CACHAR CAVE (Smaller)

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 24/03/2016

A natural, sacred cave with an entrance in the base of a circular collapse doline leads to a descending rift passage, which is suspected to function as an insurgence (sink, sinkhole) draining eastwards to the river Barak or one of its tributaries. SITUATION: The temple cave lies somewhere in the vicinity of –>Yoni Dvara (or: Larger –>Cachar Cave) in the Bhuban Hills (Bhoban / Bhuvan Pahar), Cachar district, Assam. CAVE DESCRIPTION: Frank Ede had »…visited the smaller cave first [see also –>Yoni Dvara: Bhuban Pahar]. It is approached by a rough rocky path terminating in a hollow or punch bowl which has been formed by the collapse of the rock in the form of a circle, by reason of the removal or shifting of the underlying strata to a lower level by the action of water or some other agency. The cave or pipe descends from the bowl very rapidly for some distance, then rises and forms a saddle, again descends very rapidly and finally empties itself into the Barak or one of its tributaries. We were unable to find its outlet, as it becomes far too narrow to allow a man to pass. In the rains the cave must be more or less full of water, which can only get away very slowly (through cracks and fissures forming minor potholes) until it rises above the level of the saddle, when it has a much freer outlet and flows away fairly rapidly. We were not able to find any stone implements, or bones, fossil or recent, in this cave. In some places the rocks were rounded and coated with pearly sinter. With the exception of a few bats, it is doubtful if this cave was ever inhabited by man or beast« (EDE 1902: 36-37). CULTURAL HISTORY - pseudo-scientific bullshit: »In the North Cachar Hills [sic! qua: Cachar Hills] two caves representing the earlier patterns of tribal architecture was noticed by E.D.E. Frank in 1902« (SINGH, G P 2008: 202). CAVE LIFE: EDE (1902: 37) noticed the presence of a few unspecified bats (Chiroptera).