NAIKANERI, Naikanairy, Naikenairy, Nakennairy, Nayakanerri, Nayakkaneri (Cave at)

Location

A possibly fabulous treasure cave, which would be in granite (note 1), is associated with »Tippoo« (Tipu Sultan, died 1799). ETYMOLOGY: No autochthonous, indigenous or locally known name has been identified for what is called after the ghat (pass) named Naikanairy NEWBOLD, T J (1845d Mangalore to Madras: 653) Naikaneri India Road Atlas (Eicher Goodearth 2006: 112 D3) near N12°57': E078°36' (nima.mil/geonames accessed 16.11.2003) Naikenairy NEWBOLD, T J (1845d Mangalore to Madras: 653) Naikenhairy NEWBOLD, T J (1846d Koompta to Cumbum: 382) Nakennairy John Kendall Thursday (INDIA-L@rootsweb.com, accessed 2003.05.22 after HERVEY 1850) Nayakkaneri nima.mil/geonames (accessed 16.11.2003). CAVE LEGEND: »An excellent account of the death [of Tipu Sultan in 1799] is given in Captain Albert Hervey's memoirs published in 1850. It is almost certainly apocryphal but a good yarn nonetheless. It states that Tipoo [sic!] was attacked by a European soldier, the former pleading for mercy and in return gave the soldier the location of his secret hoard of treasure. The soldier, somewhat ungratefully, dispatched The Sultan in any case. The soldier took sick leave and proceeded to the place at Nakennairy Pass which the Sultan had indicated. Upon entering the cave he heard a roar and saw a tigress with two cubs. He forgot all thought of treasure and ran for his life. This experience and the weight of the knowledge he carried eventually drove him mad and he came back to England and petitioned the EIC [East India Company] with an account of the treasure. The Court of Directors sent him away but decided to check out the story and secretly sent two officers to the cave without telling them the reason for the search. The officers also came across the tiger and decided the cave wasn't worth the bother and reported back the location of the cave without exploring it. The Company subsequently sent a party of sappers and miners who cleared out the lions and dug out the cave down to the bed-rock, and found nothing. No treasure? A hoax? Whatever, but Hervey says that some time later a man appeared in Northern Scotland residing in great affluence, who had been in former days nothing but a private in a Highland Regiment in India. It was said that this individual was none other than the soldier who had slain Tipoo Sultan« (John Kendall Thursday 2003.05.22 on INDIA-L@rootsweb.com forwarded by Christopher M. Smart). SITUATION 1 (Andhra Pradesh: Chittor district): There is a village of Naikaneri or Naikenairy, Nakenairy, Nakanairy (note 2), and »Naikenhairy« (note 3) on the top of the »ghat« (pass) to which it gives its name. This ghat (note 4) connects the town of »Vencatagherry« or Venkatagirikota (note 5) at the edge of the Kolar Gold Fields (N12°55': E078°17') via the valley of »Buttrapilly« (Battalapalli, Batrahalli, N12°22': E078°25') and the town of Gudiyattam (N12°57': E078°52') to Vellore (N12°56': E079°08' in Vellore district, Tamil Nadu state). SITUATION 2 (Karnataka: Mandya district): Edward C. Raj (note 6) suggests another Nayakanerri (not identified) near Bellur (N12°59'28”: E076°44'40”) and in the vicinity of Shrirangapattana (note 7). Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 28/02/2016

NOTE 1: »Evident marks of great disturbance and dislocation suffered by the strata are visible in the rugged physical aspect of the country to the eastward , and further confirmed in examining the sections of the rocks, whose layers are found broken, on end, vertical, and at various other degrees of inclination down to the horizontal. The grey granite which chiefly composes the ghauts [ghats] is composed of white feldspar, quartz, dark green mica, and hornblende …« (NEWBOLD, T J 1845d Mangalore to Madras: 653: 653). NOTE 2: John Kendall Thursday (2003.05.22 on: INDIA-L@rootsweb.com) after HERVEY 1850). NOTE 3: »The passes of the eastern Ghauts [Eastern Ghats] … have a lower level than those in the western sierra. One of the highest is that of Naikenhairy, 1,907 feet [581 m] …« (NEWBOLD, T J 1846d Koompta to Cumbum: 382). NOTE 4: The explorer and naturalist Captain Thomas John NEWBOLD, T J (1845d: 642) crossed this pass in June or July 1837 and NEWBOLD, T J (1845d: 653) describes: »The descent of the ghauts [sic!] here is steep and abrupt; and five miles and a half long from Naikanairy [see note above] to the valley of Buttrapilly [Battalapalli N13°45': E078°40'] at the foot of the Pass. The descents of the ghat by the Mooglee Pass from Palamanair, and by that of Domaracunnama from Ryachooty, are by no means so abrupt or continuous as this; the formation is similar, but the ghaut chain more broken.« NOTE 5: »Vencatagherry« (NEWBOLD, T J 1845d Mangalore to Madras: 653) is indicated N13°00': E078°30' as »Venkatagirikota« where the AMS sheets ND44-09 and ND44-13 meet. NOTE 6: Edward C. Raj (Bangalore 2003.05.29 personal correspondence) »… asked a friend who knows the places near Mysore. He said, there is a place called Nayakanerri near Bellur, SriRangapatna --Do not confuse with Belur which is famous for its temple. SriRangapatna was Tippoo's capital.« NOTE 7: So far, the only caves known from the vicinity of Shrirangapatnam (Seringapatam, Seringapattana, Shrirangapattana, Shrî-ranga-pattana, Srirangapatna N12°24'49”: E076°42'15” WGS84 on AMS sheet ND43-16) are the —>Gautama Rishi Cave and the –>Pandava Caves on Kuntibetta hill near Pandavapura. Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 28/02/2016