GOOTY CAVERN (Newbold 1845)

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A dark narrow cavern infested by bats is shown in the granite near the top of the rock, at the bottom of which is a well which the natives affirm, with little probability, communicates with the Paumri stream in the plain below (NEWBOLD, T J 1845c: 512). ETYMOLOGY: No specific cave name has been identified for what has been referred to by the name of the populated place called Gooty, Guti, and Gutti (note 1). Gooty is said to have derived its origin from the Rishi Gotama's residence on the rock (NEWBOLD, T J 1845c: 512). As per one of the inscriptions, the place was called as -Gadha- meaning -Fort- while an inscription of Bukkaraya, the Vijayanagaran monarch, mentions this place as -King of Forts- (note 2). SITUATION 1908: Gooty Town (Gutti) … The centre of the place is its famous old hill-fortress. A roughly circular cluster of steep, bare, rock hills, each connected with the next by lower spurs, encloses in its midst a considerable area of level ground. Within this enclosure is theoriginal town of Gooty … The westernmost hill of this circle is a huge, precipitous mass of a bare rock, which towers hundreds of feet above all the others. On this is built the citadel [note 3]. It is approached by a paved path which leads first to an outlying spur of considerable extend, itself strongly fortified, and known formerly as Mar Gooty, then passes through the fortifications on this spur, winds upwards round the steep sides of the great rock above it, and at length reaches the summit of the fortress, 2105 feet above sea level [641 m asl] and about 1000 feet [circa 300 m] above the surrounding country (IMPERIAL GAZETTEER 1907-1909, 12: 327). SITUATION 1845: The approximative height above the sea by the boiling point of water of the plain at the base of the Gooty rock is 1200 feet [366 m]; and that of the summit of the latter above the plain, about 900 feet [274 m]. From the old flagstaff at the top is a fine view extending over a sea of hills to the East and Northward; and ver the great regur plains of the Ceded Districts to the West. To the South the Gooty range is prolonged to the Cuddapah and Mysore frontiers (NEWBOLD, T J 1845c: 511-512).GEOLOGY: The limestone and sandstone formation is now taken leave of. From the village of Yairypully, about nine miles east from Gooty, nothing but granitic trap and quartz rocks, associated with gneiss and hornblende schist, present themselves ; the latter form several picturesque peaks to the left of the road. The rock of Gooty is a vast precipitous mass of a sienitic granite, composed principally of reddish felspar quartz, a little mica, hornblende, and actynolite. The actynolite occurs with felspar in thin veins of a lively green, or in drusy surface crystals. At its base, gneiss occurs with beds of a brilliant hornblede schist, dipping at an angle of 62° from the hill, i. e. to the west. This schistous bed forms the rising ground on which the Idgah stands: it is penetrated by quartz and granitic veins, which I as unable to trace to the main rock. It imbeds nests and drusy crystals of actynolite. Dykes of basaltic greenstone are numerous (NEWBOLD, T J 1845c [Madras to Goa]: 512).CULTURAL HISTORY - legendary hydrology: … a well which the natives affirm, with little probability, communicates with the Paumri stream [note 4] in the plain below (NEWBOLD, T J 1845c: 512). Internet webshites still narrate traveller's tales according to which so-called gaps in the rock of the Gooty Fort formed many wells that was [sic!] a source of water in those days. One of them is believed to have been connected with a stream at the foot of the hill … (note 5). CAVE LIFE: NEWBOLD, T J (1845c: 512) reports having noticed in 1844 or 1845 a dark narrow cavern infested by bats (Chiroptera indet).ver the great regur plains of the Ceded Districts to the West. To the South the Gooty range is prolonged to the Cuddapah and Mysore frontiers (NEWBOLD, T J 1845c: 511-512).GEOLOGY: The limestone and sandstone formation is now taken leave of. From the village of Yairypully, about nine miles east from Gooty, nothing but granitic trap and quartz rocks, associated with gneiss and hornblende schist, present themselves ; the latter form several picturesque peaks to the left of the road. The rock of Gooty is a vast precipitous mass of a sienitic granite, composed principally of reddish felspar quartz, a little mica, hornblende, and actynolite. The actynolite occurs with felspar in thin veins of a lively green, or in drusy surface crystals. At its base, gneiss occurs with beds of a brilliant hornblede schist, dipping at an angle of 62° from the hill, i. e. to the west. This schistous bed forms the rising ground on which the Idgah stands: it is penetrated by quartz and granitic veins, which I ver the great regur plains of the Ceded Districts to the West. To the South the Gooty range is prolonged to the Cuddapah and Mysore frontiers (NEWBOLD, T J 1845c: 511-512).GEOLOGY: The limestone and sandstone formation is now taken leave of. From the village of Yairypully, about nine miles east from Gooty, nothing but granitic trap and quartz rocks, associated with gneiss and hornblende schist, present themselves ; the latter form several picturesque peaks to the left of the road. The rock of Gooty is a vast precipitous mass of a sienitic granite, composed principally of reddish felspar quartz, a little mica, hornblende, and actynolite. The actynolite occurs with felspar in thin veins of a lively green, or in drusy surface crystals. At its base, gneiss occurs with beds of a brilliant hornblede schist, dipping at an angle of 62° from the hill, i. e. to the west. This schistous bed forms the rising ground on which the Idgah stands: it is penetrated by quartz and granitic veins, which I as unable to trace to the main rock. It imbeds nests and drusy crystals of actynolite. Dykes of basaltic greenstone are numerous (NEWBOLD, T J 1845c [Madras to Goa]: 512).CULTURAL HISTORY - legendary hydrology: … a well which the natives affirm, with little probability, communicates with the Paumri stream [note 4] in the plain below (NEWBOLD, T J 1845c: 512). Internet webshites still narrate traveller's tales according to which so-called gaps in the rock of the Gooty Fort formed many wells that was [sic!] a source of water in those days. One of them is believed to have been connected with a stream at the foot of the hill … (note 5). CAVE LIFE: NEWBOLD, T J (1845c: 512) reports having noticed in 1844 or 1845 a dark narrow cavern infested by bats (Chiroptera indet).