Indian Rock Art and its Global Context

This is a unique volume in the history of rock art studies, meant at once

for the advanced scholar, serious student and the curious but conscientious

layman, co-authored by K.K. Chakravarty and R.G. Bednarik, who co-chaired

the Rock Art session of the World Archaeological Congress 3 at Delhi in

1994. It is a synoptic but comprehensive survey, illustrated by 221

photographs and sketches, including 172 photographs in colour. The two

scholars have not only described the latest state of research on rock art,

but also transported rock art studies into the realm of interdisciplinary,

inter-cultural analysis. Buttressed by an indicative map of the rock art

regions, a list of major up to date direct dating results on rock art, a

glossary of keywords related to spatial, temporal, technological,

managerial categories, and an index, this volume blends precise,

dispassionate descriptions with eloquent evocations. It blends conclusions

distilled from rigorous, hard headed field research with penetrating

criticism and assessment of the evidence. It combines a ruthless brevity

and density with extraordinary felicity and clarity of language. Above all,

it is an wonderful attempt at dealing with the problems of understanding,

which dog human attempts to comprehend the meaning and shape of human

creativity.

Review(s)

About the Author(s)

An M.P.A. in Public Administration and Ph.D. in Art History from Harvard University, Dr. Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty (IAS, 1970) is a serving Secretary to the Government of India, on deputation to the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, New Delhi as its Trustee and Member Secretary. Dr. Chakravarty has published and lectured extensively on anthropology, museology, archaeology, art history and on bio-cultural diversity. Dr. Gyani Lal Badam, a leading quaternary geologist and palaeontologist, has established the discipline of palaeontology at the Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, Pune, where his academic interests diversified to include river valleys and water harvesting structures in central and peninsular India. Dr. Vijaya Paranjpye, is basically a plant ecologist and worked for sometime as a faculty member in a local college in Pune before joining Econet, a Non-Government Organization. He became interested in areas like traditional water management, study of dams on the Narmada and other rive valleysin Maharashtra and also in ecological constraints. His broad interests have revolved around ecosystem, farmers organisation and organizational matters particularly amongst the farmers of Maharashtra. At present, Dr. Paranjpye is the Trustee and Chairperson of 'Gomukh', a Non-Government Organization based in Pune.