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Vikramkhol or Bikramkhol cave is a prehistoric archaeological site known for prehistoric inscriptions.


Location

Vikramkhol cave is located near Jharsuguda,
Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and lies in Reserved Forest of Belpahar range, at a distance of 12 km from
Belpahar Belpahar is a town and a municipality in Jharsuguda district in the state of Odisha, India. Belpahar is famous for its geographical location, as it is the center for many coal mines areas nearby. Krosaki TRL Limited is located in Belpahar whil ...
.


Inscriptions

The inscriptions at Vikramkhol cave are written on an uneven rock surface in a natural rock shelter using red Ochre paint which is later incised into the rock. The inscriptions were discovered around the 1930s and first studied by Dr K P Jayaswal. who tentatively dates it 1500 BC. There are two theories regarding the inscription – one declares it a writing, while others doubt it as a rock art and nonliterate rock carvings


Theory of literate script

According to Jayaswal, the prehistoric scribblings at Vikramkhol represent a picto-syllabic writing system which represents a mixture of Harappan and Brahmi hence forming a connection between the two. The inscribed portion covers an area of 35 feet by 7 feet, The evidences which support it as a writing system are as follows; * The characters are carefully painted and then inscribed which has parallels with Brahmi rock inscriptions * The writings are in regular lines (not always regular due to rough rock surface) * the symbols have set forms which disclose ‘writing habits in the phraseology of handwriting experts. The hand which first painted the letters was used to writing with a pen as evidenced from a certain portion of the inscription. * The system knows the bindu, and also, probably, the visarga. Some letters have dots placed below them, while in some cases dots seem to give a discriminative value to the letters, as in Semitic writing. * The right-hand corner top line on Plate 8, where the same symbol is repeated more than once, may point to the employment of numerals. * It is evident that some of the letters disclose accentuation. Repetition of the same letter twice probably suggests consonantal duplication or conjuncts. * The writing seems to have reached the syllabary (alphabetic) stage. Other scholars such as Naresh Prasad Rastogi state that Its date of the Vikramkhol inscription is still debatable and its letters deserve a more searching scrutiny


Non literate system

Scholars such as Richard Salomon have completely dismissed the Vikramkhol cave inscriptions as pseudo inscriptions According C.L Fabri, the topsy turvy incised signs may have some resemblance with Brahmi script but may not represent writing but possibility of a primitive rural writing cannot be denied either


Neglect

Some historians have felt that, due to negligence and apathy by Government agencies, the inscriptions are fading out and damaged by vandals. Activities of coal mines in surrounding hills, industries like sponge iron are putting environmental pressure on this prehistoric archaeological site. The rock shelter, where the inscriptions are found, is not fully protected and kept open to atmosphere, giving scope for vandals and visitors to deface the inscriptions. As it is located inside Reserve Forest of Belpahar range, the remote access to the place has also contributed to neglect by Government Agencies.


Other Inscriptions

Another set of proto Brahmi or pre historic inscriptions have been found at Garjan Dongar in
Sundergarh district Sundargarh District is a district in the northwestern part of Odisha state in eastern India. Sundargarh district is bounded by Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh in the west, Jashpur district of Chhattisgarh in the North-West, Simdega district o ...
, and Ushakothi in Sambalpur district in Orissa.


References

{{coord , 21.826724, 83.764282, display=title Archaeological sites in Odisha Prehistoric art Rock art in India Caves containing pictograms in India Rock shelters Jharsuguda district Caves of Odisha