from the Mesolithic times. In a representation of four honeycombs, two are on each side of a sketchy tree represented by a vertical line. Further to the right are two other incomplete representations of honeycombs, with many large-size animals like wild boars and hunters superimposed on the roof. One can first make out black dancers with many green traces, and then intricate big red animals and red humans with big headgear. There are quite a few traces of green pigment under the red and white Mesolithic period images.

The Kharwai sites are located in Kharwai village, an area partially covered with sandstone deposits that occasionally form numerous small shelters. Many were used at various times. We noticed similar modern reverence for the sites in many other areas and shelters. A few shelters have very faint green traces. These green images are covered with heavy layers of dust patina, which is a common problem in Raisen district. Many green paintings are almost entirely covered with dust patina. A group of partially visible S-shaped dancers in green seems to have been painted many times during the Prehistoric period (Figure 12). A white animal is also painted on top of green drawings.

In Hathitol/Ramchhajja, a few kilometers from Raisen, a series of small shelters includes many red or white paintings, mostly representing herds of wild bovids and early dancers on the walls and ceilings with green traces. Other animals, like a rhinoceros (an animal that became extinct in Central India by the end of the Chalcolithic, a few thousand years ago), deer, elephants and leopards, are present, as well as S-shaped humans with fantastic head dresses dancing in a row. Many superimpositions occur, and traces of green pigment (Figure 13) are visible below the white and red images. For example, we noticed four levels of superimpositions involving humans and deer.

In Pangawna, we visited nineteen shelters. Villagers have at times occupied some of them. Nowadays, they keep practising ceremonies and worship. Some of the art is Mesolithic, like a turtle with inside decoration and a big bison. White images are often superimposed on images from earlier periods, with traces of green visible under the white and red images.

Urden is a small village located 43 km northeast of Bhopal. Its total area (about 3 km × 1.5 km) is elongated, and is wider to the northwest and much narrower to the southeast. Along its length, it includes two main geological areas: a wide valley to the north–northeast and sandstone formations to the south–southwest, where the painted shelters are. The techniques used are white or red paint. We saw some green images (Figure 14), but they were not well preserved. The whites are overlapped on top of the reds, or vice versa. Traces of green images can be seen in some shelters.

Another fairly wide shelter with an extensive rocky ground opens to the west. It was occupied or used by the villagers, with signs of graffiti and erosion. Red and white figures, including a white tree with bee swarms, appear. In the left part of the shelter, there are some more green designs.

The Putli Karar group of painted shelters belongs to the Bhilani village of the Raisen district. Across a small river we saw a line of sandstone rocks overlooking the plain. In all we visited ten sites on three different levels. We have noticed traces of green pigments, superimposed by late period images, at the main shelter in the area. It is very extensive (±35 m long × 6 to 7 m wide × 3 to 4 m high) and includes four parts. From right to left: The first part—the most important one—is about 1.70 m higher as its ground is in fact a huge rock that fell from the cliff. It includes numerous figures, mostly red but some whites or both, with quite a few stags with decorated bodies, sometimes being hunted by archers, and also birds, elephants and a bear. The second part is about 6m long and ends at a deep crack on its left. Mostly white animal figures, except on the right for a big red bull and an archer shooting at it.

To the west-southwest of B, is not well-preserved, with only one band (0.70 to 0.80 m wide) of mostly red paintings along it at about 0.50 m from the ground, with riders, armed warriors, the usual hunting scenes, white dancers. Last one is 8 m × 2 m × 1.50 m high. Many faded green paintings. Superimposed with several decorated squares and rectangles of geometric signs.

3.2. In the Centre of the State Bhopal District

The greatest number of painted sites and the most famous ones are known in the centre of Madhya Pradesh. It used to be an important rock art sites on the hills that overlook the city of Bhopal. A line of shelters on Hill extends over at least three hundred meters. Some of them are fairly large, but very few paintings, mostly of later periods but also with a few remains of green images of earliest times and also Mesolithic images, are now visible as the walls have been covered over with graffiti. One of the shelters has been converted into a big Shiva Temple.

3.3. The Sehore District

Kathotiya is located near the Raiyabad village, consists of a long row of painted shelters at about twenty-five kilometres southeast of Bhopal in the Virpur range in the Sehore district. We saw more than forty shelters in the course of many visits because of a tiger roaming in the area. Kathotiya site contains several important shelters with many green images, some of which are visible and some of which are invisible. Many other images, more or less preserved, are in red or in white (a few are in green), with lots of superimpositions.

The second last shelter of this range is a small Mesolithic shelter (±8 m × 4 m). In all, there are four rocky bands, one above the other. First a high band (2.20 to 2.60 m from the ground) with white paintings (humans with round faces and big round eyes with sometimes baskets on their backs, one vertical fish) over hardly visible dark humans probably dancing. A big white animal is on top of a red geometric pattern and is superimposed with red hunters. At its left and at the top is a round-shaped design made up of dots and converging lines (the headgear of a dancing human?). To its left and a little bit below is a row of eight squares, which probably represents the bodies of sketchy humans. Below them is a big snake turned to the left. Some S-shaped dancers are painted green. Faint white figures are painted over them. All are Mesolithic. Other colors for various designs are red and yellow, so that in this small shelter, four colors were used, the later one being red. The scenes represented are dancing, hunting (wild boar) and gathering (filled baskets on backs). In the bottom panel, some later paintings show an elephant followed by eight humped bulls in a row.

A big shelter is at one end of the Kathotiya site. It is well known for a big, long-necked and long-legged bird that looks like an ostrich with its two chicks. The shelter is quite large; it is almost 25 m long and 10 m high with a good overhang. It thus has two levels. The upper level is more interesting, with early paintings in green, red and white. It has many green images, which are clearly visible after enhancing via D-Strech.

The big bird (an ostrich?) with its two chicks is painted on top of green images of two elongated green dancers, who are clearly visible; they are facing each other with open mouths, probably chanting or singing (Figure 15a–c) On the lower side of the big bird, a long row of green human figures appears; some of the figures are visible. Two green semi-carved lines are painted on the upper side of these green images. A big pregnant female bison (110 cm × 83 cm) is also superimposed on seven faint green dancers (Figure 16). Its legs are full of long converging lines. Its horns are filled with red. Its back and belly are represented with double lines. Inside its body one can see its fetus.

One may distinguish at least three layers in the early-style paintings. The first layer includes S-shaped dancers with headgear; hunters (Figure 17a) with spears, bows and arrows; and deer (Figure 17b), bison and wild boar all in green. Humans are comparatively taller than the animals.

The second layer includes red animals: big bison, deer, stag, wild boar, the above-mentioned ostrich-like bird, dancers and hunters with big bows and barbed arrows. Humans are in typical stick shape, sometimes with headgear, feathers or a basket attached to their buns. Some have a decorated rectangular body with zigzags. Animal bodies are well-decorated with spirals, patterns and lines. The third layer has white animal images with wild boar, deer, another big bird with a long neck and legs and hunters with one or two eyes. On the ceiling are some black animals. Other paintings include white humans with their two eyes represented, wild boar, elephants, deer, peacock, bison, a stag with very long antlers and hunters with bow and arrows. Many paintings are superimposed on green images. Some painted parts of the shelter are badly preserved because of weathering.

Other shelters are also superimposed with red and white images on top of the green traces.

3.4. The Vidisha District

Twenty kilometers from Gyaraspur town in the Vidisha district is a big hilly area containing many painted shelters. Gufa maser rock art sites in Vidisha have many intricate animals in red superimposed on green images. Two important shelters are connected to each other. The first one has a very low ceiling and is hardly two to three feet in height. One can only see the images when lying on one’s back. The whole ceiling is densely covered with red, yellow and green images, mainly of big animals and sometimes of hunters. Though protected from sun, rain and wind, the site is still not in good condition, perhaps due to the low ceiling; when sitting inside, locals must have touched the ceiling as well as the art with their heads. A big bison, wild buffalos, swamp deer, stags, wild boar, tigers and an elephant are represented. Each animal has a body decorated with an intricate pattern. The next shelter’s ceiling is also covered over with several wild buffalos (Figure 18). The style of the animals in both shelters is entirely Mesolithic, with lots of traces of green (Figure 19).

Nagauri, in the Vidisha district, is not far from Sanchi. The site of Nagauri is on a hill with visible layers of rock. A series of painted shelters are at different heights, about twenty meters from the path, with red Mesolithic paintings more or less preserved in a bad condition. We have noticed some traces of green.

4. East of the State

The Umariya District

Umariya district is located in the eastern part of Madhya Pradesh. Umariya is a tribal district, where the tribal population is 46% of the total population. Umariya district is also full of natural resources. The southern part of the district has a hilly terrain, which is the northern part of the Amarkantak hills extending in an east–west direction. The hills are made up of basaltic rocks. The shelter belongs to the Gunguti village in the Godawal Range. It is isolated in a deep tiger jungle; in fact, a tiger den opens just under some paintings, and when we went, we saw recent tiger footprints on the ground. We were accompanied and guided by two foresters and four villagers from the Gond and Baiga tribe. About one hundred meters before reaching the site, one of our local guides started shouting and making a lot of noise to frighten any tigers away, in case one should be there.

The shelter, facing east, is roughly ten meters long with a four-to-five-meter awning. As it is so isolated, it is rarely visited and there is no graffiti. As far as we know, it has never been published nor even mentioned in the scientific literature: we may well be the first rock art specialists to visit it. A deep cup-mark on the ground testifies to more or less ancient ceremonies. On the ground, we also noticed débitage of flint and quartz.

All the paintings are on the wall of the shelter, with none on the ceiling. Over 7.70 m of the wall has been decorated with humans, some of them wielding bows; one negative left-hand stencil; various geometric signs; and animals, mostly does.

They are generally red, in three different shades, with the exception of a dark green animal that looks like an elephant on the right of the shelter and a big original sign underlined in yellow. Yellow was also used to underline the inside of several other complex signs. These signs are the main subjects of this shelter.

The surface at the bottom of the wall is naturally patinated over a height of 1.50 m. The originality of the Kumhlwa site lies in the presence of a rare red hand stencil, a green elephant (Figure 20) and, above all, in the number, diversity and, occasionally, complexity of geometric signs in yellow (Dubey-Pathak and Clottes 2019).

5. Conclusions

Rock art is dominated by earth pigments. Green earth pigments are the most readily available and were widely used from early to modern times in different parts of the globe. In Southern California, green earth pigment was used at the Chumash rock art site of San Emigdio. In Argentina, Wainwright and his team have found green earth pigments used in paintings (hand stencils 10,000 years old) at the rock art sites of Cueva de las Manos and Cerro de los Indios in Patagonia (Wainwright et al. 2002). Green earth has been found in early Indian painting, and has also been used in Europe since classical times. According to Kühn (1968), there was a marked increase in its use at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Terre verte of very fine color was available in the past, often from very small deposits. Northwest Coast indigenous people have been using green earth pigments for ages, according to artist Ancheta and Mag (2016), with American Indians of the Northwest Coast having a long living tradition of using particular pigments for the specific patterns. Tsimshian, Haida and Tlingit artifacts show color schemes based on their at least 2000-year-old tradition.

Green pigments were used in the earliest phase of Indian rock art. Surprisingly, what happened in the past is that people stopped using greens in the later phases. The reason behind this is the lack of availability of green pigments, or some type of taboo with respect to no longer using green. We have not found green earth images in later periods of rock art. After a long gap of many thousands of years, green appears again in the Buddhist period. Green pigments were used in frescoes more often in Ajanta caves during the Buddhist times (2nd BCE). After that, green pigments were used in many murals in rock cut caves and temples.

Green earth is not even popular among contemporary tribal groups in this area. They are still using red, yellow and white earth pigments but no greens. This is probably due to its scarcity.