Theoretical and Cognitive Aspects of Rock Art

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Rock art is a collection of diverse categories of representations covering symbolic, artistic, magico- religious and socio-economic components of human culture from the prehistoric to modern age. It is a form of historical record that helps us to understand the development of artistic and cultural traditions and belief systems. Rock art of India can be better understood through studies focusing on theoretical perspectives. It represents the development of cognition and also reflects the variation in the cognition of different phenomena.

There is no universal method for interpretation of rock art. In rock art studies the subjectivity always exists, leading to speculative identifications and interpretations. Logical interpretations of the message intended to be conveyed by the authors of rock art need to be done quite precisely without any preconceived ideas or bias.

The present volume addresses important issues related to theoretical as well as cultural resources associated with rock art worldwide, including the evolution of perspectives and relative sizes in rock art. It addresses the technical aspects and recent methodologies adopted in interpreting rock art such as choice of colours, association with recovered tools and technological evidence like smelting. The former may address the jurisdiction and interpretation of rock art while the latter includes neuroscience data, cognitive mapping and evolution of complexity in rock art and a critical examination of the shamanistic function of rock art. Largely they account for a comprehensive understanding of the occurrence of rock art as a universal phenomenon.

The papers included in the present volume highlight the immense potential that rock art possesses in unraveling the mysteries of the past. Most of their views expressed by the scholars are appropriate and hold good promise in terms of recent trends in rock art research. This beautifully illustrated volumes aim to boost and promote rock art research. It will certainly contribute to rectify and enhance our vision of rock art.

Prof. Bansi Lal Malla, an Art Historian with specialisation in Indian art and culture studies is presently working as HOD, Adi Drishya Department of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi. He has obtained his Master's degree in History from Kashmir University, Master's degree in Museology and Ph.D. in History of Arts from the Banaras Hindu University.

Prof. Malla is the author of The Sculptures of Kashmir, Vaisnava Art and Iconography of Kashmir; Trees in Indian Art, Mythology and Folklore, Cosmology and Cosmic Interpretations: Shaiva Thought and Art of Kashmir, Methodology; Glimpses of India-China Rock Art; Glorious Bhimbetka: A Catalogue Based on IGNCA's Dr. Yshodhar Mathpal Collection; Rock Art Studies: Concept, Conservation of Rock Art (ed.); Context, Documentation and Conservation Vol. (ed.). Rock Art Studies: Interpretation through Multidisciplinary Approaches Vol.ll (ed.), The World of Rock Art: An Overview of the Five Continents (ed.), Global rock Art (ed.), Rock Art of India: Suitable Dating Techniques (ed.), Cultural Ecology: Prehistoric and Ethno-archaeological Context of Rock Art in North-Eastern and Other Indian States (ed.) and Understanding Rock Art of India-China: Rock Art of India, Vol. I (ed.) and Understanding Rock Art of India-China: Rock Art of China, Vol. II (ed., in press), Rock Art Heritage of North East India (ed.); Rock Art of Andhra Pradesh: A New Synthesis (General ed.); Silent Rock's and Eloquent Testimony: Rock Art Heritage of Odisha (General ed.). राजस्थान की शैलचित्र कला (मुख्य संपादक). Besides a number of research articles published in reputed professional journals, he has also participated in many national and international conferences/workshops both in India and abroad. Prof. Malla has widely travelled in India, France, Italy, Iran, and China in connection with his field studies and conferences. His area of interest is both classical and vernacular traditions. He has been associated with IGNCA-UNESCO-UNDP project on Village India i.e. "Identification and Enhancement of India's Cultural Heritage: An Internal Necessity for the Management of Development".

Currently, Prof. Malla is engaged in documentation, ecological conservation and ethno-archaeological study and survey of Indian Rock Art; and also in Himalayan Studies.

Rock art is a vital archaeological source for studying and analyzing the cognitive evolution of human intellect across the world. The vast corpus of rock art that occurs in almost all parts of the world provides the most comprehensive database for understanding the universal forms of expression and communication of used by human societies right from the earliest times. India is very fortunate in possessing one of the most important rock art zones of the world, attracting scholars from all parts of the globe.

The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) is working on a major academic programme related to exploring artistic manifestations from man's primary sense perceptions, Rock art forms a crucial component of this programme. IGNCA is one of the few institutions in India which has undertaken substantial and significant inter-disciplinary documentation and research studies in the field of rock art.

There is no universal method of interpreting rock art and subjectivity always exists leading to speculative identification and interpretations. To understand rock art in its context, it is very essential to use scientific and systematic designs with theoretical and cognitive approaches.

Scholars from many disciplines are also very desirable for a scientific study, documentation and research of rock art for its holistic understanding. This volume Theoretical and Cognitive Aspects of Rock Art addresses these issues within its frame. It gives me immense pleasure to present 21" volume under the IGNCA Rock Art Series.

I sincerely congratulate the HoD and Project Director, Prof. Bansi Lal Malla (Editor) and his team at the Adi Drishya Department for their concerted efforts in bringing out this publication. I trust it will achieve the objective of promoting recent trends in rock art research and dissemination of its knowledge through multidisciplinary approaches. I also hope that this publication will achieve the objective of enhancing and promoting rock art studies not only among scholars bur also the general public.

Rock art is a collection of diverse representations covering symbolic, artistic, magico-religious and socioeconomic components of human culture from the Prehistoric to the Modern age. Rock att is a form of historical record that helps us understand the development of artistic and cultural traditions and belief systems in various ecological niches in various chronological contexts. It cannot be studied in isolation as it is related to its cultural, ecological and chronological contexts so these also have to be studied to understand its meaning and significance, Rock art of India can be better understood through studies done from theoretical and cognitive perspectives. It represents the development of cognition and its reflection in different phenomena.

There is no universal method of interpreting rock art. Subjectivity always exists in studies of rock art, which leads to speculative identification and interpretations. Logical interpretations of the messages intended to be conveyed by the authors of rock art need to be done quite precisely without any preconceived ideas or biases. Rock art as an important cultural heritage and universal phenomenon has survived a long period of human history and forms an invaluable source for understanding the human mind and its evolution through time. To understand rock art in its context, it is necessary to use scientific and systematic documentation, descriptions and theoretical and cognitive approaches.

The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) is working on a major academic programme exploring artistic manifestations emanating from man's primary sense perceptions. Amongst the senses that lead to aesthetic experience are vision (drishya) and hearing (shravya). Rock art forms a crucial component of the Adi Drishya programme. It is concerned with man's creativity across time, space and civilizations and cultures through the perception of sight. Interestingly, the art forms created by the Prehistoric people are conceptually equivalent to those created in recent times indicating that human cognition and symbolizing activities as well as anatomy were called 'modern' by that time. Thus, the origin(s) of art would have been much more ancient that lie within Africa, before worldwide human dispersal.

IGNCA has been organizing both national and international seminars under its Adi Drishya programme to address different aspects related to rock art documentation, its conservation, dating and interpretation to remain updated with recent research trends in these fields. Under this series IGNCA organized a national seminar "Theoretical and Cognitive Aspects of Rock Art, on 4-5 April, 2017. This two days national seminar was a huge success in which scholars from various parts of India participated. Students from various colleges and institutions from Delhi and other states also participated actively in the seminar along with rock art enthusiasts. The following recommendations were made in the seminar: (i) Seminars/workshops should be held in town/ cities near rock art sites.