ASI to excavate Bhima Mandali caves to track down its habitation history

In a first, a cave site in the state will be excavated to understand its pre-historic nature. The Ministry of Culture has allowed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to excavate the Bhima Mandali cave site in Rairakhol sub-division of Sambalpur, which is famous for its cultural and mythological significance and ancient rock art.

The ASI will rope in institutions like Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology and any IIT for the scientific excavation which will begin in the first week of November this year.

Superintending archaeologist of ASI (Puri circle) DB Gadnayak said scientific investigation of the flooring of the caves will be carried out to understand the nature of human material culture or habitation deposits, among other things.

Initial investigations had revealed the presence of material culture including pottery in the caves which have a minimum history of at least 10,000 years (mesolithic age or middle stone age). “This excavation is aimed at knowing the extent (depth) of material culture of the caves and assign a scientific date to the site, be it mesolithic age or upper paleolithic age,” Gadnayak said.

Located inside the Landimal forest under the Rairakhol division, Bhima Mandali is known for its cultural and mythological significance. While there were hundreds of caves at the site, close to a 100 are currently accessible. Of these, 40 to 42 caves have several symbols and paintings and engravings of animals like boar, elephant, deer, turtle and fish besides, images from human settlements.

Mythologically, the site was believed to be the abode of Bhima during his exile. While the paintings are a few in number, there are a large number of engraved motifs that are filled with red ochre pigments. Champali river flows close to the site.

Earlier this year, the Tourism department had added Bhima Mandali to the list of tourism destinations in Sambalpur. Tourists also get the opportunity to go on a Debrigarh-Bhima Mandali-Hirakud trail. This trail was also inaugurated this year by Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan.