JUVVIMANI GAVI
15.147200,77.932800
Description
An almost 10 m deep vertical hole (3.5 by 4.5 m wide), in 1996 shaded by a kind of tree (ficus var.) with hanging roots, gives access to a spacious cave chamber (up to 13 m wide, 6.5 m high and 25 m long). A low continuation from the main chamber leads 12 m east to a collapse. A squeeze in the north-eastern end of the first cave chamber leads to an inner chamber, which is separated from the main one by fallen blocks and a low ceiling. This inner chamber peters out in a rift, which soon becomes too narrow to be negotiated. Lateral openings along the bedding are too shallow for adult people to be penetrable. ETYMOLOGY: The »Juvvimanigavi cave« (Venugopal Rao & Rao 1993 Mss: contents) and »cave of Juvvimanigavi of Konauppulapadu« (Venugopal Rao & Rao 1993 Mss: 4) or simply »Juvvimanigavi« (Rao & Venugopal Rao 1994 Mss: 6) was said in December 1996, M. Narayana Reddy (after a local guide) to be called Udagamanu Gavi or »hanging root tree cave« (ficus?). SITUATION 1: VENUGOPAL RAO & RAO (1992: 240) place »Juvvimanigavi cave 1.5 km SE of Kona Ramalingaswami temple.« SITUATION 2: Venugopal Rao & Rao (1993 Mss: 4) place »Juvvimanigavi cave … on a low relief mound on the plateau east of Kona Ramalingswamy temple« (note 1).SITUATION 3: According to GPS readings, Juvvimani Gavi lies at a linear distances of 1.5 km approximately south-east of Kona Ramalingaswami temple, and 500 m in a direct line approximately south-east (228°) of –>Munagamanu Gavi. POSITIONS: N15°08'45”: E77°55'00” (probably Everest 1830, Rao & Venugopal Rao 1994 Mss: 6; Venugopal Rao & Rao 1993 Mss: 10). N15°08'50”: E77°55'58” (WGS84, horizontal precision error ±160 m, wobbly 4-channel GPS Garmin 4): circa 370 m asl (Survey of India sheet 57-E/16 edition 1977).CAVE DESCRIPTION (Venugopal Rao & Rao 1993 Mss: 4-5): »This medium sized cave has an ellipticalopening of 4.5 m in length and 3.5 m width. The opening leads don in S 48E direction, into a wide gallery, 44 m in length and 11 m in width. The gallery has no ramifications except in the south eastern end, where the large debris blocks the way. The cave appears to be extending further south or eastward. However, this part is not explored due to difficulty of approach. The cave floor is covered by a heap of roof collapse debris toards south and a thin fine sediment cover towards the northern side. … The cave must have remained water logged during the pre-historic times as suggested by the abundant travertine deposit [calcite floor, flowstone speleothem] uniformy spread on the floor« (note 2). VENUGOPAL RAO & RAO (1992: 240-241) confirm that »the cave stratigraphy comprises a thick speleotheme (travertine deposit on the cave floor) at the bottom, overlain by a thin red clay (45 cm) bed, which in turn is overlain by a veneer of black silt or soil. The cave floor could not be reached due to hard travertine layer.« CULTURAL HISTORY - human use: The rectangular trial pits, which had been excavated in the 1990-1991 season in the daylight lit part by Venugopal Rao & Rao (1993 Mss) from the »Regional Palaeontological Laboratories« (GSI Hyderabad), ascribed in 1996 a local guide to bootleggers. VENUGOPAL RAO & RAO (1992: 240) reported to have ecountered 0.45 m of red clay above hard calcite floor covered by a veneer of silty black soil. No fossil remains in the trial pit. According to Venugopal Rao & Rao (1993 Mss: 5), a 1.5 m deep trial pit encountered a buried floor of secondary calcite (left untouched). The locally ubiquitous top grey silt horizon found in other caves of the area is absent and the litholog reports the usual angular limestone blocks embedded in a sequence of dark, black to grey loams merging into underlying brown to red loams. Excavation revealed no fossil remains or other archaeological objects.
NOTE 1: »Kona Ramalingswamy temple« (Venugopal Rao & Rao 1993 Mss: 4) or »Kona Rameshvaram Swami temple« (KURIEN 1980: 184) corresponds to the »Sri Kona Ramalingeswaraswami« temple (spring, annual fair in April) shown near N15°08'50”: E77°54'30” (Everest 1830): 360 m asl on Survey of India sheet 57-E/16 (edition 1977) at the head of a south facing "kona" (bag valley) and a travelling distances of 8 km north of Yadiki (N15°07'30”: E77°52'30”) and 3.5 km north of Kona Uppalapadu (N15°06'03”: E77°53'50” Everest 1830), the »Konauppulapadu« of (Venugopal Rao & Rao 1993 Mss: 4). NOTE 2: According to Venugopal Rao & Rao (1993 Mss: 5), The litholog of the pit is as follows: 35 cm black silt / clay 38 cm red fine silt / clay80 cm travertine deposit: Calcareous precipitation, white to brown, hard, without any detrital material.
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.6 | MUNAGAMANU GAVI | ||
| 2.6 | Kona Rameshvaram Daddi Guha | ||
| 6.4 | KAMBHAGIRISWAMI HOLE | ||
| 12.3 | KURUVA BALI GAVI | ||
| 12.3 | LANGU GAVI | ||
| 14.4 | CHANDRAPALLE CAVE | ||
| 14.8 | GOPAMA GAVI | ||
| 14.9 | UPPALAPADDE TALUS CAVE | ||
| 15.7 | NELA BILAM, Cherlopalle, 1st |