LONAVLA UNDERGROUND
18.750000,73.416700
Description
NOTE 1: Tahkhana or »tahkhana« (CROOK, William 1917 editor of HASSAN ALI 1832 letter 19 note 11), »taarkhanah« (Mrs. Meer HASSAN ALI, B. 1832 letter 19) and »tykhana« (indyahills.com/mp/mandu.html accessed 2008.03.18) are man-made undergrounds (note 1.1) or cellars (note 1.2), subterranean apartments (note 1.3) and suites of rooms (note 1.4) or even parts of palaces (note 1.5), excavated to be used for secular purposes, like speleo therapy (note 1.6) or dungeons (note 1.7), for store rooms like granaries (note 1.8), to hide-out booty and loot, thieves and thugs (note 1.9), or to serve as bomb proof bunkers and arsenals (note 1.10), etc. (note 1.11). NOTE 1.1: indyahills.com/mp/mandu.html (accessed 2008.03.18): In the Champa Baoli at Mandu »… are cool underground rooms (tykhanas) and bathroom which were obviously used as a retreat during the hot summer months.« NOTE 1.2: CROOK, William (1917 editor of HASSAN ALI 1832, letter 19 note 19): »an underground cellar.« NOTE 1.3.1: BUCHANAN (1812-1813 edited 1926: 109-110): »Subterranean apartments« at Shergarh (Shahbad district, Bihar). NOTE 1.3.2: HAMILTON (1828, 1: 407): »Suite of dark subterranean apartments« beneath the Ankli Math in Chitradurga town (Karnataka). NOTE 1.3.3: HAMILTON (1828, 1: 661): »The palace of Sultan Feroze stands in what was the centre of the [Hissar] city, and has very extensive subterranean apartments« (Hissar, Haryana). NOTE 1.3.4: HAMILTON (1828, 2: 681): »Subterranean apartments still attract the curiosity of travellers« to the abandoned city of »Tughlickabad« (Tuglakabad suburb, Delhi). NOTE 1.4: Mrs. Meer HASSAN ALI, B. (1832 letter 19): »Suite of rooms beneath« the Dargah ka Mahdi at Kanauj (Uttar Pradesh. NOTE 1.5.1: Mdm. BLAVATSKY (1892 edited 1975: 64-65) wants her readers to believe »Vast underground halls, in fact a whole underground palace« at Khandala (Pune, Maharashtra). NOTE 1.5.2: IMPERIAL GAZETTEER (1907-1909, 12: 441): Two underground levels below Man Singh Palace, also: Chit Mandir (Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh). NOTE 1.5.3: NORTH EAST (1998: 4): »The seven-storied Talatol Ghar, with three underground floors, is a palace with a difference« at Sibsagar (Assam). NOTE 1.6.1: HAMILTON (1828, 1: 630): »Extensive subterranean dwellings with windows opening into the great ditch,« including apartments into which the zamindar's family resorted during the intensity of the hot monsoon, at Hathras / Hatras Fort (Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh). NOTE 1.6.2: Mrs. Meer HASSAN ALI, B. (1832 letter 19): »Intended as a retreat from the intense heat of the day; such as is to be met with in most great men's residences in India.« NOTE 1.6.3: IMPERIAL GAZETTEER (1907-1909, 12: 441): Two underground levels below Man Singh Palace (also: Chit Mandir) used in hot weather (Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh). NOTE 1.6.4: WARD (1991, 1992: 226): »Thousand Cells (Hazar Kothri), actually seven in number, hewn underground in such a way as to posit the existence of hundreds more« at Bidar Fort (Karnataka). NOTE 1.7.1: BUCHANAN (1807, 1: 53): »… no prisoner ever returned« from Chapala Drug, Bangalore district, Karnataka. NOTE 1.7.2: GOPALAKRISHNA & CHOUDHARI (1977: 5): Dilapidated fort (Kandar, Ahmadnagar or Pune / Poona, Maharashtra). NOTE 1.7.3: IMPERIAL GAZETTEER (1907-1909, 22: 58): »the subterranean cell into which condemned prisoners where thrown at Sankari Drug (Salem district, Tamil Nadu). NOTE 1.7.4: KAIL (1967): Underground dungeons (Sudhagarh / Sardargarh, Udaipur, Rajasthan). NOTE 1.7.5: LONELY PLANET, India (1999: 848; 2003: 731): »The caretaker may show you the room where Sleeman trapped some of the thuggee leaders« (Narsingh Mandir, Narsinghpur, Jabalpur district, Chattisgarh state). NOTE 1.7.6: LONELY PLANET, India (1999: 799; 2001: 674; 2003: 689) ): Two underground levels below Man Singh Palace (also: Chit Mandir) served as prison cells during the Mughal period. Emperor Aurangzeb had his brother Murad imprisoned here and executed (Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh). NOTE 1.8.1: HAMILTON (1828, 2: 623): »Storehouses like wells« at the fort »Taraghur« (Taragarh, Ajmer, Rajasthan). NOTE 1.8.2: IMPERIAL GAZETTEER (1907-1909, 6: 12): »… vaulted chambers, probably old granaries« at the fort Asirgarh (Nimar district, Madhya Pradesh). NOTE 1.8.3: IMPERIAL GAZETTEER (1907-1909, 22: 58): »granary« (Sankari Drug, Salem district, Tamil Nadu). NOTE 1.8.4: ABRAM 2001: 137, 139): Store rooms and arsenals (Fort Aguada, Goa). NOTE 1.9: Mrs. Meer HASSAN ALI, B. (1832 letter 19): Non-Muslim thieves' booty (Dargah ka Mahdi, Kanauj, Uttar Pradesh). NOTE 1.10.1: HAMILTON (1828, 2: 623): »Bomb-proofs of vast extent« at fort »Taraghur« (Taragarh, Ajmer, Rajasthan). NOTE 1.10.2: ABRAM 2001: 137, 139): Store rooms and arsenals (Fort Aguada, Goa). NOTE 1.11.1: LINDBERG (1962a: 8): »… chambres souterraines de l'ancienne citadelle« at Kafir Qaleh (Tirinkot, Urzghan, Afghanistan). NOTE 1.11.2: BROSSET (1962c: 596): »Artificial underground, low, wet and muddy« at Bassein Fort (Thane / Thana district, Maharashtra). NOTE 1.11.3: BROSSET (1962c: 616): »Artificial underground« beneath Lonavla Fort (Pune district, Maharashtra).
An »artificial underground, about 15 m deep« (BROSSET 1962c: 616) or, perhaps, an estimated 15 m long, houses bats and is possibly consists of a man-made tahkhana (note 1). IDENTITY: The Lonavla Underground is possibly identical with the "caves" at –>Lohogad. ETYMOLOGY: The Sanskrit "lanavli" is said to denote a »city surrounded by caves« (NEWAR 2002). SITUATION: The chiropteraferous underground lies somewhere at (or within) the fort of the small town of Lonavla (Lonavale, Lonauli), which itself lies on the Bor Pass (Borghat, Bor Ghat), on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, the main railway line to Pune (LONELY PLANET 1997: 839, 2001: 752; 2005: 744), and at travelling distances of 106 km along the road south-east of Bombay (renamed Mumbai) and about 60 km (IMPERIAL GAZETTEER 1907-1909, 16: 172) or 63 km (India Road Atlas, Eicher Goodearth 2006: 90) along the road north-west of Pune / Poona. POSITION: Lonavla (Lonauli, Lonavala, Lonawala) has been positioned at N18°45': E73°24' (Everest 1830, IMPERIAL GAZETTEER 1907-1909) and at N18°45': E73°25' (nima.mil/geonames accessed 16.11.2003). CAVE LIFE - bats (Chiroptera): BROSSET (1962a: 182) reports the presence of Hipposideros fulvus. BROSSET (1962c: 616 table) observed in August and September (1960?) at Lonavla a colony of 30 or 35 Hipposideros bicolor fulvus Gary 1838 / Hipposideros bicolor pallidus Anderson 1918.
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | BHAJA CAVE | ||
| 0.0 | TUNNEL, Lonavla (Sarkar et al. 1998) (aa -) | ||
| 0.0 | KANHUR PATHAR CAVE | ||
| 5.6 | KHANDALA RAILWAY TUNNEL | ||
| 5.6 | LOHOGAD CAVES | ||
| 5.6 | KHANDALA SUBTERRANEAN PALACE | ||
| 5.6 | KHANDALA PIPE TUNNEL | ||
| 6.4 | KARLA (Cave at) | ||
| 7.6 | KONDANE CAVES |