ANCIENT BHARATIYA MADE ROCK MUSIC
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
BBC
Friday, March 19, 2004
[Caption] When struck, the impressions emit deep, "gong-
like notes"
Archaeologists have rediscovered a huge rock art site in
southern India where ancient people used boulders to make
musical sounds in rituals.
Archaeologists have rediscovered a huge rock art site in
southern India where ancient people used boulders to make
musical sounds in rituals. The Kupgal Hill site includes
rocks with unusual depressions that were designed to be
struck with the purpose of making loud, musical ringing
tones.
It was lost after its discovery in 1892, so this is the
first fresh effort to describe the site in over a century.
Details of the research are outlined in the archaeological
journal Antiquity.
A dyke on Kupgal Hill contains hundreds and perhaps
thousands of rock art engravings, or petroglyphs, a large
quantity of which date to the Neolithic, or late Stone Age
(several thousand years BC).
Researchers think shamans or young males came to the site
to carry out rituals and to "tap into" the power of the
site. However, some of it is now at threat from quarrying
activities.
Granite percussion
The boulders which have small, groove-like impressions are
called "musical stones" by locals. When struck with small
granite rocks, these impressions emit deep, "gong-like
notes".
[Caption] Some inscribed pictures date to Neolithic times
These boulders may have been an important part of
formalised rituals by the people who came there.
In some cultures, percussion plays a role in rituals that
are intended for shamen to communicate with the
supernatural world. The Antiquity work's author, Dr Nicole
Boivin, of the University of Cambridge, UK, thinks this
could be the purpose of the Kupgal stones.
The first report of the site was in 1892, in the Asiatic
Quarterly Review. But subsequent explorers who tried to
find it were unable to do so.
Dr Boivin has been documenting the site. A few pictures of
the site were taken in the 19th Century, but the originals
were either lost, or allowed to fade.
Destruction imminent
Many of the motifs on the rocks are of cattle, in
particular the long-horned humped-back type found in
southern India (Bos indicus).
However, some are of human-like figures, either on their
own or with cattle. Some of these in chains, or holding
bows and arrows.
[Caption] The rock motifs are now under threat from
commercial quarrying
The typically masculine nature of the engravings leads Dr
Boivin to suggest that the people who made the images were
men and possibly those involved in herding cattle or
stealing them.
The motifs themselves were made by bruising the rocks,
presumably with a stone implement.
She believes that the people who made the motifs and those
who went to view them must have been physically fit and
agile.
Some of the images are in locations so difficult to reach
that the artist must have suspended themselves - or got
others to suspend them - from an overhang to make the
images.
Modern-day commercial granite quarrying has already
disturbed some sections of the hill. A rock shelter with
even older rock art to the north of Kupgal Hill has been
partially destroyed by quarrying.
"It is clear government intervention will be required to
elicit effective protection for the majority of the sites
in the [area] if these are not to be erased completely over
the course of future years," writes Dr Boivin in Antiquity.
More at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3520384.stm
Jai Maharaj
http://tinyurl.com/yhjyp5
http://www.mantra.com/jai
http://www.mantra.com/jyotish
Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.