Ratnagiri rock carvings: Gateway to lost Indian civilisation

Maharashtra: Rock carvings discovered in the hills of the Konkan sector of Maharashtra, mostly in the districts of Ratnagiri and Rajapur are assumed to bear remnants of a lost Indian civilisation. Archaeologists expect that there would be thousands of these rock carvings in the Konkan area.  They are found near villages, and only a few were known to locals and tourists, but there is a lot more that are uncovered.

Sudhir Risbud, an engineer from Ratnagiri, uncovered 22 of these sites on his cycling tours with his friend Manoj Marathe over almost ten years. “We travelled nearly 10,000 km in the region, and started an organisation to spread awareness and to gain more information about the sites,” he said.

A 12th century Durga temple is located there with a stone in the centre, which is where the Goddess is believed to come and place herself at the time of the festival. People worship her through a ritual that lasts for ten days, and then they believe that she leaves. Nobody touches or disturbs her. They have built these guards by bollards and chains, so no one damages this sacred place. Folklore existing in this region also said that markings were made by Pandavas when they were living in the forests nearby.

 

These rock carvings have now been discovered in 52 villages across 150km in the area. Many of them depict human figures, both life size and bigger, and animals that include the extinct elephant bird and the rhino.

Few of these mysterious carvings were already in the plain sight, and local explorers have found rest of them, researchers and the state archaeological department.

 Although a few sites have been damaged, Arvind Suryavanshi, headmaster of the Panchasheel High School nearby, said, “Part of the site was destroyed when the government was building a road. Two years ago, they tried to widen the road, which would have destroyed the petroglyph. The locals protested, and the proposal did not come up again.”

 

Tejas Garge, state director of archaeology department, said that they have requested for a grant of Rs 1.4 crore for further study of 400 of the identified petroglyphs and to preserve these sites from further damage.

Read Exclusive COVID-19 Coronavirus News updates, at MyNation.