With daylight rapidly fading we were just able to fit in one more petroglyph site on our first day.
Discovered just two years ago in January 2016, Rundhe Tali near Rajapur is nothing short of astonishing. The centerpiece is a square panel containing an intricate geometric design, broadly symmetrical with the image of what appears to be a human holding two staffs set in the middle (the human is upside down in the above photograph).
I’m not sure what exactly it is about this petroglyph, but I feel like it wouldn’t be out of place at some ancient site in south america. It’s a fascinating design that’s been carved into the landscape.
Tali means “Lake”. This area is known for the rainwater that collects during the monsoon season in the natural depressions of the laterite plateau, it transforms the barren landscape into one with numerous small lakes and ponds. The carvings on this petroglyph seemed to be significantly deeper than most of the sites we visited (approx 5cm), without doubt during the rainy season this petroglyph would take on a significantly different appearance.
On three sides of the main center panel are further images, most notably a tiger, a jellyfish, and a pair of legs.
I suspect this is one of Sudhir’s favourite sites, and who wouldn’t be proud of discovering somewhere like this ! He showed us a box he has had made containing a scale model of Rundhe Tali and a brief overview of the Konkan petroglyphs. You could easily see something like this being sold to tourists one day in the future.
With the light fading fast we retired for the evening, but what an amazing way to end a very long day that started for me at 3am in Pune. Ahead of us the next day was a further four sites, this time heading up towards Ratnagiri.
This was one of seven petroglyph sites I visited in the Konkan during the course of a weekend. Here’s some quick links to the other sites :
- Introduction to the Konkan Petroglyphs
- Barsu Sada
- Devache Gothane
- Rundhe Tali
- Chave Dewood
- Ukshi
- Niwali
- Kasheli
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Categories: India, Konkan Petroglyphs, Maharashtra, Rundhe Tali
Kevin Standage 