Tikla Rock Shelter

Tikla, or Tikula, is an old rock shelter and archaeological site in Madhya Pradesh, on the right side of the Parvati river near the town of Mohana. It lies on the Agra to Mumbai road, about 50 km south-west of Gwalior.

The shelter is known for its rock art. A painting dated to the 3rd-2nd century BCE by its Brahmi inscription is probably the earliest known Indian image of the Vrishni heroes, showing Balarama with a plough and mace and Vasudeva with a mace and wheel. A smaller female figure beside them is thought to be the goddess Ekanamsha. Elephant riders, horse riders and flowers appear in the same period. Tikla also has a famous petroglyph of a maze, dated to 250 BCE and the earliest known in India, its design thought to have arrived with the campaigns of Alexander the Great.