Petroglyphs of Dhamapur -Salel

The huge laterite plateau that has been spread across villages of Salel and Dhamapur of Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra, came to light recently for the rich archaeological heritage of Petroglyphs.The discovery of the Petroglyphs, earlier on the various plateaus of Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri districts of Maharashtra, since the period of last quarter century has indeed opened the new door for understanding the history of the coastal land, connected by the waterways to the Arabian sea.

On Kudal to Malvan main road, a small road with the temple of Giroba of Mogarane, takes you to the plateau having the rock art.

The plateau has the settlement of the pastoral Dhangar,who are living with their houses and goats.The laterite plateau has operational quarrying mine of laterite bricks in Godyachivadi, where the beautiful wild flowers of Dipcadi konkanansis have been swirling over the breeze.
Vaishali Bute, from Godyachivadi told,I had been seeing the petroglyphs, from almost 20 years ago,at Avalichi ghothan.My father in law,was telling us that,these Petroglyphs were carved by the Pandavas.
Situated at the distance of about 1300.mts from the house of Vaishali Bute, these Petroglyphs visit was possible due to Pramod Salaskar.The distance between the first site of Petroglyphs and the second is about 460 mts.

The Petroglyphs that have been noticed on the laterite plateau displays varied unfamiliar geometrical figures of different shapes and sizes . These figures have been carved by using the pointed and sharp tools and it is difficult to tell , with what objectives, these Petroglyphs have been created and by whom? These Petroglyphs depicts intricate squares,circles, rectangular shaped figures .

Dhamapur, since the hoary past have been connected to the region of the western Ghats as well as of the West Coast, witnessed flourishing trading activities.The imagery, artistic techniques,contents and composition of these Petroglyphs,if properly decipher,it will certainly help in understanding the history and heritage of the region. The diversity of symbolism,forms, composition,propertion, techniques used in Dhamapur is different from the Petroglyphs that have been discovered in other places of the vicinity.
Dhamapur with the temple of presiding deity Bhagavati and other deities , have been attracting the people from various parts. Dhamapur lake has been designated as the World Irrigation Heritage Structure in 2020.The reservoir of the lake,have been created on account of the earth fill dam that was constructed by the villagers in 1530 for irrigating their agricultural and horticultural fields.With the discovery of these Petroglyphs, the tourists, researchers will visit Dhamapur to understand the ecological, archeological and cultural history of the area, alongwith enjoying the sight of the unique lake.Unearthing the secrets connected with the abstract Petroglyphs of Dhamapur,is one of the big challenge before the archaeologists and researchers, visiting the area.The Nerur copper plate inscription of the Badami Chalukya ruler,Vijayaditya of 700 A .D. make mention of Dhamapur as Sahmyapur and Walaval as Ballalvalil situated on the either banks of the river.