varnam

Usually neolithic rock art sites like Bhimbetka, Karabad, Shamla Hill, have images of  anthropomorphic figures performing various activities. The rock art site at Kupgal village in Bellary, Karnataka, has something more fascinating: dolerite boulders which emit musical tones when struck by granite. The boulders found on top of hills, which were called Peacock Hill by the British and Hiregudda (Big Hill) by the locals, have grooves on them and only when those grooves are struck, music is produced.

The rock art tells us a bit about the people who created them. The most common object depicted in their art is the Zebus or the the domesticated long horned humped back Indian cattle. The cattle appear in various images, sometimes alone, sometimes facing each other and sometimes being hunted by stick figures with bows and arrows. In some images cattle are shown with three horns and there is also a depiction of a ritual involving the burning of cow dung.

After cattle, the second most popular image is that of the anthropomorphic ithyphallic figures, depicted having sex, using bows and arrows, raiding cattle, riding animals and dancing. Besides this there are images of other animals like elephants, tigers, deers and symbols like ladder and foot prints.

The location of some of the art is on difficult to reach rock formations located at great heights and it was definitely not Jehangir Art Gallery for even the viewers had to take risk insurance. The present locals perform a ritual called Pitlappa Puja in August and during the ceremony only a few men climb to the top of the hills. One theory is that the rock art was done as a part of some ritual related to cattle and fertility which involved music, like the Shamans.