KALA DEO SARANG

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

The promising Dark God Hole (estimated 1 m by 1.3 m across), which looks like the relic of a phreatic stream passage, challenges with being visible some 5 m below the top of a 20 m to 30 m high sandstone cliff face rising from the southern flank approximately south-east of the easily accessible Mahadeo Mandir (in front of Bada Mahadeo Cave) 8 km south of Pachmarhi. The cave entrance, best seen from the road opposite side of the gorge, is probably can be reached by abseiling from above (trees provide belays). The cave is obviously sacred (-kala- = black, dark; -deo- = god). According to a local communicator, met by chance in the forest, this -sarang- (from Sanskrit -suranga- or cave) is reputed to connect by a fabulous underground tunnel to Chauragarh Gufa or (and?) to the Shiva temple on top of Chauragarh hill (4290 feet = 1308 m asl), some 2 km further east. Personally I suspect, but this is mere guesswork, that the engraving -View of gorge in the Puchmurri Hills- (signed -HANLON-) i MEDLICOTT (1860: 226 figure 24), which shows –>AA Cave (Pachmarhi), is an artist's rendering of Kala Deo Sarang.