Petroglyphs of Barsu

While returning back after visiting the goddess Aryadurga originally worshipped in the island village of Anjadip of Goa that is believed to come to Devihosal for the intense  devotion shown by the aged devotee, we visited the plateau of Barsu on the way to Rajapur.

Barsu a village 10 kms  away from the city of Rajapur, recently is in the news as the government has decided to hand over the laterite plateau in the village for the proposed petrochemical industry, which however met with a stern opposition from the local villagers. The villagers are of the views that the Petrochemical industry,  would pose serious threat to the invaluable archeological heritage of Petroglyphs inherited, since the unknown span of the time period. Locally, the villagers call this plateau as the Tarwacha sada that means the plateau of boats. This name has been given as the locals, who were taking their cattle and buffaloes for grazing, were coming across the petroglyphs showcasing complex geometrical, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic shapes and sizes.

Barsu plateau offers excellent view of Petroglyphs of varied diversity in shapes,sizes and styles that are beyond imagination to understand and agree by the researchers. One can see the zoomorphic forms that are identified by the petroglyph experts as the Shark, crocodile, aligator and other wild animals.

Many of the Petroglyphs are accompanied with the abstract motifs and symbols, about which archaeologists continued to have differences about their age, meaning and creators. The locals used to call this area as the Tarwacha sada, on account the depiction of boats like carvings.

At Barsu, most of all Petroglyphs are unique, however the carving of a man and two tigers is indeed eye catching. The man is shown standing between two figures of tigers jumping towards him. The man has been depicted with streched arms to keep these tigers at the bay.

For the carving of tigers, markings made of stripes patterns is also different from the tiger that is seen in the Western Ghat forest.

Barsu plateau has more than 50 Petroglyphs, having a lot of variations as far as styles and patterns of carvings are concerned.

Though, the plateau where these Petroglyphs have been discovered, now has very little forestry species, but in the past, the situation however was totally different and there is need of doing extensive field study and research in unearthing the hidden secrets associated with the history and heritage of the Petroglyphs of Barsu.

The plateau has the trees like Falcornia insignis,thorny bushes and varied plants of wild berries. During the monsoon it, display excellent diversity of seasonal wild flowers, whereas after rain recedes, it is full with large tracts of grassland, that attracts a wide range of wild herbivores animals. Due to this, finds of the Petroglyphs during the rainy season and after it, is indeed cumbersome. However, when, some one able to discover, these Petroglyphs, he or she will indeed find extra ordinary experience that certainly boost to unearth the secrets associated it.