DARIA SHELTER

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 27/03/2016

A rock shelter or cave, which contains rock art (various symbols, animals and dancing scenes in red ochre and occasional white) reported ) from somewhere at an unspecified distance (less than 24 km) south of »Koraou« (Kuraon), a village in Meja tahsil. ETYMOLOGY: Since "dari, daria, dora, duree, duri, durra" means shelter, rock shelter, or cave (COCKBURN, John 1883a: 125; ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF INDIAN ARCHAEOLOGY 1989, 2), the name »Daria Shelter« (LAL 1973: 37) is but a tautologism. SITUATION: Some 4 or 5 km above the right (SSW) bank of the Belan River and about 12 or 18 km in a direct line south-west of Kuraon (N24°59': E082°05'), the hill »Daria Pahar 1160« (feet), a a northern outlier of the Rewa plateau, is shown on AMS sheet NG44-15 Rewa (U502 series, 1955 edition) to rise between N24°51': E081°55' and N24°54': E082°00' some 120 m from the adjacent plains (circa 225 m asl) to heights at 1160 feet (354 m) and 1115 feet (340 m).