JATASHANKAR GUFA, Pachmarhi - Jambu Dwip
22.481900,78.440800
Description
The Jambu Dwip issues from a natural stream cave (19.5°C, an estimated 0.5 l/s on 2000.12.29 and 2001.01.06) which is used by Hindus as temple cave sacred to Shankar / Sankar, an epithet of Shiva as the creator, the Mahadeo. The Sanskrit (Hindi, etc.) term "Jata Shankar" is said to translate as »Matted Head Hair« and means the dread locks of Shiva. SITUATION: The cave, which is inicated on the Survey of India sheet 55-J/07 (edition 1976), lies at the head of the deep and narrow, picturesque and boulder strewn Jambu Dwip (S.I. sheet: Jambudip) gorge that descends to the Nagdwar / Nag Dwar nala = Serpent's Gateway River in the west. The site lies in the north of –>Pachmarhi and at a walking distance of 1.5 km from the seven way junction (note 1) Jaistambha / Jai Stambh (victory pillar) or one kilometre from the road to Pipariya. From the end of the hard topped road (lined with stalls and floor vendors selling souvenirs and religious paraphernalia) descends a winding footpath. The path passes the now dismantled –>Kali Cave (Pachmarhi: Jambu Dwip) and –>Shiva & Parvati Cave (Pachmarhi: Jambu Dwip) before it reaches the top of concrete stairs which allow a final comfortable descend to the small shrine and the cave proper. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1871: »About a thousand feet of steep descent, down a track worn by the feet of pilgrims, leads to the entrance of a gorge, whose aspect is singularly adapted to impress the imagination of the pilgrim to these sacred hills. A dense canopy of the wild mango tree [Hindi: am; Latin: Mangifera indica], overlaid and interlaced by the tree-like limbs of the giant creeper (Bauhinia scandens), almost shuts out the sun; strange shapes of tree ferns and thickets of dank and rotting vegetation cumber [sic!] the path; a chalybate stream, covered by a film of metallic scum, reddens the ooze through which it slowly percolates; a gloom like twilight shrouds the bottom of the valley, from out of which rises a towering crag of deep red colour, from the summit of which stretch the ghostly arms of the white and naked Sterculia urens, a tree that looks as if the megatherium might have climbed its uncouth and ghastly branches at the birth of the world. Further on the gorge narrows to a mere cleft between the high cliffs, wholly destitute of vegetation, and strewn with great boulders. Climbing over these, and wading through the waters of the shallow stream, the pilgrim at length reaches a cavern in the rock, the side and bottom of which have been, by some peculiar water action, worn into the semblance of gigantic matted locks of hair; while deep below the floor of the cavern, in the bowels of the rock, is heard the labouring of imprisoned waters shading the cave. It is a small wonder that such a natural marvel as this should be a chosen dwelling place for the god to whom all these mountains are sacred, and that it forms one of the most holy and indispensable points in the circuit which the devout pilgrim must perform« (FORYSTH 1871 / 1994: 90-91). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1936: »A cave under a mess of loose boulders and the source of the Jambu Dwip stream, reached by a footpath starting from near the Civil Dispensary. Distance 1.5 miles with a descent of some 350 feet [107 m]. No headwork« (Glennie, E A circa 1948 s.a. Mss "Preliminary record" after GUIDE TO PACHMARHI 1936). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1993: »The cave sanctuary Jota Shanka« (sic!) is said to lie at an unspecified spatial relation »close to the village of Panchmarhi« (sic!). NEUMAYER (1993: 268) refers to figure 706 (on page 269) showing a painting (rock art) depicting the harper's scene at –>Nimbu Bhoj Shelter, the Harper's Cave. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1996.1: A cave »under a mass of loose boulders« (PACHMARHI GUIDE MAP 1996). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1996.2: »Jata Shankar, a cave under a mass of boulders at the source of the Jambu Dwip, is reached from near the Civil Dispensary« (CRAVEN 1996: 27). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1997: »Jata Shankar is a cave temple in a gorge about 2.5 km along a good track that's signed just north of the town limits. The small Shiva shrine is hidden under a huge overhanging rock« (LONELY PLANET, India 1997: 616). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1998: »A temple fashioned by the Creator's Eye« (BANSAL s.a., circa 1998). The scenery was used as a background for Bollywood Hindi movies, e.g. Maisey Sahib, Pal Do Pal Ka Saath, and several more. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1999.1: »Jata Shankar cave is also the source of the Jambu Dwip river that literally sprouts out of the rocks into a sub-terrestrial waterfall. … According to the local priest, these [rock] mounds are really locks of Lord Shiva's hair that had been torn out by Bhasmasur …« (IRANI 1999: 62). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1999.2: »Jatashankar is a revered cave temple in a gorge less than 2 km from the bus stand. The small Shiva shrine is hidden under a huge overhanging rock formation« (LONELY PLANET, India 1999: 830; 2001: 701). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2001 (HDG 2001): The area in front of the cave has been considerably modified by man to suit religious purposes, including the effective collection of money from the circulating stream of devout pilgrims. In consequence of the building activities the issuing stream is now dammed up and the overflow is deviated into a low horizontal undercut along the northern wall of the gorge while several concrete platforms, stacked upon each other and connected by stairs, occupy the area in front of the cave proper. Here, in the dark space behind a wide pillar formed by a dislocated boulder, the innermost sacred spot is found: Samadhistha (Sanskrit: samadhi = utmost blissful state; sthan = place). It is a damp and murky place. Here, the pujari (priest) sits in a bone chilling air draught on a small concrete bench under the "self-created" (natural) canopy of a much chopped medusa type stalagmite (speleothem) which once must have been nice but now is blackened with generations of soot. A couple of short but thick and worn down stalactites, polished by thousands of touching pilgrims' hands, represent gods currently en vogue (e.g. Parvati, Ganesh). The west facing cave entrance (up to 5 m wide, more than 15 m high) opens in the head of the Jambu Dwip, a rift valley developed along a linear, east-west running tectonical disturbance. The cave is the subterranean continuation of a major fault and consists for most of its length of a high and narrow rift which is capped by a false ceiling of wedged boulders. The first few metres of the cave floor are represented by the top of a concrete dam beyond which a sheet of water spans from wall to wall. The barefoot pilgrim / visitor is allowed to proceed on washed in sand. By and by the irregular shaped rift gets narrower and narrower while the water becomes deeper and deeper. At a distance of 45 m from the cave entrance (drip line of the most exposed ceiling boulder) a water depth of 1.6 m is reached and also the definite distal end of the resurgence: The rift continues but is tightly packed with boulders and entering waters fall from numerous interstices high above. Told to the frightened pilgrims are, of course, wonderful stories of endless fabulous tunnels. CAVE DESCRIPTION 2001.2: »Jatashankar is a revered cave temple in a gorge less than 2 km from the bus stand. The small Shiva shrine is hidden under a huge overhanging rock formation« (LONELY PLANET, North India 2001: 860). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2002: Tribune News Service (2002.09.15) turns the sacred cave of Jata Shankar inadvertently into »A scared cave« (sic!) located »under a mass of loose boulders in which the Jambu Dwip stream has its source. A rocky mountain of this place resembles the matted locks of Lord Shiva.« CAVE DESCRIPTION 2003 (LONELY PLANET, India 2003: 717): »You can walk yourself to Jata Shankar, a cave temple in a gorge about 2.5 km along a good track that's signed just north of the town limits. The small Shiva shrine is hidden under a huge overhanging rock formation.« CAVE DESCRIPTION 2005 (LONELY PLANET, India 2005: 616): »Jata Shankar is a cave temple in a gorge about 2.5 km along a good track thats signed just north of the town limits. The small Shiva shrine is hidden under a huge overhanging rock.«KARSTOLOGY: Erosional processes contribute to develop the cave in stratified, partly cross-bedded and almost non-calcareous Upper Triassic (Upper Gondwana group: Talchir series) sandstone along lithologically weak and subvertical fissures (primary 005°/-85°, secondary 245°/-85°) of tectonical origin. VERMA & VENKATAKRISHNAN (1980) understand »Jambudip Cave« was formed by lateral corrosion (sic!) but obviously refer only to the small part of the cave housing the undercut with the cult spot and not to the huge main rift itself. VERMA & VENKATAKRISHNAN 1980: 408-410) studied the geomorphology of the Pachmarhi caves and invented –especially for Jata Shankar Gufa– the case of a »subterranean cave [sic!] originating from narrow but incised trenches covered with collapse debris« to distinguish this peculiar item from »lateral caves« (due to mechanical corrasion), »spring flushed-caves« (due chemical corrosion) and »complex caves« (due solution and abrasion combined). CULTURAL HISTORY - religious folklore: According to Tribune News Service (2002.09.15), it is »Jata Shankar cave where Shiva is believed to have hidden himself from the demon King Bhasmasur« though other sources fix this story at –>Gupta Mahadeo Gufa.CAVE LIFE: Sort of tiny shrimps (Crustacea) nibble on visitors' toes.
NOTE 1: Jaistambha, also: Jai Stambh, near (±50 m) N22°28'26”: E78°26'10”: 1060 m asl (Everest 1830, Survey of India sheet 55-J/07 edition 1976) and H.D. Gebauer 2000.12.29, GPS Garmin 12, India/Bangladesh).
Documents
Bibliography 29/03/2016- Bansal, S C s.a. (circa 1998); Craven, Stephen A 1969; Forsyth, J 1871, 1899, 1994; Glennie, Edward Aubrey 1959; Guide to Pachmarhi 1936; Irani, Gustasp 1999; Lonely Planet, India 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005; Lonely Planet, North India 2001; Neumayer, Erwin 1993; Pachmarhi Guide Map 1996; Tribune News Service 2002.09.15; Verma, V K 1971; Verma, V K & Venkatakrishnan, Ramesh 1980.
History
EXPLORATION HISTORY: 1800 (±50): »During the last of our struggles with the Marathas, Appa Saheb Bhonsla, Raja of Nagpur, on his way to an exile justly earned [yes, yes] by repeated acts of treachery, escaped and fled to the fastnesses of the Mahadeo hills; and it was in these secluded ravine, if tradition speaks of the truth, that he was concealed by the fidelity of his aboriginal subjects till he finally made his escape, while detachments of British troops were hunting for him in every other nook and recess of the mountains« (FORSYTH 1871 edited 1994: 91-93). 2001.01.06: H. D. Gebauer sketched to grade 3b.
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | PARVATI CAVE, Pachmarhi - Jatashankar | ||
| 0.1 | KALI CAVE, Pachmarhi - Jambu Dwip | ||
| 0.2 | NIMBU BHOJ SHELTERS | ||
| 1.8 | Saint Mary's Grotto | ||
| 1.9 | BAZAR SHELTER | ||
| 1.9 | BAZAR SHELTER 2 | ||
| 1.9 | CHURNA SHELTERS | ||
| 1.9 | JHALAI SHELTERS | ||
| 1.9 | DAURI SHELTERS |