Mesolithic rock cut architecture of India not only reflects the cultural life of the times but also a fine aesthetic sense comparable to modern painting Critically evaluate this comment UPSC
The period between the Palaeolithic Age and the Neolithic Age is known as the Mesolithic age ie roughly between 10,000-2000 BC. The art and architecture conceived during this period are referred to as Mesolithic art.
People of the Mesolithic Age used microliths or tools made of small stones like obliquely truncated blades, crescents, triangles, and trapezes. Also, the art and architecture were limited to rock and cave shelters.
The rock cut architecture of the Mesolithic period mainly depicted man’s immediate surroundings which are the things which he subsisted upon.
While classical art essentially depicted what man saw and experienced and modern art illustrated what man thought and visualized.
Some of the best-known Mesolithic sites in India are Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh, Sarai Nahar Rai in Uttar Pradesh, Bagor in Rajasthan, and Valsana in Gujarat.
The Mesolithic rock-cut architecture is in the form of petrographs (rock paintings) and petroglyphs (rock engravings) of which Bhimbetka is a classic example.
The art in these natural cave shelters depicts the social life in those times especially related to hunting, sexual activities, childbirth, burial, etc.
The main feature of Mesolithic rock-cut architecture is rock cave paintings which reflected the daily life of that period in a sense for example most of the paintings showed animals, hunting scenes, etc.
Therefore people in this age had developed a clear aesthetic sense as most of the paintings portrayed the nature around them. On the other hand, the modern paintings before the 19th century focused more on ornate presentations than on capturing the aesthetic value as evident by the bazaar paintings during the Company rule.
However, in the late 19th century, many modern painters like Raja Ravi Verma, Amrita Shergill, Nandlal Bose, and Abanindranath Tagore also reflected the cultural times of the age and had fine aesthetic sense like Mesolithic paintings.
For example the Bharat Mata painting of Abanindranath Tagore. However, abstract modern art certainly lacks nature’s proportions and the aesthetics of classical and stone age art and appeals to a selected class of people.