Charama (Inde): 10,000-year-old rock paintings
Rashmi Drolia
One of the ancient rock paintings carved on caves at Charama in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district. (TOI photo by Amit Bhardwaj)
Chhattisgarh state department of archaeology and culture plans to seek help from Nasa and Isro for research on 10,000-year-old rock paintings in Charama region in Kanker district in tribal Bastar region.
According to archaeologist JR Bhagat, these paintings have depicted aliens like those shown in Hollywood and Bollywood flicks. Located about 130km from Raipur, the caves come under village Chandeli and Gotitola.
One of the ancient rock paintings carved on caves at Charama in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district. (TOI photo by Amit Bhardwaj)
There are several beliefs among locals in these villages. While few worship the paintings, others narrate stories they have heard from ancestors about "rohela people" — the small sized ones — who used to land from sky in a round shaped flying object and take away one or two persons of village who never returned.
"The paintings are done in natural colours that have hardly faded despite the years. The strangely carved figures are seen holding weapon-like objects and do not have clear features. Specially, the nose and mouth are missing. In few pictures, they are even shown wearing space suits. We can't refute possibility of imagination by prehistoric men but humans usually fancy such things," the archaeologist said.
(TOI photo by Amit Bhardwaj)
Other archaeologists would also be consulted for further verification.
(TOI photo by Amit Bhardwaj)