L'art rupestre de l'India i el centre d'estudis contestansLa Crònica de Bhimbetka

Resumen

This article, written as travel chronicle, describes the firts research visit made by the CEC team to Bhopal in February 2005. First, the trajectory of the CEC is narrated, refering to the different discoveries of rock art inthe mediterranean Levante region, from the Salem Caves in Valencia (1974) to the Pla de petracos in Alicante province (1980) Precisely, this passion for the rock art entered into connection with India, when at the beginning of 2004, German researchers Manfred and Katja Bader on the occasion of a visit paid to the CEC, showed some brochures of Bhimbetka that was recently declared World Heritatge Site. These pictures caused a deep impact in the hearts and minds of the CEC members. At the same time, it was received at the museum the book "Indiuan Rock Art and its global context "written by Dr. KK Chakravarty and Bedmarik. From that very moment, it was addressed a letter to the Indian scholar, Dr. Kakyan Kumar Chakravarty, at that time Member Secretay and Executive Trustee of Indian Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi, asking him for advice to visit Bhimbetka and explore the option to subsribe a Memorandum of Understanding between both institutions. From the very beginning, there was a mutual and reciprocal interest to collaborate for join scientific studies including survey, documentation and research of the rock art of the Spanish and Indian regions. Subsequently, this chronice explains all the preparations of the first trip to Bhopal looking for the financial resources and technical and institutional support from different Spanish entities. It was decided that the team to travel to India would be: Pere Ferrer, Enrique Catlà and José Elías Esteve. At the same time, all the schedule and permis needed of the trip was arranged in India by Dr. Chakravarty during the previous months of February 2005. Afterwards, the chronicle describes the trip to Indian, beginning from the visit in Mumbai to the Father Jesuit, Ripoll, native of the village of Cocentaina, followed by a trip to Budhist Kanheri Caves. He was living in India since many decades ago teaching at the Seminar of St. Pius College, in Goregaon, Mumbai, place where we the team was lodged. Then, the main part of the article makes up a detailed story of the research visit to different sites arround Bhopal city. Mainly, the trip was supervised in Bhopal by Chakravarty succesor at the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS) or National Museum of Humankind or Museum of Man, that at that time was, Professor Kishosr Bassa. this explains that the "base camp" in Bhopal was this anthropology museum located at the heights of Shamla Hills. Professor Bassa coordinated with different officials of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the visitors to rock art and cultural sites such as, Adamgarh at Hoshangabab, Bhimbetka, IGRMS museum and rock art shelters, Talpura or Panguraria-Bayan archaeological complex. The article in a very detailed manner describes the different motifs of the rock art painting and the surrounding of the sites, jointly with the encounters with, that everyday was supervised by Dr. Chakravarty from Delhi. Sometime was already left to get a glimpse River and the Budhist world Heritage Site of Sanchi, that was introduced by the kind ASI official, Josef Manuel. The chronicle concludes with a review of the impressions caused to the team of the rock art of Madhya Pradesh that provoked at the return to Spain to take futher steps with a ckear intention to consolidate a cultural research Indian-Spanish project for the coming years.