Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
@GemsOfINDOLOGY
Feb 24, 2023 • 19 tweets • 11 min read • Read on X
Scrolly
#Thread Horse rock art from Chaturbhuj Nala caves Bhanpura, Pahadpur caves, Panchmadhi caves and caves from other parts of India.
The caves conservatively dates between 20,000-4000 ybp
#Archaeology

/1 Image
Two horses decorated with garlands. The warriors can be seen holding curved swords, bow arrows and shields
Do they look like wild or domesticated?
Bhimbetka Cave Paintings
Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh
~4000 ybp
#Archaeology
bradshawfoundation.com/india/central_…

/2 Image
This painting of horse and horse rider seems 2000-3000 years old
bradshawfoundation.com/india/central_…
#Archaeology

/3 Image
This one is my favourite
4 horses driven chariot driven by crowned man holding axe chased by a monster.
Could this be a folk story ?
#Archaeology
bradshawfoundation.com/india/central_…

/4 Image
This Garrison with horses, witchcraft woman, crows,, Javelins from Bhimbetka is intriguing for similar art is decorated in North India during ahoi ashtami
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_pain…
#Archaeology

/5 Image
Another troop of horses and horse riders in charge mode with Javelins from Bhimbetka caves
#Archaeology

/6 Image
This 5000 years old art from Laddakh was pitched for UN seal.
The solo man and horse drawn on Laddakh rock is fascinating
#Archaeology

/7
Relatively recent painting of horse on Bhimbetka caves seems divine.
#Archaeology
bradshawfoundation.com/india/central_…

/8 Image
Not sure of source of this solo horse and rider. But this could have been pitched for UN seal but it's attacking stance might fail it.
#Archaeology

/9 Image
dsource.in/resource/bhimb…

/10 ImageImage
Elegance is mesmerising

/11 Image
Rockart from Porivarai, Tamilnadu are self explanatory
#Archaeology

/12 Image
Can you spot there horse?
#Archaeology

/13 Image
Date this horse but the elegance is unbeatable
#Archaeology

/14 Image
This Horse chariot from Bhimbetka has many stories to tell
#Archaeology
bradshawfoundation.com/india/central_…

/15 Image
This horsebfrom Panchmadhi is exquisite simply
#Archaeology

/16 Image
3 person holding rein of 3 horses.
Does they look wild?
Dond district Uttarpradesh.


/17 Image
I hope you've found this thread helpful.

Follow me @GemsOfINDOLOGY for more.

Like/Retweet the first tweet below if you can:

/18
You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: typefully.com/GemsOfINDOLOGY…

/19

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with GemsOfINDOLOGY

GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @GemsOfINDOLOGY

GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Feb 10
Thread 3

WHEN WOMEN WERE LINEAGE, NOT DEPENDENTS
(Travancore, matriliny, 1920s)

1️⃣
Here is the part most people don’t expect.

These systems did not vanish in antiquity.
They survived into the 20th century.

This is not rock art.
This is documentation. Image
2️⃣
In parts of Kerala and Travancore, lineage followed the woman.

Property.
Household identity.
Social continuity.

Children belonged to the mother’s line.
Not the father’s surname.

This was not chaos.
It was a functioning social order.
3️⃣
Relationships were recognised through custom, not sacrament.

Sambandham-type unions existed.
Women could enter and exit relationships.
Sexual exclusivity was not the foundation of legitimacy.

A child did not need a certified father to be socially valid.

That detail matters.
Read 7 tweets
GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Feb 7
1️⃣ Every art history course starts in Greece.

But here's what they don't mention: almost every Greek painting from the Classical period is gone. Lost.

Meanwhile, in India, 700 years of continuous wall paintings still exist.

Let's talk about what survives vs what we worship. Image
2️⃣ Ajanta Caves.

Painting phases dated 2nd century BCE – 5th century CE.

That means: Ajanta begins before Alexander. And continues after Rome adopts Christianity.

This isn't parallel art. This is a continuous painting tradition spanning 700 years. Image
3️⃣ Where are Greek paintings from 480–323 BCE?

Answer from classical scholarship: almost entirely lost.

What survives:
• Roman wall paintings (1st c. BCE–1st c. CE)
• Literary praise by Pliny the Elder
• Copies, not originals

An origin remembered by texts vs one preserved in pigment.Image
Read 7 tweets
GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Feb 5
1️⃣ The first diamond ever touched by human hands came from Indian soil. Golconda mines, 4th century BCE. We didn't dig for profit. We picked them from riverbeds like pebbles. 💎

Then someone realized they could own what the earth gave freely. Image
2️⃣ 1600s: Golconda diamonds weighed 23 million carats annually. The world's entire supply. Tavernier documented it. Shah Jahan embedded them in the Peacock Throne.

We controlled brilliance itself. Image
3️⃣ 1739: Nadir Shah walks into Delhi. Walks out with the Kohinoor and the Peacock Throne. Combined worth? Impossible to calculate. The throne alone held 26,733 gems.

First lesson: What glitters gets taken. Image
Read 8 tweets
GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Jan 30
1/ ASI admits stone jars occur across Assam, Laos, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

That admission changes everything. Once you acknowledge geographic spread, local narratives collapse. Interpretation must go regional. 🧵 Image
@himantabiswa @ASIGoI @MinOfCultureGoI @tourismgoi @gssjodhpur @UNESCO 2/ ASI records no present-day tribe claims authorship.

That's not ambiguity. That's normal. Mortuary traditions outlast populations, languages, identities by millennia.

Continuity ≠ authorship. Image
3/ ASI calls them ancestral bone repositories — already placing them in secondary burial systems.

The same function archaeologically proven at the Plain of Jars.

Function aligns across regions. Not coincidence. Image
Read 7 tweets
GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Jan 22
1/10
Meet Bhagirathi — the river that dragged Ganga from Shiva's hair to earth.

Rigveda calls her "the one who flows with the speed of thought."

Today? A trickle dying before Gangotri even starts.

From cosmic torrent to seasonal sewer. Thread 🧵 Image
2/10
Bhagirathi begins at Gaumukh — "cow's mouth" glacier.

1935: 300-meter ice wall, roaring.
2025: Snout retreated 3+ km uphill. Glacier lost 25% volume since the 1960s.

Your Himalayan trek selfie is on her corpse. 📸❄️ Image
3/10
Vedic seers saw her as divine:
नदीं न संनादतीं दमूनसम् (RV 10.75.4)
"The river that roars like a bull in rut."

Now? Summer discharge down 40% since 1990.
Sometimes she doesn't reach Devprayag to become "Ganga."

Literal identity crisis. 🏔️💧 Image
Read 10 tweets
GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Jan 22
You already know that for over 2,000 years, Indian smiths forged steel so sharp it cut European swords in half. So resilient it became legend across continents.

By 1900, those same smiths were classified as backward. Primitive. Incapable of innovation.

What happened between? 🧠⚔️ You don't know!!

A 5-step manual for erasure. READ On 👇

#decolonisation #UncropTheTruth

1/7Image
Step 1: Extract the technique

Indian wootz steel arrived in British laboratories in 1795. Samples were analysed, chemical compositions documented, papers published in the Royal Society. The steel was credited to "Eastern origin." The smiths who forged it? Unnamed. Untraced. Irrelevant.

The technique was extracted. The technician was erased.

2/7Image
Step 2: Disrupt the ecosystem

Wootz steel required specific forests for charcoal, particular ores, seasonal smelting cycles. Colonial forest laws between 1855–1878 criminalized wood collection, turned smelting zones into "reserved land," cut access to raw materials.

The furnaces went cold. Not because knowledge disappeared, but because resources were locked behind permits the smiths couldn't obtain.

3/7Image
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

Send Email!

:(