Paithan "nightmare adventure" caves

alouise

Hi everyone, if the title of this thread sends your imagination into overdrive, then there's more....... http://www.horizontoursindia.com/cit...am-gardan.html
Quote " Located deep in the Daroq Mountains, Paithan caves are not often visited by nightmare adventurers because of its tradition of death."

Yes, it all sounds rather intriguing. But what's the truth of it? There are so few website mentions of these caves and all of them feature little other than the above quote. Whether the caves are natural or excavated is difficult to tell from this one single sentence of information. But given that Paithan was the ancient Satavahana capital, Pratisthan, one might expect that these nightmare caves could have originally been excavated by Buddhist monks, like those elsewhere in Maharastra during Satavahana rule. I've been scouring the ASI online publications of Indian Archaeology Review but nothing's turned up so far, including the volumes from the early 1990s which is when the area around Paithan was excavated.

So now I asking if IMers can help. Is there anyone out there who's visited Paithan, 58 km south of Aurangabad? Moreover, anyone out there who's been to the caves and SURVIVED the experience? If so, please tell us about it. Or even if there's anyone who knows anything about the story behind this death warning about going near the caves?

alouise

No response yet ........... must be nightmarish

alouise

Still no responses....... either no one's been to these caves or else, no one survived to tell.

Rachmilievitch

In January this year, we visited Paithan. Here's part of of my wife's trip note for the day.

Today's adventure was a trip to Paithan. There is a large lake and garden there. Just outside Aurangabad, we passed factories manufacturing appliances like TVs and refrigerators, tractors and other items. There were many trucks for hauling parked on both sides of the road. Later we passed a sugar factory. There were many carts of sugar cane pulled by oxen. Our driver explained that it is a short season for sugar harvest and manufacture. Across the road from the factory there were many people living in tents. They also used sugar canes as part of their tents. These were the workers who would haul the sugar cane and probably make the sugar as well, The driver had brought two of his sons along, so he stopped at two carts of sugar cane that were sitting by the road and requested some canes for them. When we got to the park he broke sugar canes open and gave the boys each a stick and showed us how to peel the bark and get to the sugary part.

We visited the large dam that created or made larger the lake. There is a walkway at the top of it. W was careful not to take any pictures. The security people were very clear about where we could walk and were watching everyone very closely. We then went into town and paid to enter the garden. It was a very nice place, lawns, flowers, trees, and water lanes. There were cabanas in the park where wealthy people could stay. There was a water slide by the cabanas. After sunset there was a water fountain and light show and a large crowd gathered for the show. Many bus loads of school children were brought in to see it. Our driver explained that this is a popular Indian attraction that very few westerners come to see.

The ride back to Aurangabad was very exciting there were ox carts of sugar cane with no lights, trucks with no lights, stretches of bad road with deep bumps and much weaving in and out of the oncoming lane. It was breathtaking to say the least.

alouise

Thank you for your reply. From your wife's description, the area sounds very rural and scenic. This trip I assume did not include a visit to Daroq mountains or the caves, would that be correct?

alouise

Hi everyone,can't help myself and can't stop myself from wondering why India tourist websites would all publish the same thing about these Paithan caves not being visited often by "nightmare adventurers because of the tradition of death". What does it mean? Is there a risk of falling to one's death when trying to visit these caves, or is there some kind of supernatural thing going on, like some sacrificial cult in the caves long ago that spells bad luck to any one who visit, including these "nightmare adventurers" who seldom visit the place. Are there demons there waiting for victims? It's a strange way to advertise a tourist venue, to say the least! Anyone got any clues on this?

rsk11584

Mmmmmm too wierd thing, but what surprises me the most is that, I live in Aurangabd around 6o kms from Paithan, and many of my friends and myself have been to paithan, but never heard of what you have mentioned., and I will explain you the significance of paithan ,,

Paithan Garden = for relaxing and for picnics.


Jayakwadi Dam = a dam, sightseeing site, and the dam provides water to Aurangabad and adjoining areas.

Godavari River = the river on which jayakwadi dam is built, near the dam there is river shore, where people perform puja or last rites of their dear ones.

So mostly people visit paithan only for above reasons, and will try to ask my friends about these caves, and will try to visit them, and if I return alive, then will post my experience.

rsk11584

By the way I would like to mention one thing, some 2-3 days ago I had a dream and in the dream I got some strange message to visit indiamike, dont know but I got some message, even though I am an old member but it is since many days that I visited this site.

Might be I was informed in dream to visit this site again,, so that I may know about this wierd thing at Paithan.

alouise

Sounds pretty freaky rsk. Thanks for your response, I was wondering if I should forget about asking. Oh do please ask your friends about those caves in the Daroq mountains. Can't wait to find out!

My interest in Paithan is the archaeology, because this place was Satavahana capital during the heydey of maritime trade with the Roman empire and China - a bit later. Having said that, I also hope to relax there at some of those lovely picnic places.

anna paradox

I don't think that cave in the Daroq Mountains actually exists. I don't even think there are mountains called Daroq but I could be wrong (is Paithan in a mountainous region?).

A computer game (Warcraft) has a realm inhabited by goblins called Daroq. I don't play computer games or have played Warcraft so I can't confirm for sure. This could have something to do with the tour guides quote "not often visited by nightmare adventurers."

Since all of the India tour sites are just quoting the same blurb over and over again without any elaboration then I'd imagine they don't know anything about caves in the Daroq Mountains (?) either.

I could be totally wrong, this is just my idea. Looking forward to see if someone actually does know about this cave.

rsk11584

Well all you can see is the Jayakwadi Dam, the paithan garden it is a very big garden, similar to any other garden full of trees. Also regarding the above post, there is a possibility that daroq might also be a regional word, and might have something related to the regional language of the city.

Haylo

They all publish the same thing because stealing the content of rivals' sites is easier than writing their own content; the identical but unusual wording strongly suggests this.

So, the real question is what one person writing an single travel website meant by it - the complete lack of other "independent" references suggests that either this is not an established tourist site, or that they are "talking up" a cave which is more widely known under a different name.

Anna, you could be right about that, perhaps it was even originally added to the site as a joke! Certainly I haven't been able to find any other references to the "Daroq Mountains", though again transliteration issues could mean that they're widely known but usually spelled differently.

__________________
The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful - E.E. Cummings, poet (1894-1962)

alouise

Yes Anna, I was aware of that other Daroq. Haylo, you could be right, certainly the copying on the websites (eg. http://www.horizontoursindia.com/cit...dam-gardan.htm and
http://www.indiainfoweb.com/maharash...han-caves.html ) suggest limited knowledge of the area.

At the same time, though, it is Paithan and the Buddhist caves are nearly always associated with a major trade centre c. 2nd c BC to 2nd C AD.l Paithan would certainly fit the bill here, as the Satavahana capital. The area between there and Osmanabad-Ter is hilly, and there are caves at the latter. So it is a possibility the caves exist, but whether or not they're visited is another thing - they're definitely not listed by ASI as a ticketed monument.

Anyone know more on this?

alouise

That's an interesting idea, rsk...

yogeshg

There is nothing with the name Daroq mountains in or near paithan. This looks to be a kind of miswritten information.

__________________
It is far easier to travel than to write about it.
David Livingstone