: 79-YO Padma Shri Awardee Spent 30 Years Preserving 10000-Year-Old Art #IndiaNEWS On the premises of a large house surrounded by trees in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, curious visitors queue up inside the

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79-YO Padma Shri Awardee Spent 30 Years Preserving 10000-Year-Old Art #IndiaNEWS
On the premises of a large house surrounded by trees in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, curious visitors queue up inside the Sanskriti Museum that houses old rock paintings that are about 10,000 years old. They belong to the Mesolithic, Chalcolithic and Neolithic eras.
In the same complex are a few students learning Sohrai and Khovar paintings. Their eyes remain fixed on Bulu Imam, who is explaining the similarities between the ancient rock paintings, murals drawn by tribal women artists on the house walls and the motifs his students drew.
Bulu, now a noted historian and Padma Shri awardee, has spent over two-thirds of his life exploring, identifying, studying and preserving the ancient art that could have got erased in a mining project.
Interestingly, the 79-year-old never had any liking towards art or academic knowledge. Belonging to the family of politicians and diplomats, Bulu was a big-game hunter who followed in his father’s footsteps to hunt animals that posed threats to human life.
But he admits, “We never pursued hunting for pleasure. �
Sohrai art painted by tribal women on their house walls.
However, in the mid-1980s, he turned to activism when he learned about a mining project threatening the existence of 300 tribal villages. “I was roaming around the state with a British traveller and writer Mark Shand when I saw dense forest areas getting destroyed by the state officials,� he says.
Shocked by the mass-scale destruction of the forest, he approached the forest officials who were acquainted with his work. “I learned that the Central Government had allotted contracts to mine 6 million tonnes of coal at 30 sites in Damodar valley. I decided to oppose the decision and spearheaded a movement,� he recalls.
Bulu says the mining would’ve displaced the tribals and affected their livelihoods as their lives depended on the forest. “They also worshipped sacred rocks, some of which were megaliths dating back to 2,000 BC,� he adds.
Eventually, he dedicated his life to saving the community and the wildlife in neighbouring regions by preventing the destruction of local culture, biodiversity and distinct animal habitats.
Tracing Ancient Art
Recognising his work, in 1986, INTACH, a Delhi based NGO working towards preserving the heritage, approached him by designating him as a convener for the organisation and running the campaign with their support. “In 1987, I conducted various campaigns to stop the mining activities from Damodar valley to Hazaribaug,� he adds.
His entry into the ancient art happened simultaneously when one evening in 1991, an Australian Jesuit priest, Father Tony Herbert, approached him with news of some red markings found in one of the caves in the mining area.

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