BELAM CAVE- A JOURNEY DOWN INTO THE EARTH

MY JOURNEY

Belam Cave is located 130 kms away from Kumur which is again 215 kms away from Hyderabad.
That is to sum up it is about 345 kms away from Hyderabad. To reach the Belam Cave you will have to take the Hyderabad-Bangalore highway route.

On your way to the caves you will witness dry soil, dry-green tamarind trees followed by hills. Later after 35 kms of your travelling you will find “Cc Palli” and after about half an hour of your drive there will be no traffic on the road and so you will be able to increase your speed limit. After Cc Palli comes the Betham Cherla village. Once here you will feel as if you have come to the Stone Age Era as you will find huge hills of granite stones being excavated and tractors carrying the granite stones to the processing centers. However, after this village you will reach the Belam Cave.

THE BELAM CAVE

On the entrance of the Belam Cave you will find the statue of Lord Buddha. After about 20 meters from the statue you shall find the actual entrance of the Belam Cave which will be in the shape of a well and you will feel as if the well will take you on a journey into the earth.

You will first find a hall like area also called the worship room, where seats and fans will make you feel relaxed. It is said that many Buddhist and Jain monks stayed here as remains of them were found here by the archaeologists. And those remains can be seen at the Anathpoor museum. 

Further you get to see some of the most splendid views as there will be spectacular pictures of different colors, on the walls and the sealing, these are believed to be drawn by expert artists. The pictures are just remarkable with the emergence of the human beings and animals on them.

Later on you will find the caves becoming narrower at some places and at some point you may even have to crawl in the caves. The archaeologists excavated clay vessels from underneath the cave which belong to B.C. 4500. However, the founder of the cave was Robert Bruce Flute, a British that is in the year 1884.

But the real importance of the cave was discovered in 1982 by a German archaeologist Herbert Daniel Geeber. As many archaeologists stated that they could learn a lot from the remains Mr. Geeber discoverd.

In 1999 the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation spent about 75 Lakhs on the renovation of the cave and so it is no wonder that around one thousand tourists visit the cave everyday. You can visit the cave from 10 am to 5.30 pm and the tickets are worth Rs. 25 for children and Rs.40 for adults.    

The Belam Cave has got a huge historical and geographical importance and so once in Hyderabad, you should be visiting it so as to have an exquisite journey into the earth.