MOGASARAYANAGONDI CAVE
15.341700,78.138900
Description
An almost triangular shaped, north-west facing main entrance (up to 3 by 4 m) and (5 m further east) a north-north-east facing secondary entrance (up to 2 m wide and 3 m high) give access to the relic of a mostly daylight-lit, approximately 11 m long rift cave, on average a metre wide, which once must have drained from south to north but now is abandoned by running water. ETYMOLOGY: »Mogasarayanagondi« appears to be a person's name (note 1). SITUATION: VENUGOPAL RAO & RAO (1992: 241) locate the entrance to the »Mogasarayanigondi cave 3 m west of Patapadu, near Betamcherla.« Venugopal Rao & Rao (1993 Mss: 5) locate this rift cave »about 1.5 m« (sic! most likely for: 1.5 km) approximately »west of Patapadu« (note 2) and »on the southern flank of the short valley formed by east floing Nala. The set up is similar to Ulavalagondi crevice excavated last year« (note 3). The coordinates (unspecified geodetic datum probably Everest 1830) for Mogasarayanigondi cave (N15°20'30”: E78°08'20” Venugopal Rao & Rao 1993 Mss: 10) indicate a spot which lies at linear distances of about 1 km NNW from –>Ulavalagondi Crevice (N15°20'00”: E78°08'30” Rao & Venugopal Rao 1994: 5), 2.5 km NNW from Patapadu (road fork N15°19'43”: E78°09'32” Survey of India sheet 57-i/3, 1983 edition), 930 m south from the Sri Yagunta Eshwaram Temple (note 4) at –>Yaganti. CAVE DESCRIPTION: »The cave is about 11 m along the SSW direction [note 5] with an average width of 1 m. The mouth [the »Adit 1« on plate 3] is almost triangular in shape with a parallel opening [the »Adit 2« on plate 3] slightly smaller but similar in shape towards east (plate No. 1: "Cave plan of Mogasa Raynigondi Crevice" and plate No. 3: Front view of Mogasarayani Gondi). On clearing the talus around the cave, the smaller opening becomes apparent. The cave is excavated entirely leaving only 75 cm wide sediment column undisturbed. The 2.6 m thick sediment column [note 6] is uniform all over the excavated length and covered by a heap of talus debris at the mouth. The talus at the mouth and the upper layer (black silt) have yielded few vertebrate remains along with pottery and metallic objects of historical age. The brown coloured silty layers and the bottom most red clay have yielded many vertebrate remains including Rodent, Cheroptera [sic!], Herbivores, Carnivores and teeth of primates, in addition to a fossil human jaw and isolated teeth, along with two fragments of a skull …« (Venugopal Rao & Rao 1993 Mss: 5) PALAEONTOLOGY: Excavation yielded microvertebrate remains (Chiroptera, Rodentia) comparable with finds from other caves in the area. Significant remains include two teeth of a cerves sp., a left mandibular fragment with 3 molar teeth of the Presbytes cf. johni, a primate nowadays distributed in the Nilgiri mountains of South India, and a left human mandibular fragment along with four isolated teeth (three molars, one canine), which show a few archaic characters like broad retromolar area, prominent buccinator ridge, etc. and 2 crane fragments (BHAUMIK 1994; RAO & VENUGOPAL RAO 1994, 1995; Venugopal Rao & Rao 1993 Mss; VENUGOPAL RAO & RAO 1992: 40, 1994: 134-135).
NOTE 1: So far, I found this rift cave called Mogasa Raynigondi Crevice (Venugopal Rao & Rao 1993 Mss plate 1: Cave plan of …) Mogasarayanaigondi cave (VENUGOPAL RAO & RAO 1994: 134) Mogasarayanigondi 78°08'20”: 15°20'30” (Venugopal Rao & Rao 1993 Mss: 10) Mogasarayanigondi cave (VENUGOPAL RAO & RAO 1992: 240, 241; Venugopal Rao & Rao 1993 Mss: Contents, p. 5) Mogasarayni Gondi (Venugopal Rao & Rao 1993 Mss plate 3: Front view of …). NOTE 2: Patapadu (road fork N15°19'43”: E78°09'32” Everest 1830), a village 7 km along the road from Banganapalle or »Banaganapalle« (N15°18'45”: E78°13'30”: 225 m asl, Everest 1830, Survey of India sheet 57/i-3 edition 1983) east towards Pyapalli (Pyapali, Pyapalle N15°14': E77°44'). NOTE 3: The »Ulavalagondi crevice« of Venugopal Rao & Rao (1993 Mss: 5) and Rao & Venugopal Rao (1994 Mss: passim) appears to correspond to the »Ulavalagundi« (Rao & Venugopal Rao 1994 Mss: 6) at N15°20'00”: E78°08'30” (unspecified geodetic datum Everest 1830, Venugopal Rao & Rao 1993 Mss: 10; Rao & Venugopal Rao 1994 Mss: 6). NOTE 4: Yaganti is the devalam (temple) of Sri Yagunta Eshwaram (N15°21'00”: E78°08'23” Everest 1830): circa 290 m asl, Survey of India sheet 57-i/3, 1983 edition). NOTE 5: The maximal linear extension of »about 11 m along the SSW direction« (Venugopal Rao & Rao 1993 Mss: 5) corresponds to an approximate passage length of 15 m. NOTE 6: The litholog of the excavation pit is as follows: 10 cm surface humus material 49 cm black silt 22 cm grey silt ith limestone boulders 98 cm light brown silt with large limestone boulders 62 cm brown silt with less limestone fragments 59 cm red, fine grained clay silt without large fragments of limestone.
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.4 | YAGANTI SECOND RAVINE CAVE (Foote 1884a: 33) | ||
| 0.4 | YERRA ZARI SPRING & CAVE | ||
| 0.6 | YERRA ZARI GAVI | ||
| 0.9 | Ulavalagondi 2 Crevice | ||
| 0.9 | YAGANTI, 2nd (Cave at) | ||
| 0.9 | YAGANTI, 1st (Cave at) | ||
| 0.9 | YAGANTI, 3rd (Cave at) | ||
| 1.0 | Ulavalagondi 1 Crevice | ||
| 2.4 | JURRERU VALLEY ROCKSHELTERS |