Kotumsar Cave
The Kotumsar cave was initially named as Gopansar cave (Gopan = hidden) but later on the name Kotumsar became much popular as it is located near a village ‘Kotumsar’. Earlier Kotumsar cave was within the state Madhya Pradesh, India, but in the year 2000 it came under a new state Chhattisgarh that carved out from the former as a new political entity. Presently, Kotumsar cave is one of the major attraction points for the people who loves ecotourism. It is a limestone cave formed on Kanger limestone belt. It is situated near the bank of the River Kanger, a tributary of Kolab River. The entrance coordinates are 18052’09”N; 81056’05” E (WGS 84) lies at an altitude of 560 m above the sea level. A vertical fissure in the wall of a hill serves as the main entry for the cave from where for the convenience of the tourist a well concrete path has been formed which extends till last end of the cave. The main tunnel of the cave is nearly 200 m long which has several lateral and downward passages. Various forms of speleothems impart a very panoramic view to this cave. Air and water temperatures were relatively stable at an annual average of 28.25 ± 1.23 and 26.33 ± 0.96_C, respectively (range = 25.0–32.7_C for air; 22.9–29.3_C for water). The cave is subject to frequent flooding during the monsoon season which generally begins in the middle of June and continues till the mid of October. The tourist entry is not allowed at this period. Besides it various water pools are also exist in this cave which are fed by seepage throughout the year.
As per Hindu mythology caves are generally considered as a prominent religious spots. In Kotumsar cave also a large number of pilgrim visits to worship a big speleothem formation (stalagmite) which is lies inside one of the inner chamber of this cave. Earlier the worshipers also burn incense, camphor to this part of the Kotumsar Cave which was polluting the cave ecosystem resulting declination of biodiversity of the cave. Thus it has been stopped in the present state by the authority based on a report published by National Cave research and Protection Organization, India.
Cave history
The cave was very much known since British era of India, but it was never taken seriously till in fifties of previous century Dr. Shankar Tiwari (Professor in Geography) visited the cave and tried to explore it’s all the chambers with limited resources and equipment. The cave was first of all systematically mapped in eighties by Dr. Jayant Biswas (then a PhD scholar), guided by a Romanian caver. The map was first of all published in Biswas's PhD dissertation in 1990 which was further internationally published by him in 1992 through a publication of National Speleological Society .
New Chamber
In the year 2011 a small highly panoramic chamber of this cave was explored by the forest officials of the Park. Though the approach is not easy for this chamber, general tourists are not allowed to visit there.
How to reach the cave
Kotumsar cave is situated in Kanger Valley National Park which is around 35 km far from the city Jagdalpur (the district headquarter of Bastar) in state Chhattisgarh. Jagdalpur could be reached either by road way, train way or airway. The city is well connected by National Highway 212, 202 and 16. To reach by Air way the nearest airport is the Swami Vivekananda Airport of Raipur.
To reach the park one has to follow the Jagdalpur, Sukma road. The cave is located at around 10 km far from the main entrance of the National park.
Biodiversity of the cave
The Kotumsar Cave in Central India is one of the most biologically explored caves in India,.[1] While surveying the Kotumsar cave one of Dr. Shankar Tiwari then colleagues Dr. S.M. Agarwal a biologist took interest in the biodiversity of the Kotumsar cave. He identified a species of blind fish that occupy this cave as Indoreonectes evezardi (then Nemacheilus evezardi) with the help of the British Museum. New species of crickets namely Kempiola shankari were also discovered here. The name of the discovered critter was given to honour of Dr. Shankar Tiwari. Later on several other species were also discovered in the cave by taxonomists (mostly arthropods) , geomicrobiologists from the National Cave Research and Protection Organization (India) also identified various bacteria that live in the cave.
The complete biodiversity of this cave has been well described by Dr. Jayant Biswas in the year 2010. There are many more caves are identified around 5 km radius of this caves, but Kotumsar cave is the most biologically live cave of Kanger Valley National Park having healthy biodiversity.
References
- ↑ Kotumsar Cave is biologically best known cave in India The Hitavada
- Biswas Jayant 2010 Kotumsar Cave biodiversity: a review of cavernicoles and their troglobiotic traits
- Biswas J 1991 Metabolic efficiency and regulation of body weight: a comparison between life in hypogean and epigean ecosystems
- Biswas J & Ramteke A 2008 Timed feeding synchronizes circadian rhythm in vertical swimming activity in cave loach, Nemacheilus evezardi
- Pradhan R K & Biswas J 1994 Towards regressive evolution: the periodic colour change behaviour of a troglophilic fish Nemacheilus evezardi (Day)
- Biswas et al 2011 Impacts of Ecotourism on Bat Habitats in Caves of Kanger Valley National Park, India
- Biswas et al 2015 Subterranean Microhabitat Dependent Intra Versus Extracellular Enzyme Secretion Capabilities of Deinococcus radiodurans
External links
- Cave biology (biospeleology) in India
- caves.res.in National Cave Research and Protection Organization, India