Bhanpura
Bhanpura (भानपुरा) town is situated in Mandsaur district in Madhya Pradesh gets its name from king named Bhaman (भामन). Bhaman (भामन) is gotra of Jats found in Punjab.
Bhanpura is located at 24°31′N 75°44′E / 24.52°N 75.73°E / 24.52; 75.73. It has an average elevation of 384 metres (1259 feet). As of 2001 India census, Bhanpura had a population of 16,493. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Bhanpura has an average literacy rate of 70%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with male literacy of 80% and female literacy of 61%. 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Bhanpura Rock art
In January 2007, the Rock Arts Society of India (RASI) stated that the "longest chain of rock arts in the world" was situated at a site 35 km from Bhanpura. The earliest carvings in the chain are mostly of animals. [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/Worlds_longest_rock_art_chain_in_Vindhyas/articleshow/1067999.cms T S Sreenivasa Raghavan in The Times of India, 6 January 2007]
The 12-km-long site, with most of its petroglyphs or pre-historic rock carvings intact, has been discovered in Mandsaur district of Malwa region, which is also home to Bhimbetka, the UNESCO world heritage site, 45 km south of Bhopal.
The Rock Arts Society of India (RASI), which knew about the existence of the site for sometime, has now gone official saying the site in the Vindhyan tableland, a plateau lying north of the central part of the Vindhya range, is indeed the "longest chain of rock arts in the world".
"Nowhere in the world has anybody come across such an extensive chain of rock arts with little interruption. What's exciting is most petroglyphs are intact," internationally acclaimed paleontologist and former RASI secretary G L Badam told TOI.
The site is situated inside dense forests, 35 km from Bhanpura town, about 350 km from Bhopal. Earliest carvings in the chain are mostly of animals like rhino, nilgai , bear, panther, elephant, monkey, turtle and crocodile. But there are also pictures of cow, bull, buffalo, pig and horse.
Experts have called the discovery of the Bhanpura rock arts as "an important milestone in the history of anthropology". "The presence of a variety of rituals, processions and fighting scenes goes to prove the continuity of the art and early man's culmination into community living," said Badam.
RASI officials have already pitched for National Park status to the Vindhyan rock-shelters.
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