KHANDALA SUBTERRANEAN PALACE

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A fabulous secret entrance leading into vast underground halls, in fact a whole underground palace was served (note 1) to credulous rumour consumers at an imagined location somewhere below one of the isolated peaks (note 2) on the opposite side of the abyss in front of Khandala (note 3), which is a big village, situated on the flat even top of one of the mountains of the Sahayadra range [Western Ghats], about 2,200 feet [670 m] above sea level (IMPERIAL GAZETTEER (1907-1909, 15: 223). CULTURAL HISTORY - cave legend: A holy hermit, yogin and magician, who has -inhabited this underground for many a century,- imparted its secret to Shivaji [note 4], the famous leader of the Maratha armies. Like Tannhäuser in Wagner's opera [note 5], the unconquerable hero spent seven years of his youth in this mysterious abode …: A sleeper cave.A fabulous secret entrance leading into vast underground halls, in fact a whole underground palace was served (note 1) to credulous rumour consumers at an imagined location somewhere below one of the isolated peaks (note 2) on the opposite side of the abyss in front of Khandala (note 3), which is a big village, situated on the flat even top of one of the mountains of the Sahayadra range [Western Ghats], about 2,200 feet [670 m] above sea level (IMPERIAL GAZETTEER (1907-1909, 15: 223). CULTURAL HISTORY - cave legend: A holy hermit, yogin and magician, who has -inhabited this underground for many a century,- imparted its secret to Shivaji [note 4], the famous leader of the Maratha armies. Like Tannhäuser in Wagner's opera [note 5], the unconquerable hero spent seven years of his youth in this mysterious abode …: A sleeper cave.