This 1-Lakh-Year-Old Art Gallery Shows The State Of Indian Tourism Sites

At Bhimbetka, one of India's forty Unesco world heritage sites, you will see humans' prehistoric art and early life in cave paintings that are 30,000 years old. What you will also see, is a lone tourist guide, tourists' disregard for the site maintenance and yawning gaps in infrastructure.

Domestic tourism is booming. Has tourist infrastructure kept pace?

Maybe not. A long weekend travelling to the heart of India in Madhya Pradesh's state capital Bhopal, and sites in and around the city, offered a microcosm of just some bottlenecks a tourist today faces.

Bhimbetka is about 45 kilometres away from Bhopal. A search for public buses from Bhopal to Bhimbetka on the state's transport department does not throw up any results. Alternate travel sites appear to suggest that tourists from Bhopal can take a bus to Hoshangabad and then travel to Bhimbetka, about 4 km away.

Given the lack of viable public transport, a cab is likely your best bet.

At Bhimbetka, you will see 15 rock shelters open for the public. Cupules made in one of the rock shelters are considered by some scholars as man's earliest manifestation of creativity, probably associated to one lakh years ago, according to the Archaeological Survey of India. Further ahead on the same path, you come across the Zoo Rock Shelter, which qualifies as the most densely painted rock shelter, with paintings spanning from the Mesolithic to the Mediaeval. 

Once you are here, if you are lucky, you can snap up the the sole licensed tourist guide. Else, rely on some of the plaques and a handful of QR codes for information.

Parents are seen encouraging their children to climb up the rocks as they take pictures, families pose for selfies, groups of friends race around, oblivious of the site's significance or the need to conserve it.

At least on a relative basis, Bhimbetka's fortunes are still intact. A walk around old Bhopal reveals most of the city's monuments in varying stages of dilapidation.

The history of Bhopal and its monuments is unique because its an amalgamation of Afghan and French architecture, said Sikander Malik, who curates heritage walks in the city. The government was initially concerned but in recent years there has been a shift in their ideology, which is visible when it comes to restoration and saving these buildings, Malik said. In fact they have demolished a few or leasing it out to private stakeholders, he added. "No maintenance, no questions, no answers."

An ad for MP tourism will not increase tourist footfall, said Malik, adding that it's infrastructure that will help.

The government cannot be blamed for everything, he said, adding that local awareness and involvement will help. To increase local tourism, it helps to involve local people, attach their livelihoods to their local culture, suggests Malik.

"In that sense a lot of rethinking and rechurning is required."

Allocation to the ministries of tourism and culture, under which Archaeological Survey of India falls, remains low. After being slashed in FY22, revised government allocation to the ministry of tourism was at Rs 1,343 crore in FY23, compared to Rs 2,400 crore budgeted. For FY24, the government has once again allocated a sum of Rs 2,400 crore, while the Ministry of Culture has been allocated Rs 3,399.7 crore.

A must-visit while in Bhopal is the state tribal museum. Madhya Pradesh is known for its diverse tribal population and boasts of over 45 ethnic tribes. The state tribal museum provides a glimpse of their lives, cultures, traditions, gods, and stories around their origins.

It's more than just a display of tribal objects--an immersive experience, channeling how these tribes perceive and use art, architecture and aesthetics in everyday life.

One gallery comprises near-real life replicas of tribal homes, with the tribes' architectural skills, aesthetic interiors and use of natural resources giving the visitor a masterclass on living and breathing sustainability. The tribals know no other way of way of life.

A highlight in another gallery is an octagonal wedding canopy under the shades of four beautifully carved trees, which represent myths from four different tribes. These trees symbolize the origin of life, life cycle, life in totality and eternity.

Another gallery hosts a chariot that the tribal communities in the neighboring Bastar district in Chhattisgarh, come together to build every year for their deity for Dussehra- probably the longest celebrated festival at 75 days every year.

The museum is one of a kind. It should not be.