Ambukuthimala or Edakkalmala is one of the principal hills of the Wayanad District. The cave and 50 cents of land is taken over by the department and declared as protected Monument on 04-07-1985.
Edakkal Caves are two natural caves located 1000 metres above sea level on Ambukutty Mala 25 km from Kalpetta in the Wayanad district of Kerala in India's Western Ghats. They lie besides an ancient trade route connecting the high mountains of Mysore to the ports of Malabar coast. Inside the caves are pictorial writings believed to be from neolithic man indicating the presence of a prehistoric civilisation or rather settlement in this region. The stone age carvings of Edakkal are rare and are the only known examples from south India.The fascinating prehistoric rock etchings found on the walls of these caves have drawn the serious attention of archeologists and historians worldwide.
[Click on the images to enlarge]
The name "Edakkal" literally means "a stone in between", and this describes how the cave is formed by a heavy boulder straddling a fissure in the rock. Inside the cave is on two levels, the lower chamber measures about 18 feet long by 12 feet wide and 10 feet high and can be entered through an opening of 5 x 4 feet. A passage opposite the entrance leads upward to a small aperture in the roof through which one climbs up to the next storey whose interior is about 96 feet long, 22 feet wide, and 18 feet high. Light enters the cave through a big gap at the right-hand corner of the roof where the boulder does not touch the facing wall.
These are not technically caves but rather a cleft or rift approximately 96 feet by 22 feet, a 30 foot deep fissure caused by a piece of rock splitting away from the main body. On one side of the cleft is a rock weighing several tons that covers this cleft to form the 'roof' of the cave. The carvings are of human and animal figures, tools used by humans and of symbols yet to be deciphered, suggesting the presence of a prehistoric settlement.The petroglyphs inside the cave are of at least three distinct types. The oldest may date back to over 8000 years. Evidences suggest that the Edakkal caves were inhabited several times at different points in history.The caves were accidentally discovered by Fred Fawcett, a police official of the erstwhile Malabar state in 1890 who immediately recognised their anthropological and historical importance. He subsequently wrote an article about them, attracting the attention of scholars worldwide.
The walls on both sides of the Edakkal rock shelter are embroidered up to a height of over four meters, and down below the present floor level of the cave with deeply carved motifs and signs which look particularly dramatic in the cool, mellow sheen of the damp interior. The rock surface is chock-full of linear motifs most of which form a vertically carved jumble of deep incisions so congested that they are uncountable, a baffling magic of lines in the midst of which many weird-shaped figures seem to be emerging and disappearing, their forms melding and changing in different lights. We can identify crosses, triangles and tridents; squares, some with inner crosses, and a rectangle divided into nine square-shaped chambers; stars, wheels and quatrefoils; spirals, whorls and volutes; plant motifs, pot-shaped items; various animals including ones resembling foxes, dogs and dear; and the unmistakable outline of an elephant.
There are many human figures. A good number of the men have raised hair, of these the most elegant is the figure of a man whose left hand is unnaturally long and reaching his feet. He holds an angular object in his right hand and seems to be wearing a tight garment that reveals an hour-glass torso. Another man has a square-shaped head and spiral belly. Some of the figures are wearing masks and heavy garments. The figure of a woman is easily recognizable, her head is simplified into a cross, and another cross is marked on her hips, there is another, nicely drawn figure of a woman shown standing on a platform. The most eye-catching and somewhat formidable human figure is a life-size male shown standing in frontal pose with raised arms and hair. His face, probably masked, is at a height of the eye-level of the viewer, thus it seems as if he is hindering the entry of outsiders.
We are from photographs taken just 100 years ago that the present floor of the cave is some 40 centimetres higher it used to be, thus the man below his knees is today buried in the soil, and his face which is now at eye-level, once looked down on the viewer. These are just some examples of the many forms and figures that decorate the Edakkal cave. As far as we can tell, they were probably created during the Neolithic period of the Late Stone Age and date from about 1000BC. In addition to the pictorial carvings, five ancient inscriptions have been identified of which two have been deciphered.
Edakkal Cave
Legends about Edakkal Caves
The name Ambukuthimala is ascribed to the local legend which has it that the caves were formed by arrows fired by Lava and Kusha, the sons of Sri Rama, legendary hero of the Ramayana.Even today there are many who believe that Lord Rama killed Surpanakha, the sister of Ravana, in the narrow fissure at the southern end of Edakkal cave.
A local legend associates Kutti Chatan (the little devil of Malabar) with the goddess Mudiampilli, and until recently local people undertook an annual pilgrimage to the peak of the hill to perform a puja (ritual offering) in her honour.
Cave at Edakkal Location:
Village - Nenmeni, Taluk - Sultan Betheri, District - Wayanad, Location - About 3kms from Ambalavayal in Ambalavayal - Kalpatta route.
To reach the Edakkal caves from Tellicherry take the following shortest bus route: Tellicherry > Koothuparamba > Mananthavady > Get down at Beenachi on the way to Sultanbathery > Take Ambalavayal route > Get down at Ayiramkolli > Take bus to Edakkal caves.
Approximate time required to climb till top of the hill and down: 3–4 hours. Entry to the hill closes by 4 PM.
Departmental jeeps can be hired to travel the initial few km till the foot of the hill. A jeep can carry up to six passengers and there are separate rates for one way and return journeys.
Other nearby places:
Soojippara water falls, Sultan Bathery, Mutanga Wildlife Sanctuary.
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