Humans have always contemplated space, Earth, and nature. They have consistently been amazed by the various phenomena occurring in nature and space. The influence of natural forces such as fire, lightning, wind, rain, and storms on the development of humankind is evident. In the earliest times, humans feared these natural forces, but later, they began to try to understand them. Even in today's modern era, advanced human society continues to strive to understand these natural forces.

In the very early stages, when the human brain was not as developed as it is today, human society feared these natural forces. Frequent natural disasters caused immense damage to human communities. To protect themselves from these natural forces, early humans sought shelter in caves and ravines in the forests. Their main occupation was wandering in the forests in search of food, gathering roots and tubers, and hunting. Because of the risk of being killed by wild animals after dark, these early humans lived in caves and ravines. In the very beginning, humans lived in small groups. Later, they gradually began to live in larger groups.

While wandering in the forests in search of shelter and food, humans experienced the various forms of nature. Experiencing these diverse aspects of nature sparked a curiosity in them to understand nature more deeply. While roaming in the forests, questions arose in their minds about the fundamental elements of fire, air, water, earth, and sky that they experienced around them. He began to closely observe the various events occurring in nature, such as forest fires, storms in the sky, waterfalls cascading from high mountains, rivers, and celestial bodies like the sun, moon, planets, and stars. While observing these events, he also began to try to understand the fundamental characteristics of wild animals and forests. He also attempted to understand the fundamental properties of the five basic elements of nature: fire, water, earth, air, and space. These five basic elements of nature are called Panchamahabhutas in Indian philosophy. Initially afraid of these five elements, man began to consider how to use these natural forces to make his life more comfortable.

Later, man discovered how to produce fire. After mastering the art of generating fire, his life became more comfortable, and he began to use fire for various purposes such as security, cooking food, and hunting. After noticing that wild animals in the forest were afraid of fire, man began to think about how to keep the fire continuously burning in his caves. Initially a wanderer searching for food in the wilderness, man gained stability because of fire. Later, man began to consider how to use the water from streams and rivers flowing from the mountains to cultivate fruits and tubers. There was a major difference between humans and other animals: other animals were quadrupeds, while among bipedal animals, humans were the most skillful. The thumb on the human hand allowed humans to grasp any object and manipulate it as needed. Because of the thumb, humans could hold any object firmly and use it very skillfully. Using these skillful hands, man began to create various tools by utilizing nature. Humans began using wood from the forest to make pointed tools. Later, they started using hard stones from the forest to make small and large sharp tools. Using these wooden and stone tools, along with their skilled hands, humans began to hunt wild animals in the forest more skillfully. While hunting, they became familiar with various animals, birds, trees, and vines. Humans now began to use this natural wealth to make their lives more comfortable. They had domesticated some of the animals and birds from the forest and were using them in their various daily tasks.

Humans observed everything they saw in the nature around them very carefully. Even today, we can see nature paintings made by early humans in many caves around the world. Using the stone tools they had developed, humans began to draw pictures of the various animals and birds they saw on the walls of caves. These early humans not only drew in caves but also on rocky plateaus in various mountains, using these stone tools to depict various animals and birds. In recent years, many extremely ancient rock carvings of various animals, birds, and nature, created by early humans, have been discovered on the rocky plateaus of the Western Ghats in the Konkan region of Maharashtra. These Konkan rock carvings are mainly found in the Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts. Scientists estimate that these ancient rock carvings are approximately 20,000 years old. These rock carvings primarily depict animals and birds that early humans observed, such as rhinoceroses, elephants, tigers, deer, and fish.

Also, stone tools used by early humans have been found in the caves of the Konkan region.

Image 1: Konkan rock carvings

Such nature paintings created by early humans are found not only in India but also in various parts of the world. The rock carvings found in some parts of South America are particularly magnificent. Not only pictures of animals and birds, but also depictions of many natural phenomena experienced by humans have been found drawn by early humans on cave walls and on high mountain plateaus around the world. In many parts of the world, pictures of astronomical events observed by early humans have also been found. These depictions of astronomical events include images of comets, meteor showers, lunar eclipses, and solar eclipses. In one place in Sri Lanka, early humans have drawn a picture of the stars in the sky in such a way that it looks like a map of some celestial route. This image of the stars in Sri Lanka is famous worldwide as the Stargate.

As this human society developed further, they began to practice agriculture. They also started using various domesticated animals for farming. Later, human society began to live together in large settlements, and they started dividing various agricultural tasks among themselves. After humans started farming, they felt the need to study these natural forces more closely. Human society began to study the rain and various natural changes associated with rainfall, which were essential for agriculture, very carefully. Furthermore, this human society began to study various celestial phenomena such as the sun's intensity, the changing phases of the moon, the movement and paths of various planets and stars in the sky, meteor showers, and comets. Later, human society gained knowledge of the various seasons found in nature, such as summer, monsoon, and winter. They also began to experience how the sun's movement, its intensity, and the moon's various phases and changing positions affected these different seasons.

Later, over time, this human society acquired the art of writing. After mastering writing, human society began to preserve their experiences of nature and various world events in written form.