A VISIT TO RED SOIL IN THE RED CORRIDOR (ARAKU VALLEY & VIZAGAPATNAM)
Our trip to vizagapattinam and Araku valley in the northern eastern part of Andhra Pradesh was like a sojourn to the past. Vizaagapatinam is variously called vaisagapattinam, izzatnagar, waltair, etc each name identified with a bit of history unknown to outsiders. Incidentally, the vaisaga star is the birth star of Lord Murugan the traditional deity of the Tamils. It is also worth mentioning that in Tiruchendur, he fought against the sea pirates under the leadership of Sura Padman. Probably those were the marine pirates who were marauding the Indian Ocean those days. History says that these pirates hid in the numerous islands in the Indian Ocean and attacked the merchants’ ships of Imperial Cholas, the Kalingas, the Chalukyas, the Romans, the Chinese and the Arabs who had extensive trade journeys crisscrossing the Indian Ocean. Thus, the imperial Cholas organized the armored ships (precursors of the present day Merchant Navy) to protect the merchants, their merchandise and their ships. Probably Lord Murugan had one the military settlement (Padai veedu)in the vaizagapattinam those days to protect the traders of the Kalinga and Chalukya.
The tour was booked from Chennai itself through AP Tourism Development Corporation. Having booked two months in advance, we had no hassles once we reached vizagapattinam. The city is perched on the delta of river Gosthane – udder of the Cow – the water source for the city. Pattinam is a town located in the delta region where the river meets the sea. Poombuhar Pattinam is an example from Tamil Nadu. These port towns were flourishing towns for more than thousand years having active trade links with the entire east from Java, Sumatra, china, and in the west Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Rome. The Tamil literary sources explain that Puhar pattinam another name for the Poombuhar, had day shops (Naal Angaadi) and night shops (al angaadi).
Another gory past of the area was the height of Buddhism during its heydays. The city has numerous Buddhist ruins like monasteries, beaches, stupas and viharas. One such ruin is the thotla gunta – thottil in Telugu means water tank. It was amazing to know that the Buddhist monastery on top of the hill had rain water harvesting in ancient days. There were seven tanks each interlinked with the other to store the rain water and use it for the entire year or until the next monsoon day. The guide explained one such huge tank carved out of the stone is perennial and still has water when we visited the place.
The trip to red soil (Araku valley – Araku in Oriya language means red soil- at the height of 1447 meters) started with the train journey with the Kirandul passenger which goes up to Bailadilla iron ore mines, Koraput in Orissa. The line intersects with three states i.e. Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Chhatisgarh. There are 52 tunnels on the way to Araku station. It was laid for carrying ore from the Eastern Ghats to the vizag port city. The Dhandakarunya- Bolangir-Kiriburu line was laid by the collaboration of the Indian railways and the Japanese govt. it rises to a height of meters and has the second highest BG station Similiguda (996 meters) in India. The first being the Udhampur station in Jammu &Kashmir.
The highest peak in Andhra is the Anandagiri On reaching the Araku station, APTDC bus carried us to the tribal museum where the various moods and activities are immortalized in clay models. The curios shop contained articles made by tribes. Special coffee powder grown in valley is sold as organic coffee powder the aroma which is very surpassing. Next we were taken to a small park – Padmapuram botanical gardens where the specialty is the Australian silver oak which is having three layers and the innermost layer is used of paraill, middle layer for making bats, the outermost layer for plastic- under development which is a poor replica of the all parks of hill stations. The range of mountains is called the Ghalikhonda range of the Eastern Ghats. The lunch was laid at the Araku valley hill resort owned by the APTDC.
After the lunch, a tribal dance was organized. Some of the enthusiastic women and girls from among the tourists joined them. We proceeded to the Anandagiri the summer palace of the viziyanagar kings. It was a very attractive and airy summer palace surrounded by beautiful gardens where tea and snacks were served. From there we straight went to the Borro caves. Borro in Oriya language meant a hole. The subterranean caves were formed naturally under the mountains and the interior is full of lime stones. The continuous seeping of rain water has created wonderful natural formations of various gods and goddesses. The lighting arrangement is excellent and awe making. The caves were first found by, a British in 1896 by accident. The caves are said to be 150millions years old. The archeology dept of Waltair university have made some excavations in the area and found that pre historic human settlement existed about 30000 to 50000 years ago. The length of the caves is 200-320 meters, height of the caves 172 meters and situated in 2.5 square KM. The caves are well illuminated for the tourists and are allowed to enter up to 5.30 pm only.
Certain parts are not open to tourists as these are very dangerous depths. In side the caves, natural formation of Shiva, Ganesha and other images are found. Just above the caves runs the Kirandula line. Exactly on the point above which the line runs, the East Coast Railway has made stone inscription to indicate the height of the cave as 175 meters and above that the railway line is running. For elderly and bulky tourists the ascending and descending is a strenuous job. It takes about one to two hours to meander through the caves and enjoy the natural rock formation. The floor is slippery due to continuous seepage of water from the top and safety rails are provided for the tourists.
The river Gosthane- udder of the Cow –originates from under the cave. The river appears as a small rivulet that when reaches vizag city is one kilometer wide. The water looks milky and whitish due to oxidization of the line stones with water. Borro caves were last of the tour destination and we started to descend down wards to vizagpatnam. The bus route is very break taking with its meandering roads on the surface of the mountains. It took three hours for us to reach vizag. The day was spend wisely and justly. Still the Araku was in our mind and the numerous tribes living precariously on the valley.
We could not but raise a question why all over the world the tribes choose to live on the mineral rich mountains and not on the plains. It is said that such places are natural soothing places which prevent diseases and ensures calmness and tranquility in minds. After visiting the tribes we had no choice but to believe. Their world is far off from ours they may lack modern facilities and technology we enjoy but relatively they are free and happy with a clean and healthy environment.
Never forget that except the BSNL network, no other mobile net work is in operation over the valley.
Our trip to vizagapattinam and Araku valley in the northern eastern part of Andhra Pradesh was like a sojourn to the past. Vizaagapatinam is variously called vaisagapattinam, izzatnagar, waltair, etc each name identified with a bit of history unknown to outsiders. Incidentally, the vaisaga star is the birth star of Lord Murugan the traditional deity of the Tamils. It is also worth mentioning that in Tiruchendur, he fought against the sea pirates under the leadership of Sura Padman. Probably those were the marine pirates who were marauding the Indian Ocean those days. History says that these pirates hid in the numerous islands in the Indian Ocean and attacked the merchants’ ships of Imperial Cholas, the Kalingas, the Chalukyas, the Romans, the Chinese and the Arabs who had extensive trade journeys crisscrossing the Indian Ocean. Thus, the imperial Cholas organized the armored ships (precursors of the present day Merchant Navy) to protect the merchants, their merchandise and their ships. Probably Lord Murugan had one the military settlement (Padai veedu)in the vaizagapattinam those days to protect the traders of the Kalinga and Chalukya.
The tour was booked from Chennai itself through AP Tourism Development Corporation. Having booked two months in advance, we had no hassles once we reached vizagapattinam. The city is perched on the delta of river Gosthane – udder of the Cow – the water source for the city. Pattinam is a town located in the delta region where the river meets the sea. Poombuhar Pattinam is an example from Tamil Nadu. These port towns were flourishing towns for more than thousand years having active trade links with the entire east from Java, Sumatra, china, and in the west Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Rome. The Tamil literary sources explain that Puhar pattinam another name for the Poombuhar, had day shops (Naal Angaadi) and night shops (al angaadi).
Another gory past of the area was the height of Buddhism during its heydays. The city has numerous Buddhist ruins like monasteries, beaches, stupas and viharas. One such ruin is the thotla gunta – thottil in Telugu means water tank. It was amazing to know that the Buddhist monastery on top of the hill had rain water harvesting in ancient days. There were seven tanks each interlinked with the other to store the rain water and use it for the entire year or until the next monsoon day. The guide explained one such huge tank carved out of the stone is perennial and still has water when we visited the place.
The trip to red soil (Araku valley – Araku in Oriya language means red soil- at the height of 1447 meters) started with the train journey with the Kirandul passenger which goes up to Bailadilla iron ore mines, Koraput in Orissa. The line intersects with three states i.e. Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Chhatisgarh. There are 52 tunnels on the way to Araku station. It was laid for carrying ore from the Eastern Ghats to the vizag port city. The Dhandakarunya- Bolangir-Kiriburu line was laid by the collaboration of the Indian railways and the Japanese govt. it rises to a height of meters and has the second highest BG station Similiguda (996 meters) in India. The first being the Udhampur station in Jammu &Kashmir.
The highest peak in Andhra is the Anandagiri On reaching the Araku station, APTDC bus carried us to the tribal museum where the various moods and activities are immortalized in clay models. The curios shop contained articles made by tribes. Special coffee powder grown in valley is sold as organic coffee powder the aroma which is very surpassing. Next we were taken to a small park – Padmapuram botanical gardens where the specialty is the Australian silver oak which is having three layers and the innermost layer is used of paraill, middle layer for making bats, the outermost layer for plastic- under development which is a poor replica of the all parks of hill stations. The range of mountains is called the Ghalikhonda range of the Eastern Ghats. The lunch was laid at the Araku valley hill resort owned by the APTDC.
After the lunch, a tribal dance was organized. Some of the enthusiastic women and girls from among the tourists joined them. We proceeded to the Anandagiri the summer palace of the viziyanagar kings. It was a very attractive and airy summer palace surrounded by beautiful gardens where tea and snacks were served. From there we straight went to the Borro caves. Borro in Oriya language meant a hole. The subterranean caves were formed naturally under the mountains and the interior is full of lime stones. The continuous seeping of rain water has created wonderful natural formations of various gods and goddesses. The lighting arrangement is excellent and awe making. The caves were first found by, a British in 1896 by accident. The caves are said to be 150millions years old. The archeology dept of Waltair university have made some excavations in the area and found that pre historic human settlement existed about 30000 to 50000 years ago. The length of the caves is 200-320 meters, height of the caves 172 meters and situated in 2.5 square KM. The caves are well illuminated for the tourists and are allowed to enter up to 5.30 pm only.
Certain parts are not open to tourists as these are very dangerous depths. In side the caves, natural formation of Shiva, Ganesha and other images are found. Just above the caves runs the Kirandula line. Exactly on the point above which the line runs, the East Coast Railway has made stone inscription to indicate the height of the cave as 175 meters and above that the railway line is running. For elderly and bulky tourists the ascending and descending is a strenuous job. It takes about one to two hours to meander through the caves and enjoy the natural rock formation. The floor is slippery due to continuous seepage of water from the top and safety rails are provided for the tourists.
The river Gosthane- udder of the Cow –originates from under the cave. The river appears as a small rivulet that when reaches vizag city is one kilometer wide. The water looks milky and whitish due to oxidization of the line stones with water. Borro caves were last of the tour destination and we started to descend down wards to vizagpatnam. The bus route is very break taking with its meandering roads on the surface of the mountains. It took three hours for us to reach vizag. The day was spend wisely and justly. Still the Araku was in our mind and the numerous tribes living precariously on the valley.
We could not but raise a question why all over the world the tribes choose to live on the mineral rich mountains and not on the plains. It is said that such places are natural soothing places which prevent diseases and ensures calmness and tranquility in minds. After visiting the tribes we had no choice but to believe. Their world is far off from ours they may lack modern facilities and technology we enjoy but relatively they are free and happy with a clean and healthy environment.
Never forget that except the BSNL network, no other mobile net work is in operation over the valley.
