SANKARI DRUG (Cave at)

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A flat roof supported by twelve white-washed pillars shelters the north-east facing entrance (1 m wide, 4 m high) to a natural temple cave, which consists of a solitary, inclined rift cave passage in pophyritic granite (note 1) and is not only sacred to Muslims and, apparently to Hindus as well (note 2), but also is dreadfully soiled and reputed to represent an exit cave (note 3). ETYMOLOGY: Sankagiri drug CONGREVE (1879: 154-155) Sankari Drug BARTHOLOMEW (1996: Indian Subcontinent 1: 4 mill.) Sankaridrug IMPERIAL GAZETTEER (1907-1909, 21: 395, 398; 22: 58), AMS sheet NC43-04 Erode (U502 series, 1959 edition) Sankeri Drug citation needed Sankaridung India Road Atlas (Eicher Goodearth 2006: 116 B3) Sankerry-droog NEWBOLD, T J (1845e: 768) Sunkegherry Droog KING, W & FOOTE, R B (1865: 370 = 148, 386 = 164) Sunkerry Droog citation needed. SITUATION 2002: The relatively small but -- at least on 16th and 17th January 2002 -- excessively noisy village of Sankaridrug (in short: Sankari) liesat travelling distances of 37 km along the road south-west from Salem (N11°39': E78°10') and some 25 km or 30 km along roads approximately north-east from Erode (N11°20': E77°40') on the National Highway NH47 and 3 km from the Sankaridrug station on the South Central Railway (SCR). The fortified hill Sankaridrug rises adjacent west of the village by about 280 m or 930 feet (NEWBOLD, T J 1845e: 768) to a height of 714 m or 2,343 feet (IMPERIAL GAZETTEER 1907-1909, 22: 58; AMS sheet NC43-04 Erode, U502 series, 1959 edition). The snowy mosque erected in honour of a Musalman saint (IMPERIAL GAZETTEER 1907-1909, 22: 58) or musjid at the entrance of a cavern (CONGREVE 1879: 154) lies on the left-hand side of the path climbing to the top of the fortified hill and rather at the lower third (some 80 m or 100 m up) than half-way along the ascent (IMPERIAL GAZETTEER 1907-1909, 22: 58) or half way down (CONGREVE 1879: 154). SITUATION 1909: In the Salem District (N11°01': E77°29' to N1°54': 79°02'), the southern Talaghat is marked with three most striking masses of rock, all alike more or less bare of vegetation: namely, the walled and battlemented height of Namakkal, the crescent-topped hill-fortress of Tiruchengodu, and the great, square, white mass of Sankaridrug (IMPERIAL GAZETTEER 1907-1909, 21: 395). In the Tiruchengodu taluk of Salem district … 11°29' N. and 77°52' E., 2 miles from the station of the same name on the Madras Railway [now South Central Railway, SCR] … the Sankaridrug hill rises to a height of 2,343 feet [714 m]. … The hill is well worth climbing. Past a Hindu temple, the door of which is riddled with bullets, the traveller toils up a flight of steps, and half-way along the ascent reaches a snowy [or, perhaps, white-washed] mosque erected [not only in front of the sacred rift cave entrance but also] in honour of a Musalman saint, which nestles among the green foliage that clothes the hill like a pearl set in emeralds. Leaving this, the ath winds among remains of modern fortifications and the houses of the garrison, now overgrown with shrubs and prickly pear, and at length reaches a plateau at the top of the hill. Here is a fount of pure cold water, supposed to be possessed of medical virtues; and the remains of the old Hindu fort, its granary and the subterranean cell into which condemned prisoners were thrown, come into view. Crowning all are the temples of Vishnu, the lights of which twinkle in the evenings in the surrounding darkness (IMPERIAL GAZETTEER 1907-1909, 22: 58-59). SITUATION 1845: Sankerry-droog. The rock on which stands this old Droog, is about twenty-four miles [38.6 km] south-west from Salem. It is composed of a fine pophyritic granite, which has broken up the gneiss on its flanks, and rises boldly from the plain to a height (approximately by a trigonometrical observation from a paced base) of 930 feet [283.5 m]. The sides are masses of bare rock, often precipitous, between which not infrequently puhed forth a vigorous vegetation. The pophyritic granite has invaded the hypogene rocks, and burst through them in innumerable dykes on its south-west flank; the gneiss rests like a mantle, with a general dip of 75°.S. 15'W. but the strata are much in disorder and confusion. On the western side, the gneiss is seen interstratified with layers of hornblende, actynolitic schist, and garnet rock, in which is a layer of a fine crystalline limestone, (marble) which from its effervescence with acid, and peculiar appearance and weight, I should think is magnesian. Near its contact with the garnet rock, its substance is starred with innumerable minute garnets, both red and green. Garnets of a light brown colour, resembling cinnamon stone, also occur in this limestone stratum; the limestone is seamed by a dull amber-coloured hornstone, which penetrates the rock in thin seams, and stands out in relief on the surface of the more rapidly weathering limestone, giving it a grooved and corrugated asect. The green garnet is found in the largest crystals, in the white quartz veins which intersect the hornblende schist and gneiss. The green garnet, (if so it is, for I have not yet had opportunity of submitting it to analysis) is in general of the foliated, rhomboidal variety, and with its white quartz matrix form a very beautiful rock. The quartz imbedded also a mineral of a hair-brown colour in hexagonal prisms. The variegated appearance imparted to the limestone near the line f junction by the admixture in irregular lines of red and green crystals, is curious and interesting. These beds can be traced on the side of the rock till they disappear under masses of pophyritic granite, which have slidden down from above (NEWBOLD, T J 1845e: 768). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1879: Half way down the steps leading to [the -pagoda- = Hindu temple on the the summit of the Drug] is a musjid [masjid, Muslim mosque] at the entrance of a cavern (CONGREVE 1879: 154-155). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2002: In the back o man-made, erected structure (lobby, mandapam, veranda) where 12 whitewashed pillars support a flat roof, a north-east facing cave entrance (1 m wide, 4 m high) leads to a solitary, inclined rift passage (35 m long), which arrives from the approximate west-north-west and in concordance with the roundish, locally south-south-east facing flank of the hill. Less than 10 m from the cave entrance issues a trickle of water (January 2002) from the ceiling and has built up secondary calcite deposits (multiple layered flowstone, partly undermined by treasure seekers, containing limestone pebbles rounded by subsoil weathering but no obvious bones or cultural relics). The first few metres of the passage have suffered -beautification- with a thick coating of whitewash and an artificial floor and a speckled concrete floor. The interior, steeply ascending part is floored with rubbish, sand and small fallen boulders, all dotted with a sticky kind of tar that spoils even the nicest clothes and cleanet feet: Shoes, of course, are not allowed within the sanctuary (note 4) but demonstrating disrespect with careless pollution is no problem at all. CULTURAL HISTORY - human use: exitcave: Tradition proclaims that a Mussulman hermit occupied this place for some time, and in the sequel disappeared for ever inside [note 5], on account of which he was sanctified, and the musjid erected in his memory. He left behind him nothing but his foot-prints on the rock at the entrance [note 6] (CONGREVE 1879: 154-155). CLIMATE: In the middle of a March, probably in 1844, NEWBOLD, T J (1845e: 770) measured a water temperature of 84°F (28.9°C) in a an unspecified spring (no name mentioned) somewhere at the village of Sankerry-droog (Sankari, Sankaridrug), where the Thermometer placed on the naked rocks at this place, at 2 P.M. in a clear tranquil day, and fully exposed to the sun's rays, stood at 120°F [48.9°C], at half past 5 P.M. 100°F [37.8°C]. About six feet [1.83 m] above the rock's surface itindicated 110°F [43.3°C] at 2 P.M., shade 90°F [32.2°C], and at 5 1/2 P.M., shade 82°F [27.8°C]. On the sandy soil at 2 P.M. the mercury rose 4°F [2.2°C] higher than on the rock. CAVE LIFE: On 16th January 2002 H. D. Gebauer noticed in the twilight zone near the cave entrance apparently abandoned structures of mud wasps and in the cave's dark zone a cricket with long antennae, a handful of bats (Chiroptera) and even a few apparent bat guano dwellers (conf. Creepy crawli g. et sp. indet.).t feet: Shoes, of course, are not allowed within the sanctuary (note 4) but demonstrating disrespect with careless pollution is no problem at all. CULTURAL HISTORY - human use: exitcave: Tradition proclaims that a Mussulman hermit occupied this place for some time, and in the sequel disappeared for ever inside [note 5], on account of which he was sanctified, and the musjid erected in his memory. He left behind him nothing but his foot-prints on the rock at the entrance [note 6] (CONGREVE 1879: 154-155). CLIMATE: In the middle of a March, probably in 1844, NEWBOLD, T J (1845e: 770) measured a water temperature of 84°F (28.9°C) in a an unspecified spring (no name mentioned) somewhere at the village of Sankerry-droog (Sankari, Sankaridrug), where the Thermometer placed on the naked rocks at this place, at 2 P.M. in a clear tranquil day, and fully exposed to the sun's rays, stood at 120°F [48.9°C], at half past 5 P.M. 100°F [37.8°C]. About six feet [1.83 m] above the rock's surface itt feet: Shoes, of course, are not allowed within the sanctuary (note 4) but demonstrating disrespect with careless pollution is no problem at all. CULTURAL HISTORY - human use: exitcave: Tradition proclaims that a Mussulman hermit occupied this place for some time, and in the sequel disappeared for ever inside [note 5], on account of which he was sanctified, and the musjid erected in his memory. He left behind him nothing but his foot-prints on the rock at the entrance [note 6] (CONGREVE 1879: 154-155). CLIMATE: In the middle of a March, probably in 1844, NEWBOLD, T J (1845e: 770) measured a water temperature of 84°F (28.9°C) in a an unspecified spring (no name mentioned) somewhere at the village of Sankerry-droog (Sankari, Sankaridrug), where the Thermometer placed on the naked rocks at this place, at 2 P.M. in a clear tranquil day, and fully exposed to the sun's rays, stood at 120°F [48.9°C], at half past 5 P.M. 100°F [37.8°C]. About six feet [1.83 m] above the rock's surface itindicated 110°F [43.3°C] at 2 P.M., shade 90°F [32.2°C], and at 5 1/2 P.M., shade 82°F [27.8°C]. On the sandy soil at 2 P.M. the mercury rose 4°F [2.2°C] higher than on the rock. CAVE LIFE: On 16th January 2002 H. D. Gebauer noticed in the twilight zone near the cave entrance apparently abandoned structures of mud wasps and in the cave's dark zone a cricket with long antennae, a handful of bats (Chiroptera) and even a few apparent bat guano dwellers (conf. Creepy crawli g. et sp. indet.).