DAIDA TEMPLE CAVE

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A relatively small hole above the bank of the river is one out of a pair of cave entrances which give access to a seasonally active, true tunnel cave so, that is a continuous one and enables visitors to relish in joy of having no need to go back to come out (note 1). The cave is sacred to Hindus and contained on 14th April 2008 not only mud, a little water, and sand but also deepams emitting light (traditional, oil-lit lamps) next to a revered Shivalingam (unspecified, perhaps a stalagmite speleothem). On top of that, the cave allows visitors, especially if they are priviledged to carry inadequate lights, to attain an advanced level of self-emancipation at which one masters the ability to remember how some times we stepped in puddles (Nani Ravi 2008.04.14 nanione.blogspot.com). ETYMOLOGY: No autochthonous, indigenous or locally known cave name has been identified for what is locally probably simply called -bilam- but has been called Daida Cave Temple (Nani Ravi 2008.04.14 nanione.blogpot.com) where Daida is the name of the nearest village while the specification cave temple is misleading insofar as this is a temple cave: a natural cave (formed by dissolutional processses in limestone), which is used as a temple. SITUATION: About 120 km along the road approximately west of Guntur (N16°18': E080°27'), the cave entrance lies above the orographically right (locally southern) bank of the Krishna River (N15°57': E080°59') and in an unidentified spatial relation to the village of Daida (note 2), which lies at linear distances of about 10 km NNW from Gurajala / Guruzala (note 3) and 15 km NW from Dachepalle (note 4). APPROACH: From both of the latter places, it is probably best reached via Pulipaddu (note 5). … from Gurajala it was a single BT road. That road was still going somewhere after crossing Daida village [note 6]. We took a diversion on to a gravel road toward River Krishna to reach [an unidentified] the Temple. We first went in to the river. The way was sloppy one (Nani Ravi 2008.04.14 nanione.blogspot.com/2009/10/guttikonda-bilam.html accessed 2011.05.20). CAVE DESCRIPTION (after Nani Ravi 2008.04.14 nanione.blogspot.com accessed 2011.05.20): An unspecified cave entrance (unidentified shape, unidentified dimensions, unidentified orientation, unidentified characteristics) is said to consist of a relatively small hole to the bank of the river. That [the river? the hole!] is the opening of the cave and leads to cave passage with a mud covered floor, which is generally walking sized and branched at some places but contains an estimated 2 m or 3 m long hands and knees crawl. At one place, there is a Shivalingam and somewhere else the floor was sandy and water current marks in addition to unidentified rock formations which possibly may represent secondary calcite formations (note 7). CULTURAL HISTORY - religious folklore: Herdsmen from Daida Village leave their cattle in the forest beside their village. Among them, one lost his cattle. H searched all day and at dusk he put his efforts aside and took rest on the bank of River Krishna. At night he listened some people performing bhajans. He searched for the place where those sounds were coming from. At last he found the cave. In the morning he went into the village and told villagers about the thing he saw. Villagers decided to pay a visit to the cave at night. He showed them to the cave. There were Sages performing puja to Shivalingam and some were chanting. Upon seeing this populace they stopped all and decided to leave the place and never came back. All this happened centuries ago. Thenceforth people from many places visiting this temple (Nani Ravi 2008.04.14 nanione.blogspot.com/2009/10/guttikonda-bilam.html accessed 2011.05.20). CAVE LIFE: Apparently at around 10 o'clock a.m. on 14th April 2008, Nani Ravi (nanione.blogspot.com accessed 2011.05.20) noticed inside the Daida cave an unspecified number of unidentified bats (Chiroptera).