VELUDHARAN TEMPLES VISIT : Chakkilichi Parai Rock Arts, A part of தேன்வரந்தை குகை பாறை ஓவியங்கள் / Thenvaranthai Cave Paintings, Palani region, Dindigul District Tamil Nadu.

Thursday, 9 May 2024

Chakkilichi Parai Rock Arts, A part of தேன்வரந்தை குகை பாறை ஓவியங்கள் / Thenvaranthai Cave Paintings, Palani region, Dindigul District Tamil Nadu.

The visit to this Chakkilichi Parai Rock Art was a part of the Visit to rock art in Natural caves in the Dindigul District near Palani on 3^rd April 2024. Thanks to Thenkongu Sathasivam, who took us (Mrs Sakthi Prakash and Mr Srinivasan) to the Rock Art Caves.

Normally, rock art depicts animals, human beings and their culture, important rituals, their habits, their relationship with the animals, etc. We can find such rock art in caves in various parts of the world. The rock paintings are normally in white, red, and Black ochre colours. As per the research, the red ochre paintings are more than 10 thousand years old, while the white colour is about 2000 to 3000 years old.

These Chakkilichi Parai Rock Arts are on a small hill, on the back side of the Thenvaranthai Caves – தேன்வரந்தை குகை பாறை ஓவியங்கள் (Thenvaranthai Cave Paintings), near Kallapuram/ Mathakadiputhur. This Chakkilichi Parai Rock art is in two natural open caves, of which one is on the Ground level.

These rock shelters have a group of white colours (A combination of minerals like lime and vegetable colours ) and rock art depicting men, women, elephants, tigers, snakes, etc. In one group, people are gathered for rituals. Another group of art shows the capture of elephants and their taming for domestic purposes. We could see that some of the paintings are less skilled, which means they are a little older than the others. Some of the art is painted with thin lines (like using brushes). Some of the paintings are made with white ochre, and outlines are drawn with black. In addition to this, some art is done with black ochre, like trishul, Men, etc. The speciality of this Rock art is the number of dots. As per the experts, these dots may denote trees.

Black ochre border arts

Similar paintings are also seen in the second cave. In this, the surface is not uniform; many pits are found on the surface. Rock art is drawn in these Kuzhi / குழி / pit areas, too. As per the Archaeologists, these paintings are 2000 to 3000 years old, and the shelter was continuously used for more than 1000 years.