The existence of at least one rock painting somewhere in Hampi however I had no clue about its location. On the morning of 11th December 2024, the third day of Sridhar's & my tour of Hampi, Anegundi and Anjanadri, we arrived at Chakrathirta, the spot where Tungabhadra takes a sharp turn towards the north. As per Hindu culture such a spot is considered holy and there would be a shrine for sure. On the left bank is religious complex consisting of Kodanda Rama Devastana, Yantrodharaka Hanuman Gudi, ancient bathing ghat and stone shelter. The deities of Kodanda Rama Devastana are rock sculptures of Rama, Sita and Lakshmana. A stone's throw away is Yantrodharaka Hanuman Gudi where the deity is again a rock sculpture of Hanuman inside a hexagram. This is a rare shrine. After visiting both shrines, we proceeded along the bank in search of Linga groups sculpted on rocks. We located the Linga groups, took a few shots and left the spot.
Next on our itinerary was Vijaya Vittala Devastana which is a good ten minute walk away. We had two routes to take. I decided to take the path passing between two massive rock formations. As we entered the passage, I noticed a monument protection notice which meant there's something of importance there. There was a natural cave.. possibly there was some sculpture inside, or rock-paintings?
As I climbed the rock leading into the mouth, a large painting on the rock face welcomed me. Wow, what a discovery. I called out at Sridhar to come and take a look at the painting. Oh by the way, I'd noticed a small oval shaped, large palm sized pit in the vicinity of the cave which was used to prepare the ochre colored paint. I've seen such pits at other prehistoric painting sites like Onake Kindi and Aihole.
Let's take a closer look at the ancient art. There are crisscrossing lines, a vague shaped figure and a fish-shaped figures. All figures are fit into the flat surface.
On the extreme left is one small figure. I have no clue as to what this represents.
I looked the painting for several minutes but remained clueless about it's meaning. The humanoid outline is filled with diagonal lines forming little triangles which seems like hyena pattern. Perhaps I need to check with a few people as what they feel.
The cave has an 'inner chamber' as well. The presence of this painting is a clear indication that this was inhabited for a long time, probably even in the historic times.
Bang opposite this cave is another cave. That's Sridhar. We did check out the other cave. We couldn't find any paintings there. Both caves are more less same size. While this one is east-facing the opposite one is west-facing.
At the east-facing cave entrance is an inscription as well. The script seems Tamil. I'm not an expert but it doesn't look like Kannada. Probably this inscription is under ASI protection.
At the cave's mouth on the floor was a patch of sandy dirt covered with conical pits. The pits are basically traps created by some insect to trap smaller insects. The pit walls are smooth and slippery, when an insect falls in it, it wouldn't be able to climb out and it would we caught by the pit's owner.
The west facing cave's sit-out. Here I must add that this cave is a part of a large rock formation. On the other side of the formation i.e. behind is this cave is another natural cave which is called Sugreeva's cave. Sugreeva was the brother of Vali the king of Kishkinda kingdom. That's where we'll head next.
This discovery of the rock-painting made my morning. We went exploring for a way around the rock formation towards Sugreeva's cave.
The next nearest prehistoric rock-paintings I'm aware of is at Onake Kindi. And a little further away near Mallapur village is large painting inside a cavern. Then further on many small paintings can be found on on Hire Benakal hill.
.........
