Tourist sites in Hazaribagh

TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE (T.I.C)
Address: Aranya Vihar  Tourist Bunglow, Herangunj, P.O-Hazaribagh- 825301
Website: www.tichazaribagh.in Tel: 06546-224916

PHOTO - EXHIBITION at T.I.C OF TOURIST PLACES IN & AROUND HAZARIBAGH

GALLERY 1: PREHISTORIC ROCK-ART SITES (10,000 B.C) OF HAZARIBAGH & CHATRA  DISTRICTS
GALLERY 2: TRIBAL ART – KHOVAR (Marriage art) and SOHRAI (Harvest art) VILLAGE PAINTING OF HAZARIBAGH
GALLERY 3: BUDDHIST & JAIN SITES and MEGALITHS (Burial Grounds) OF HAZARIBAGH and surroundings.
GALLERY 4: NATURAL HERITAGE & WILDLIFE OF HAZARIBAGH and KODERMA DISTRICTS
GALLERY 5: MAN-MADE HERITAGE, PARKS, DAMS, and PICNIC SPOTS OF HAZARIBAGH and surrounding

TOUR PACKAGE Offered by TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE HAZARIBAGH 

 “Ancient – Cultural and Natural Heritage Tours in Hazaribagh”
Protecting, Preserving and Promoting Ancient Arts, Culture and Historical sites

ONE NIGHT TWO DAYS: Weekend Tourism
Come explore the lesser known Lonely Planet sites of Jewels hidden in Jharkhand

NOTE:
Tour in A/c and non A/c four-wheel drive in Groups of four to six persons starting at time: 8 am with packed Picnic hamper, fruits & water with field sensitive Guides and return by 5-6 pm (flexible) approx 120 – 150 Kms daily travel
Vehicle Hire : (Rs.1500/-) per day INOVA/MAHINDRA XYLO (Rs.1000/-) TATA Victa + Diesel (10KMPL) and Tour Guide : Rs.500/- per day

1.     East Hazaribagh:

1.1 Buddhist site at Sitagarha –Megalithic site at Chano –Buddhist site at Sekha Barasi–Sohrai painted village houses at  Bhelwara – Konar Dam
1.2 Sohrai painted village houses at Bhelwara –Jain temples at Parasnath – Hot spring at Surajkund – Konar Dam / River side picnic at Seewanee river

2.     West Hazaribagh:

Megalithic site at Banadag – Hazaribagh National Park –Buddhist temple complex at Itkhori – Birhor tanda at Chauparan – River side picnic at Bhalwa

3.South – west Hazaribagh:
3.1  Megalithic site (1500 B.C) at Barwadhi Punkree – Buddhist site (7-9^th Century A.D) at Barwadhi Punkree – Khovar painted Tribal house at Kharati (Barkagaon valley) – Rock art site (10,000 B.C) of Isco – Barkagaon.

3.2  Rock art site (10,000 B.C) of Thethangi  / Sidpa – Buddhist site of Sidpa – Megalithic site of Mandair – River side picnic at Garhi river at Tandwa

4.     North Hazaribagh:       

4.1     Canary hill sanctuary  & Watch tower - Hazaribagh National Park – Tiliya dam
4.2 Canary Hill Sanctuary & watch tower – Ithack temple complex and Padma Palace of Raja Ramgarh.

Major Attractions:
1. Painted Village Houses of Hazaribagh: 
 

The Khovar & Sohrai Tribal Art  may be divided into as many as one dozen stylistic groups, but there are two major art forms: (1) Khovar or the Comb-Cut art done during the marriage season, a type of sagraffito art using Reversed Slip pottery technique, in which dry black slip is covered with wet white slip and then designs are cut with fine combs revealing the under-coat in unique relief designs of black on white. (2) Sohrai is the other kind of village painting in which the paintings are made on earth treated wall with the natural pigments mentioned above using brushes. Only water is used as a dilutant. This art tradition known as Khovar (done for marriage) and Sohrai (done for harvest) art is painted exclusively by the Adivasi tribal women folk, Who now bring the mural tradition to high quality art paper, using  natural earth and oxide pigments like earth ochres, with art exhibitions (40+) in major Art galleries in India and abroad (UK, USA, Australia, Europe). 
 

2. Pre-historic (10,000 B.C) Rock art Sites of Hazaribagh:

The Hazaribagh region in Jharkhand is a heavily forested plateau with deep river valleys, and exotic forest tribes. This area has been found to have magnificent Mesolithic rock art (10,000 B.C) , that may be directly traced as the distant ancestor of a unique style of wall paintings in the villages of Hazaribagh. The prehistoric rock art of Hazaribagh is painted in some fourteen sandstone rock shelters in the hills of Sati, Mahadeva (Mahudi) and Satpahar Ranges of the Upper Damodar Valley. Authorities have dated the rockart to the Meso-Chalcolithic period (10,000 B.C). There is evidence of an older layer of rock art touching the Palaeolithic. Several microliths and polished stone axe-heads were found in the painted shelters with evidence of Palaeolithic habitation sites and heavy hand axes and stone tools in the hilly region above and alongside the rock art, with Black and Red Ware pottery and remains of an iron industry below. The rock art of the Mesolithic period evidences drawings of wild and domestic animals and the Chalcolithic evidences mandala designs and geometric forms. This rockart has a shamanstic series of drawings painted in red haematite which I believe is of the Palaeolithic period, and the most priceless rockart of Hazaribagh. Sites: Isco, Thethangi, Saraiya, Satpahar I,II, & III, Khandar, Raham, Sidpa, Gonda, and Nautangwa.
 

3.     Buddhist Sites of Hazaribagh:

Several Buddhist sites have been found in Hazaribagh and Chatra districts and there is a strong tradition of the Buddha having visited these regions. The dates of these sites are from the Mauryan period through the Gupta (4^th to 7^th Century A.D) and the Pala period (9^th to 12^th Century A.D). Sites: Itkhori, Sekha Barasi, Punkree Barwadhi, Sitagarha, etc. 

4.     Sanskriti Centre Museum  and Art Gallery (INTACH),  Dipugarha, Hazaribagh

The Centre has a very good Libray cum Archive with a Museum, Art Gallery where stone tools from the Lower Palaeolithic (100,000 B.C), Middle to Upper Palaeolithic, and Chalcolithic Jewellery, Iron age smelting remains and Pottery remains are exhibited. The Art Gallery displays 300 Khovar and Sohrai paintings, Madhubani Mithila paintings, Saora art (Orissa) and Dokra metal castings from Bastar, Bankura, Orissa and Hazaribagh; terracotta’s, and a display of ledra (embroidered quilts).

For more Information: Contact: Justin Imam (m) 9430124991 / 9835140426 Email: Email: justinimam@yahoo.com