SHEVAROY TEMPLE CAVE

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A cheap, steel-reinforced cement concrete structure in front of a Hindu temple cave, which is sacred to Vishnu, gives access to a south-west trending and seasonally active resurgence cave in sub-aerial pseudo-laterite (note 1) or, perhaps, in bauxite. The single cave passage, at the south-west facing entrance up to 4 m wide and 2 m high, gets smaller the further it reaches upstream and deteriorates into a rather low crawlway and eventually leads, only 40 m from the cave entrance, to impenetrable inlets. The cave seems to have formed due to piping processes and possibly drains a major part of the plateau (covering an estimated area of 6 ha) of the Shevaroy Malai to its south-western flank. ETYMOLOGY: So far, I saw the name of the -Shevaroy Temple Cave- (compare –>Bear Cave, Yercaud) referred to as Shevaroyan Cave Temple 2010.10.30 Raghu Ambattur, Internet Shevarayan Cave Temple 2008.04.06 Saurabh Dadhwal, Internet SITUATION: On the south-western edge of the plateau on top of the Shevary Malai (N11°50': E078°16'), the main peak of range of hills with the same name. The temple and cave is reached by a winding, hard-topped road that climbs from the larger / lower of the two artificial lakes at Yercaud (N11°46': E078°14'). Frost has been observed on the highest part of the Shevaroys (KING, W & FOOTE, R B 1865: 11 = 233). CAVE DESCRIPTION: The original cave entrance is lost and sheltered by a building which is used for religious purposes and erected at the side of a spacious mandapam, an airy, pillared hall erected as a mandapam (caravanserai) for tourists / pilgrims. The first few metres of the cave's floor are covered with concrete slabs of which one is inscribed with a 1914 date. The distal two thirds of the cave -- separated from the public section by a low altar with knee-high statues of Hindu gods -- are not intentionally modified by man but the soot covered walls and ceiling indicate stray visitors. A certain Ramanathan K. Iyer (note 2) narrated having isited the Shevaroyan Temple on an unidentified Friday 27th May (note 3) and also cared to teach us that Shevaroyan temple has uniqueness of having a narrow cave to visit the presiding deity lord Vishnu. Only one person can go and come back, and others have to wait. Locals pointed out that the cave is extended up to 1.5 km inside and becoming narrower deep inside. The government has shifted the deity little outside fearing any future disaster due to pilgrims surge. CULTURAL HISTORY - human use: Hindus use the partly modified natural cave as a temple cave sacred to Vishnu & associates. The pujari (professional performer of religious rites and cashier of offerings) advertised his product as providing a fabulous tunnel connecting by a subterranean passage to Mysore (some 200 km in a direct line away) of which he himself, however, had explored the first 3 km only. An Indian tourist, who happened to pass by, kindly informeed the current author that the Government had issued orders (sic!) anouncing that the cave connects underground to the Kaveri River (note 1). CAVE LIFE: Two tiny bats with a body length of about 4 cm (Chiroptera: Microchiroptera: conf. Rhinolophus) but no obvious guano dwellers (no noteworthy guano deposits).nouncing that the cave connects underground to the Kaveri River (note 1). CAVE LIFE: Two tiny bats with a body length of about 4 cm (Chiroptera: Microchiroptera: conf. Rhinolophus) but no obvious guano dwellers (no noteworthy guano deposits).