Bhimbetka Rock Shelters

UNESCO World Heritage Site: Rock Shelters Of Bhimbetka (2003) · Bhimbetka, Madhya Pradesh

A cluster of more than seven hundred natural rock shelters in the forested Vindhya hills south of Bhopal, several hundred of them painted, and among the oldest traces of human life in India; it is a World Heritage Site. The shelters were inhabited from the Stone Age onwards, and the paintings, in red and white, span many thousands of years, the oldest going back to the Mesolithic. They show hunters, bison, tigers, deer, dancers, horse riders and warriors, some layered one over another as successive peoples added their own. The site was recognised in 1957 by the archaeologist V. S. Wakankar, who noticed the rock formations from a train. Visitors follow a marked trail through a group of the most important shelters, including the huge Auditorium Cave and Zoo Rock, where dozens of animals crowd one face. The setting of giant weathered sandstone boulders in teak forest is part of the experience. It is about forty-five kilometres from Bhopal and is usually combined with the unfinished Shiva temple at Bhojpur. Visitor numbers are modest and it is rarely crowded.

Bhimbetka, Raisen District, Bhimbetka, Madhya Pradesh, 464993, India

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The usual pattern for this site: open daily from around sunrise to sunset, roughly 7 am to 6 pm, with last entry some time before closing. Whether there is a weekly closing day was not checked. THE TRAPS: arriving in the middle of a hot afternoon between April and June, when the rock is scorching and the paintings are washed out by glare; arriving late and being turned away at the gate; and driving back to Bhopal after dark on a busy lorry highway. Confirm times and fees before travelling.

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