MANDHIP KHOL

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

At least two cave entrances give access to a true cave system comprised of two distinct, generally horizontal cave passages at two distinct levels, which cross over each other and are interconnected only accidentally (collapse) by a vertical rift pot descending some 10 m down into the lower and younger part of the cave where a sump drains water to what must be the third cave entrance, namely –>Mandhip Khol (wet) or Python Cave (Biswas, J 2008.04.21 personal correspondence) and grotta del Pitone (RUGGIERI et al. 2010), a resurgence cave with a spring of water, which appears not only to be --or to have been-- held sacred but also gives rise to the Swet Ganga (Biswas, J 2008.04.21 personal correspondence), a stream in the upper reaches of the Mandhikhol Nala (Survey of India sheet 64-C/4 edition 1975), which eventually drains into the Seonath River (N21°44': E082°28'). ETYMOLOGY: -mandeep- (poetical) is locally pronounced -mandhip“ and means very high in the sence of to lighten the mnd (Dr. Jayant Biswas, Raipur, 2008.05.17 personal correspondence) while the Hindi -mandi- is one of the words for a market (note 1). So far, I saw the name of this cave edited or printed as Mandee pkhole caves SHRIVASTAVA et al. (2007) Mandeep khole SHRIVASTAVA et al. (2007) Mandeep Khole cave SHRIVASTAVA et al. (2007: 153) Mandeep Khole Caves SHRIVASTAVA et al. (2007) Mandhip Khol RUGGIERI et al. (2010: 63) Mandhip Khol-Python Cave RUGGIERI et al. (2010: 63) Natking Cole's Cave no instant of use recorded so far grotta del Pitone RUGGIERI et al. (2010: 58). Concerning the stream -Swet Ganga- rising from Mandhip Khol, -swet- translates as hyaline as … swet means white -- or you can say transparent like glass [hyaline]. Ganga mean not river but is the name of our holy River Ganges. We Indian consider River Ganges as a goddess, coming out from the head of Lord Shiva (Dr. Jayant Biswas, Raipur 2008.04.21 personal correspondence). SITUATION: Mandeep Khole cave is situated about 30 km awy from Gandai [note 2] Block of Rajnandgaon district head quarter of Chhattisgarh state on Rajnandgaon - Balaghat road. One can approach this cave through Thakurtola village [N21°39': E080°58'] (SHRIVASTAVA et al. 2007: 153 abstract). Dr. Jayant Biswas, Raipur University (note 3), on Cave-biology.org (accessed 2007.04.04) placed Mandhip Khol exactly somewhere in Dist. Rajnandgaon [note 4] of Chhattisgarh, India. IMPERIAL GAZETTEER (1907-1909, 21: 79) has Raj-Nandgaon … Capital of the Nandgaon Feudatory State [note 5] … situated in 21°5'N and 81°3'E, with a station on the Bengal - Nagpur Railway, 666 miles [1072 km] from Bombay. … The water supply is obtained from the Seonath river, 2 1/2 miles [circa 4 km] distant. Filtration wells have been sunk in the river, and water is pumped into a service reservoir in the town. The works were opened in 1894 and cost 1.25 lakhs. The GPS positions (note 6) recorded for the cave entrances of Mandhip Khol indicate a location in the Maikala Rnge on the eastern edge of the Raigarh Plateau and on the western margin of the Raipur / Chhattisgarh basin (note 7) at a spot about 3 km due north of the village of Bahautola and in a location where AMS sheet NF44-10 Gondia (U502 series, 1959 edition) shows the confluence of two streams draining south. Not seen: The relevant Survey of India sheet 64-C/10. The village of Bahautola (N21°38': E080°54' ±2.5 km) itself lies about 3 km or 5 km along the road west of Thakurtola (note 8), which itself lies about 10 or 15 km along the road approximately west from a T-junction (Khairi? near N21°34': E081°04') that is reached by travelling distances of 25 km along the road from Khairagarh (note 9) north or 60 km SSW along the road from the town of Kawardha (note 10), which itself lies 208 km along the National Highway NH12A south-west from Jabalpur (N23°10': E079°57' in Madhya Pradesh). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2007 a (SHRIVASTAVA et al. 2007): Mandeep Khole cave [sic!] … is full of stalacttes and stalagmites along with thousands of other karst topography features. Once inside the cave, one finds large, amphitheatre-like halls with endless galleys connected to similar halls of varying size and shape. The Mandeep khole cave is dark inside [note 11] but when lighted by torch or other sources of light of any type, the reflection of light enlivens the internal environs and the caves seen to radiate a million crystal colours off its walls, stalactites and stalagmites. The cave is large enough inside to facilitate easy movement within them (note 11). Additionally, Mandeep khole cave is dark and frightening because Mandeep khole is much more than just dark, scary holes in the ground. In the final analysis, the main entry to this cave is through narrow triangular opening. This beautiful cave is of Precambrian age. … The Mandeep Khole cave in the limestone of Chhattisgarh super group are mainly formed in the period when they were fully submerged with ground water. … Mandeep Khol is purely formed in limestone terrain. It can be divided into five different terraces or parts or floor. These five floors differ in age, the highest being formed first and the other formed later on. … Speleothem is another word for cave formation [sic! qua: secondary calcite formation]. Several forms of speleothems are distinguished in the Mandeep Khole cave, out of which some most important speleothems are stalactites and stalagmites, flowstone and rimstones. … This Rimstone can be seen easily in the Mandeep Khole cave. … In the Mandeep Khole cave, also we can see broken stalactities [sic!] and stalagmites. Much can be done by informing people about cave characteristics and their values (note 12). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2007 b (Jayant Biswas, Cave-biology.org accessed 2007.04.04): Mandhip Khol … is a limestone cave and may be of several kilometers long. … This cave has major two opening, one submerged into water (wet opening) other dry one (note 13). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2008: We explored an surveyed the Mandhip Khol cave made up of a relic part, about 863 m long, and wet part 120 m long. In the relic cave, below a 10 m pit, a river dry gallery runs to the direction of the wet outlet but a sump close the way to it. Not far from this part the gallery ends secreted away in the right low side and with a small skylight window high up on the left-hand side. Climbing out of this opening (hidden beneath sandstone blocks), one reaches the wet entrance from where a small river [no name mentioned] flows into the head of a valley. This wet side we followed for about 120 m upstream to a sump which very likely connects to the other in the dry gallery (Ruggieri 2008.02.08 personal correspondence). CAVE POTENTIAL: In that area we estimated more than a dozen of cave are existing (Jayant Biswas, Cave-biology.org accessed 2007.04.04). Penetrating the estimated 20 m long sump, which separates Mandhip Khol proper from the downstream part –>Mandhip Khol (wet), would result in a physical connction of these two caves with a combined vertical range of ±23 m (+0 m / -23.4 m at a survey length of about 1020 m. CULTURAL HISTORY: The well established cave MANDHIP KHOL (CAVE) has been limelighted by our Biospeleological team. … Local villagers use to worship this cave because the river flowing in this region has been found to be originated from this cave only (Jayant Biswas on accessed 2007.04.04). Mandeep khole cave is dark and frightening but it also can be a lot of fun too, [as it] provides a sense of excitement you cannot relish unless your are pi [sic!] through their dark (SHRIVASTAVA et al. 2007: 153). Without any clue whatsoever SHRIVASTAVA et al. (2007: 154) decided in an -ultra scientific way- that this Mandeep Khole cave served as shelters for the inhabitants and not as dwellings. CAVE LIFE: This cave has been found as BIODIVERSITY [upper case by Jayant] enriched. We can say that scientifically it is yet virgin (Jayant Biswas, Cave-biology.org accessd 2007.04.04). Rosario Ruggieri (2008.02.08 Mss) told me about a relatively large snake: In a conduit of this cave a big python slept for our luck!! Dr. Jayant Biswas (Raipur, 2008.04.21 personal correspondence) tells me to have seen many species inside the Mandhip Khol. Majority is of bat, cricket, giant spiders, Opiliones etc. etc. but the fish as per my view are not true cavernicoles as the stream is connected to river (Chriptera, Gryllidae, Aranea: Arachnida, Opiliones, Pisces). SHRIVASTAVA et al. (2007: 154) noticed not only unspecified bats (Chiroptera) but also a kind of insect typical cave spider (Arachnidae: conf. Araneae): Mandeep Khole cave is a habitat for a variety of bacteria, small insects and animals. Among them, the bats are the most studied. They are encountered in big numbers [unspecified] in the darkest and remote areas. A cave dwelling insect typical cave spider is also found in this cave.ction of these two caves with a combined vertical range of ±23 m (+0 m / -23.4 m at a survey length of about 1020 m. CULTURAL HISTORY: The well established cave MANDHIP KHOL (CAVE) has been limelighted by our Biospeleological team. … Local villagers use to worship this cave because the river flowing in this region has been found to be originated from this cave only (Jayant Biswas on accessed 2007.04.04). Mandeep khole cave is dark and frightening but it also can be a lot of fun too, [as it] provides a sense of excitement you cannot relish unless your are pi [sic!] through their dark (SHRIVASTAVA et al. 2007: 153). Without any clue whatsoever SHRIVASTAVA et al. (2007: 154) decided in an -ultra scientific way- that this Mandeep Khole cave served as shelters for the inhabitants and not as dwellings. CAVE LIFE: This cave has been found as BIODIVERSITY [upper case by Jayant] enriched. We can say that scientifically it is yet virgin (Jayant Biswas, Cave-biology.org accessction of these two caves with a combined vertical range of ±23 m (+0 m / -23.4 m at a survey length of about 1020 m. CULTURAL HISTORY: The well established cave MANDHIP KHOL (CAVE) has been limelighted by our Biospeleological team. … Local villagers use to worship this cave because the river flowing in this region has been found to be originated from this cave only (Jayant Biswas on accessed 2007.04.04). Mandeep khole cave is dark and frightening but it also can be a lot of fun too, [as it] provides a sense of excitement you cannot relish unless your are pi [sic!] through their dark (SHRIVASTAVA et al. 2007: 153). Without any clue whatsoever SHRIVASTAVA et al. (2007: 154) decided in an -ultra scientific way- that this Mandeep Khole cave served as shelters for the inhabitants and not as dwellings. CAVE LIFE: This cave has been found as BIODIVERSITY [upper case by Jayant] enriched. We can say that scientifically it is yet virgin (Jayant Biswas, Cave-biology.org accessction of these two caves with a combined vertical range of ±23 m (+0 m / -23.4 m at a survey length of about 1020 m. CULTURAL HISTORY: The well established cave MANDHIP KHOL (CAVE) has been limelighted by our Biospeleological team. … Local villagers use to worship this cave because the river flowing in this region has been found to be originated from this cave only (Jayant Biswas on accessed 2007.04.04). Mandeep khole cave is dark and frightening but it also can be a lot of fun too, [as it] provides a sense of excitement you cannot relish unless your are pi [sic!] through their dark (SHRIVASTAVA et al. 2007: 153). Without any clue whatsoever SHRIVASTAVA et al. (2007: 154) decided in an -ultra scientific way- that this Mandeep Khole cave served as shelters for the inhabitants and not as dwellings. CAVE LIFE: This cave has been found as BIODIVERSITY [upper case by Jayant] enriched. We can say that scientifically it is yet virgin (Jayant Biswas, Cave-biology.org accessd 2007.04.04). Rosario Ruggieri (2008.02.08 Mss) told me about a relatively large snake: In a conduit of this cave a big python slept for our luck!! Dr. Jayant Biswas (Raipur, 2008.04.21 personal correspondence) tells me to have seen many species inside the Mandhip Khol. Majority is of bat, cricket, giant spiders, Opiliones etc. etc. but the fish as per my view are not true cavernicoles as the stream is connected to river (Chriptera, Gryllidae, Aranea: Arachnida, Opiliones, Pisces). SHRIVASTAVA et al. (2007: 154) noticed not only unspecified bats (Chiroptera) but also a kind of insect typical cave spider (Arachnidae: conf. Araneae): Mandeep Khole cave is a habitat for a variety of bacteria, small insects and animals. Among them, the bats are the most studied. They are encountered in big numbers [unspecified] in the darkest and remote areas. A cave dwelling insect typical cave spider is also found in this cave.