Pachmarhi - Caves, Forest,Hills & Waterfalls

'Ghats' - One term that confused me more and more as I grew up! Being brought up in Ganga-Jamuni culture, sort of, and my parents being quite pious, my first introduction to the term 'ghat' was on a trip to Haridwar. The bank of river Ganga that had well constructed steps so that devotees could take the holy dip, comfortably and safely, was called 'ghat'. To be precise 'snan-ghat' or bathing ghat. Then I came across not that well developed ghats & so I interpreted that the bank of river from where one could access the river was called a 'ghat'. Then we studied about the Eastern and Western ghats of Indian peninsula. By extrapolation, I presumed that the shore-line of Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea is called Ghat. So I started to understand that Ghat is a hindi term for a beach. None of my social studies teachers picked up my notion!

Ignorance is bliss and I was blissful! One day while looking up for my Kerala trip, I realized that ghat was at a distance from the shore. So I presumed that ghat is that area which extends from foothills to the shore but not the shore. Then came my journey from Mumbai to Pune. On the way, there were hoardings, 'ghat prarambh', before the hilly terrain and 'ghat samapt' after it ended. But I had never seen such terminology being used when I would travel to hills of Himachal or uttarakhand. So hills can not be 'ghats', but then what is??

I had been to Madhya Pradesh earlier, and again that was also a bird flu outing. I had gone to Burhanpur from Indore via Khandwa. Though, I visited Bastar last year, but Chhattisgarh is a separate entity now! I was always intrigued by M.P. At the mention of the state, various images would pop-up in my mind, Gwalior, Jhansi, Chambal, Narmada, Khajuraho, tribal people, dense forests, Bhopal gas tragedy, erstwhile largest state and Panchmarhi. I had heard about the natural beauty of Panchmarhi and was on my cards for sometime as a short vacation. It materialized this time as I did not get train reservations for Udaipur-Mount Abu.
Kids were excited to be travelling in train. We had to get up early but we reached in no time and realized the difference between boarding a train and a plane. Definitely, boarding a train is much easier! Our train left dot on time and reached Palwal after crossing Faridabad in no time. After Mathura some announcement was made, when they repeated I realized it was for any doctor in the train as one gentleman had become sick in another compartment. I started moving towards E1, there was one gentleman ahead of me, who was also moving briskly in the same direction. After we crossed 3 bogies, it became clear to both of us that we were going to the same place. After 6 bogies, we asked, "is it E1". A lady replied, "Oh 3 doctors have already gone, I am also a doctor but I am not going as they have already gone!" We ignored her comment, as there was no time to reflect. In the next bogie, we saw a man lying flat in the aisle, one man keeping his feet up, another man doing cardiac massage and a lady trying to turn him sideways. As both of us reached there, I asked the gentleman doing cardiac massage that may be I should do it as I felt I would be more effective. I asked them to lay him flat. Then the lady told me,"he is vomiting, we are turning him into recovery position". I noticed vomitus on the floor and his clothes. I checked his pulse, it was good volume and regular. I asked them to stop cardiac massage as there was no need. I thought he must have thrown a fit. Within a minute I was informed that he was pulseless, was sick with multiple ailments, had gone to Ganga Ram for treatment, was returning when this happened. The patient seemed to be moving his eyelids, I asked him, "are you Ok" and he nodded. I was relieved! We talked to the railway staff, who informed us that a medical team with ambulance would shortly be there at Agra, where he could be de-boarded.The three doctors, who reached before me had done the needful and revived a probable cardiac arrest. I was satisfied with the situation!
At Agra, all the foreigners got down but few boarded also as the train moved to Gwalior.
I did not know that we would be travelling through Rajasthan also. The train moved to Dholpur, that we know for the stone used widely in house construction. Looking out of the window, after Dholpur, I saw a mud plateau of around 10-15 feet that appeared to be carved by a meandering river. Then I saw some people walking through those narrow alleys. I realized that it would be impossible for a new person to find his way or know if somebody else is there 5 feet ahead or behind him. Suddenly a revelation dawned upon me. I was gazing at the great ravines of Chambal! Like 'ghats', 'ravines' was another term that I was never clear about. Today I was seeing them 'sakshat'. The dacoit movies, stories, bundeli folk, Phoolan devi, Paan Singh Tomar, Daku Maan singh, even Sholay started revolving in my mind!The train reached Gwalior and then moved towards Jhansi. Jhansi, always felt like that it should be in Madhya Pradesh, but I know it's in U.P. It's not difficult to understand this illusion as culturally it is very much a part of Bundelkhand and in that area of Uttar Pradesh that insinuates into MP. There must have been some political reasons for keeping it in Uttar Pradesh at the time of state formation. That I need to decipher!! From Jhansi the train deflected towards Bhopal. We reached Bhopal in afternoon.

'Satpura' is a mountain range in central India that starts from Gujarat in west  and extends probably towards Chhattisgarh in east. It is one of the lesser sung mountain ranges, though 'Vindhyas', it's neighbour, finds mention in our national anthem. Although, I can recollect that there was a chapter or a poem in our hindi text book called 'Satpura ke ghane jangal', probably by Makhan Lal Chaturvedi. By logical extension and combining with the proximity of 'Dandakaranya', I presume that this mountain range is all covered with dense forest. It's low height signifies that it must be a very old mountain range unlike youngster Himalayas. There is mythological story where Satpura is clubbed with Vindhyas as one range. It is said that when Agastya rishi travelled from north to south, Vindhyas bowed in reverence and to facilitate his journey. The rishi told him to remain bowed till he returns. The rishi never returned to north and Vindhyas remain bowed forever!
In fact, all mountains south of Himalayas & Aravalis may be referred to as Vindhyas. If we  study, we find that India is capped by a mantle of mountains comprising of Karakoram in North-west, Himalayas in north and Purvanchal in North-east that would include Patkai, Lushai & Garo, Khasi, Jayantia amongst others. Eastern & Western ghats outline southern peninsula. Aravalis and Vindhyas inclusive of Satpura inside India. Himalayas are no doubt the most majestic of all. They stop polar winds from reaching India and prevent monsoon winds from leaving India. Though Mt Everest, the highest peak in the world is not in India but K2 the highest peak of Karakoram is only few 100 feets (800 or so) shorter than Sagarmatha. However, even that is not under Indian governance. So Kanchanjunga, the second highest peak of Himalayas becomes the second highest peak in India followed by Nanda Devi. Himalayas has large number of peaks that are perennially covered with snow. The north-eastern hills are similar to Himalayas and Karakoram as all got birth together but are not conjoined triplets. Phawngpui in Manipur may be the highest peak of this range.
Guru Shikhar in Mount Abu is the highest peak of Aravalis. I could have visited that (though I have been there in 1993) but destiny took me to Dhoopgarh near Pachmarhi, the highest peak of Satpura. Amarkantak, if counted in Vindhyas may be the highest peak of this range, but usually it is counted as a part of Satpura only. Anamudi near Munnar is the highest peak of western Ghats. Dodabetta near Ooty is the highest peak of Nilgiris, the garland between Western & Eastern ghats. The Shevaroy hills are said to be highest of the broken eastern ghats. So I have visited Dodabetta, Anaimudi, Dhoopgarh, Gurushikhar and Mount Everest!!???? Obviously not Mount Everest :-)
so the triangular mountain range between Narmada and Tapti is that part of Vindhyas that is called Satpura. 

We left for Sanchi the next morning. The impression in my mind was that Sanchi must be a big place in Bihar where Stupas were built. Sanchi is and was a small village about 50 kms from Bhopal. It is close to Vidisha, that was the 'sasural' of Ashoka the great. So here he found a hill of quietude and decided to built 'the great stupa'. I never knew the meaning of the word stupa, neither that it had synonyms in other asian languages. The website www.detongling.org gives a brief about stupas as follows:
"Stupa is a Sanskrit word that means “to heap” or “to pile up” and refers to the mound-like shape of the earliest stupas.

The Mahaparinirvana Sutra tells us that it was the Buddha himself who outlined the basic design of the stupa. The story begins at Buddha’s deathbed. When he realized that death was imminent, Buddha gave instructions about the disposition of his body. He said that his body should be cremated and the relics divided up and enclosed in four different monuments. These monuments were to be erected at the following places, marking important milestones in the Buddha’s spiritual journey: at Lumbini, where he was born; at Bodhgaya where he attained Enlightenment; at Sarnath, where he gave his first teaching; and at Kushinagar, where he died, entering parinirvana, or ultimate liberation.

Giving a practical demonstration, he folded his outer yellow robe over and over until it became a rough cube. Then he put his begging bowl over it. These two elements, the square and the dome, are present in every stupa (India), dagoba (Sri Lanka), chorten (Tibet), chedi or pagoda (Burma), t’ap (Korea), ta (China), tarp (Vietnam), thaat (Laos), sotoba (Japan), or chandi (Java).

The five elements from left: Air, Water, Earth, Fire & the circle of space, above & beyond is the jewel, the stupa!

• "Earth, which spreads out in the four directions, provides the solid basis.
• The dome is the garbha (“womb”), primordial, creative Water – formless potentiality. It is also called the anda, or egg.
• The conical spire is Fire, which always rises upwards. It represents the wisdom which burns away ignorance.
• The crescent moon is Air, expansive, waxing and waning (an ancient symbol of the feminine).
• The circle is Space, wholeness, totality, with no end or beginning.
• Finally, above the circle is a jewel, which represents a higher state of reality, gone beyond the five elements. It is the ushnisha, present on the crowns of all Buddhas, revealing their perfect, enlightened state. This ascent to perfection is laid out with precision in an Enlightenment stupa."

The stupa, universal throughout Asia, evolved into more than a reliquary monument. It has become an expression of the ideal of Enlightenment. Statues represent the Buddha’s body, Dharma texts his speech. Stupas are representations of the Buddha’s mind. They reveal the path to enlightenment, or how the mind can actualize its full potential and be transformed into enlightenment. Stupas can be seen as an expression of the five elements."

We came to know that Ashoka had taken out the relics, the asthiyan, from the original eight stupas so that many more could be built. However, even the great stupa may not have Budha's relics now as they could have been taken out. That in any way does not reduce the sanctity of this stupa. Ashoka had built stupa of bricks, later kings plastered it with an interesting composition that had pulses and vegetables in them, then the surrounding wall and then the 'torans' or 'dwars' were built. Four of them in four different directions.

The archaeological Survey of India guide that we got made our trip exhilarating. He had sound knowledge of historical facts and separated them from popular myths. His philosophical approach made it an interactive learning. All the four torans have similar structure: three horizontal slabs supported on two pillars. They are engraved with stories from Lord Budhha's life and Jataka tales. 'Bodhi tree' a tree with leaves of 'peepal' tree, is used to represent Lord Budhha or Dharma repeatedly. There is a representation at the bottom of a pillar that has tail of a fish body of a crocodile and proboscis of an elephant, and from it's mouth emanates a stem that gives rise to multiple flowers. This is supposed to represent evolution of life. Another interesting depiction is where four men, 'sewaks', are seen to be bearing the load of the pillar facing in four different directions. However, all four have different expressions: laughter, anger, sadness and grief. Philosophically representing that one can bear the burden of life with different attitudes but one must! The laughing sewak has an uncanny resemblance to todays 'Laughing Budhha'. May be they are linked!!

Budhhism did not have idol worship. Gradually, to show their reverence, people started making statues of Lord Budhha. Then they were being placed n the budhhist temples. It is natural, especially with 'sanatan' practices being prevalent, that people started to greet, bow and gradually started to make offerings. Somewhere, it became idol worship, although technically, it is just remembrance of Lord Budhhas teachings. Whether it started in a particular phase of Budhhism, known as 'Yanas', is not known to me. Initial phase is that of achieving simple principles and after that of achieving greatness. The second one is called 'Mahayana' and so, in comparison and retrospectively, the first one is called 'Hinyana' or the lesser vehicle. The third one is 'Vajryana'. My understanding of Budhhism is very poor and I need to learn a lot about it so it's not possible to correctly talk more about it here.

Once we enter inside the torans, we see that the outer walls are made of big stones that have something inscribed on them in 'Pali'. Our guide demostrated that they all ended in 'danam' meaning that they were names of the people who had donated them. There are four statues of Budhha installed just inside the Torans. All of them, except one, does not have the head. The one, that has,the head has been re-installed. Outside, in a roofed structure lies the broken 'Ashoka Pillar' that has a remarkable shine. It is said to be shining because it is made of sandstone but looks quite polished. The four lions that were on top of this pillar are kept in the nearby museum.

This pillar must have been very similar to the 'Ashoka Pillar' in Sarnath, near Varanasi, that holds the national emblem. Ashoka is said to be the first Indian ruler who got 'edicts' written on rocks and pillars for people to know the royal commandments. It is said that the pillar was broken so that it could be used to make huge rollers for squeezing out sugarcane juice. Sounds ridiculous! Man is often so! However, the beheaded Budhha idols and broken Pillar do convey that there was willful destruction of this unparalleled legacy. The era, the people and thinking behind it is a matter of research for me. I was reminded of the 'Bamiyan Budhha' destruction by Taliban, which is not that old.

The great Stupa is surrounded by many structures. Many of them are smaller stupas, of monks who lived and died in the monastery. There is a temple without an idol that shows classical Mauryan Architecture where pillars had a square base that supported an eight edged column with an inverted lotus on the top. There is also an structure in Greek architecture, It is known that Greeks had interaction with India during that period. It probably started with Alexander's invasion in 4th century BC, he left his governors in India upon his return. One of them Seleucus Nicator is said to have been supposedly defeated by Chandragupta Maurya (Sandrocottus in Greek). He married Chandragupta's daughter, gave him large territory near Indus and received 500 war elephants in return. These elephants played crucial role in his later wins in middle-east. They had learned the importance of elephants in war during their war with Porus earlier.  Megasthenes' account 'Indika' told the western world about Indian culture and administration from his point of view. This greek interaction continued for few generations and it is said that Ashoka's empire may have extended till Greece, though we need to verify that. 

There is also a large monastery similar to Nalanda built on a ground facing the valley, what a location to study!
It appears that Mauryan was the first large empire of India, but is it true? May be if we are implying post-vedic age. To understand that we need a lot of deeper understanding. First, what is the period from which we have definite facts available as so we can differentiate facts from myths & mythology. As far as India is concerned, the written texts appeared from Vedic age and later, prior to that only oral tradition was there. Another way of saying it is what we know is historical and what we don't is pre-historic. Man, as Homo sapiens was there in stone age that is divided into paleolithic, mesolithic and neolithic periods. It was probably neolithic period where man converted from hunter-gatherer to crop-grower and then started to form societies and build houses rather than live in naturally formed caves. After the stone age came the copper age and the period of transition is called chalcolithic period. The Indus river civilization belongs to this transition phase. After that came the early and late Vedic age where major transformations occurred in the societies as the population grew. It seems that the nature of man started becoming more complex and above the basic human instincts during this age. After the vedic age came the age of empires, the era from which history is available in quite certain manner because of edicts and texts. In fact, the terms era, period, age can not be used interchangeably and have defined implications.According to stratigraphy, half a billion year period is called Eon, several hundred million years are called Era, tens of million years are called Epoch while millions of years are called Age. Earth is supposed to have formed some 4.5 billion years ago. There was no life for initial 500 million years and is pre-fossil time called 'Hadean Eon'. Around 4 billion years ago started the Archean Eon where first forms of life and photosynthesis started. Then came the proterozoic eon and then the last 500 million years that are Phanerozoic eon. Phanerozoic eon is divided into Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras. First vertebrate land animals appeared around 380 million years ago in the Paleozoic era. Dinosaurs appeared in the mesozoic era around 230 million years ago. Mesozoic era is divided into Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. It was the Triassic period from 250 to 200 million years during which the Pangaea of earth started to break into continents. However it was during the Jurassic period from 200 to 145 million years ago, that pangaea broke into two, north - laurasia and south -Gondwana continents. It was, as we know courtesy  the great movie 'The Jurassic Park', the times of Dinosaurs and the time when flying animals started to appear. The Cretaceous period saw the climate becoming warmer and appearance of angiosperms. The last 65 million years are called Cenozoic era.  The first period of Cenozoic era is the Paleogene period from 65 to 23 million years ago. Mammals appeared and diversified during this period. After the Paleogene was the Neogene period from 23 to 2.5 million years ago, during which the ancestors of humans appeared. Hominids appeared around 2.3 million years ago in the last period of the Cenozoic era called 'Quaternary period' from 2.5 million years till present. It was with the beginning of Quaternary period that Glaciers started forming and the much familiar term 'the Ice Age' began. The first epoch of the quaternary period from 2.5 million years to 12000 years ago is called Pleistocene epoch. This is the time that roughly corresponds to the paleolithic period (as used in archaeology). In fact, stone tools are found with the appearance of humans or may be its vice-versa that we call the hominids to be present form humans when they started making stone tools. Is it possible that they made other things but they perished? The stone tools became more complex into middle and late paleolithic period. The last epoch 'Holocene' started 12000 years ago till present. It corresponds with the start of Mesolithic period. However, in certain parts of the world even Neolithic developments started. As we discussed earlier, it was during the neolithic period that that revolution of man becoming into a farmer and starting to form societies occured. Neolithic period gave origin to Copper, Bronze and iron ages, may be during different times in different parts of the world. Approximately 3000 to 1200 BC may be the Bronze age for many parts of the world. So may be 12000 to 8000 BC was Mesolithic, 8000 to 4000 was Neolithic followed by Chalcolithic (both copper and stone tools) from 4000 to 3000 BC. From 1200 to 200 BC can be called the Iron age in India. So we have definite history available from this period with large level of confidence.


Sanchi had given us lot of food for thought, and history of mankind revolved in our minds. We moved towards Bhimbetka. Bhimbetka is in Hoshangabad district, same as that of Pachmarhi. Both appear to be in forest areas. Bhimbetka may be around 40 kilometers from Bhopal, near Gouharganj, after crossing Obdeillahganj (I liked it for it's fancy spellings and pronunciation). One goes nearly 4 kms into the forest to reach Bhimbetka. It is named as Bheem's vatika or baithak (the drawing room). There is lot of Pandava history in this area as it is said that they spent their exile here. In fact, few things are named after them even without a connection, indicates the overwhelming influence Mahabharata had in this region.
Our guide told us that there are around 70 odd caves in Bhimbetka in which the cave paintings can be seen but around a dozen of them are open to public. As we entered a large cave that seemed to have formed as two hills intimated with each other, the airiness was evident. It was a huge and serene place that lead into other caves and was called drawing hall or something like that!

 The paintings that we could appreciate were of two types. One; those ones that were colourless or white and were in back ground and the second; those that were reddish and in the foreground. While the white ones were primitive and did not show any props , the reddish ones were of different types including that of a procession  with a decorated horse. I was told the paintings in total belong to 7 different times starting from early palaeolithic  to even medieval times. It is said that skeletons found here were that of a seven feet tall man. Even Homo erectus is supposed to have lived here.

The next remarkable cave is called 'Zoo Shelter' as there are over 500 figures of 72 different kind of animals drawn there. That implies that the man who lived or visited that place had seen these many animals in the surrounding jungle. I wondered that how similar or different from us, the man who drew these must have been. It is such a beautiful place with large airy caves and lot of friendly greenery around, I wanted to make it my abode. Man had done that thousands of years ago. I am ancient, I felt!

We were off to Pachmarhi, our final destination for the trip. It was already dark, we had to cover 150 odd kilometers. We were apprehensive regarding the final leg that would be hilly terrain to travel in the dark. Our driver reassured us! He told us that there are no treacherous curves, it's safe and we shall reach in 2 hours. By my calculation it should have taken 4 hours. He also told us that he needs to get the stepny (the spare tyre in the boot) repaired as it was punctured. The road to Hoshangabad was bad and congested. There were lot of trucks plying on the road. The traffic, was unusual for whatever Madhya Pradesh, I had seen. These are the times where 'faith' comes handy. I did not die of anxiety that it was dark, I was travelling with family and if the tyre got punctured then we may get stuck for long.I had faith that nothing wrong would happen.  Then I realized that it was the road to Nagpur and a major commerce route. Nagpur, was capital of this region for long time, even during British times (Central Provinces & Brar) and is still an important commercial centre. As a child, we used to ask that what is the distance between Kanpur and Nagpur and then say "ek git" by stretching our palm on our face, putting little finger on nose and thumb on ears. Nagpur, to us meant the place from where oranges came, then it came as 'The' centre point of India. For many years I used to think that the IST line passes through Nagpur, until I realized that it was not true. Most of the India lies between 75 and 90 degree latitude and hence in this time zone. Therefore, IST line would be what passes through 82.5 degrees and that does not pass through centre of Kashmir to Kanyakumari. It's little eastward, passing through Mirzapur in UP, the place where Ganga meets Vindhyas as they end.
When we got our tyre checked at hoshangabad, it was alright, good that we didn't get anxious unnecessarily. We took a perpendicular left turn from Hoshangabad and the road was well built and free of much traffic. Our average speed picked up. Soon we reached 'Pipariya', that serves as kind of base for Pachmarhi. Taking right from Pipariya, I realized it was a small place. It was a long straight lonely road towards Pachmarhi.

I understood by seeing the road signs on the way that the place was written as पंचमढ़ी in hindi but as Pachmarhi in English, rather than Panchmarhi. The pronunciation, as I got familiar later, is somewhere in between. Local people have there own way of speaking it with very little twang to it. The accent in Pachmarhi was different from Bhopal. Bhopal has typical Bhopali accent, that we overdo while mimicking as we try to copy 'Surma Bhopali' of Sholay. But it is unmistakable. In Pachmarhi, it's not that lateralized, if I may say so, but it's more Bundeli dialect as we hear in northern MP.
I was missing the beautiful road-side scenery because of darkness but I hoped and I did, catch it later. 

  Pachmarhi is a cantonment area, that was quite evident as we entered the place but soon there was a bus stop and then the market place. The central place or the market place or the equivalent of the mall road are 3 parallel roads named after freedom fighters. They are connected by three sloping roads. In fact, there are houses that still bear semblance to old village houses. We could see that few doors had no bolts rather 'kadi' or the chained latch that was seen commonly thirty -forty years ago in small towns. Though some big hotels have cropped up but little bit of exploration gives away the fact that it was a very small village till very recently. I was told that new constructions have been banned for the time being. The main population seems to be residing around these three roads. Otherwise, it's a plateau situated amidst the hills. As one leaves the market place one sees old Bungalows built sporadically, many of them have been converted into resorts now. It's very green and there are not much curves or steeps compared to the hill stations of north.