OUR LADY OF HEALTH (Cave of)

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A (modified?) natural sacred cave or rock shelter (note 1) in unspecified rock (note 2) is exploited for a religious show cave serving religious desires and pious needs of Christian customers with the help of a temple cave dedicated to the mother goddess Saint Mary and commemorating her aspects of Our Lady of Health and Immaculate Lady. SITUATION 1915: La Grotte de N.-D. de Lourdes is somewhere at Kumbakonam, Hindoustan (REGNAULT circa 1915 s.a.) and thus on the banks of the Kaveri (Cauvery, Cavery, Kaubari) either somewhere in Kumbakonam taluk (note 3) or at Kumbakonam town (note 4) itself, which is shown on India Road Atlas (Eicher Goodearth 2006) map 117 F4) at a travelling distance of 37 km north-east of Thanjavur (Thanjavore, Tanjore N10°48': E079°09') and due west of Pondicherry (N11°55'48”: E079°49'48” WGS84). Kumbakonam town lies about 312 km south of Chennai (ex- Madras) on the main line of the South Indian Railway to Trichy. SITUATION 1977: A possibly different shrin of Our Lady of Health … the so-called Lourdes of South India and one of the leading Roman Catholic places of pilgrimage in India is located at a certain Vailankanni, Tanjore [note 5] (BHATT 1977: 33-34). CULTURAL HISTORY - human use: The cave can be considered as a religious show cave representing the South Indian branch of Grotte de Notre Dame de Lourdes (Cave of Our Lady of Lourdes). It attracts many pious Christian pilgrims.A (modified?) natural sacred cave or rock shelter (note 1) in unspecified rock (note 2) is exploited for a religious show cave serving religious desires and pious needs of Christian customers with the help of a temple cave dedicated to the mother goddess Saint Mary and commemorating her aspects of Our Lady of Health and Immaculate Lady. SITUATION 1915: La Grotte de N.-D. de Lourdes is somewhere at Kumbakonam, Hindoustan (REGNAULT circa 1915 s.a.) and thus on the banks of the Kaveri (Cauvery, Cavery, Kaubari) either somewhere in Kumbakonam taluk (note 3) or at Kumbakonam town (note 4) itself, which is shown on India Road Atlas (Eicher Goodearth 2006) map 117 F4) at a travelling distance of 37 km north-east of Thanjavur (Thanjavore, Tanjore N10°48': E079°09') and due west of Pondicherry (N11°55'48”: E079°49'48” WGS84). Kumbakonam town lies about 312 km south of Chennai (ex- Madras) on the main line of the South Indian Railway to Trichy. SITUATION 1977: A possibly different shrin of Our Lady of Health … the so-called Lourdes of South India and one of the leading Roman Catholic places of pilgrimage in India is located at a certain Vailankanni, Tanjore [note 5] (BHATT 1977: 33-34). CULTURAL HISTORY - human use: The cave can be considered as a religious show cave representing the South Indian branch of Grotte de Notre Dame de Lourdes (Cave of Our Lady of Lourdes). It attracts many pious Christian pilgrims.