Walking up the steep mountain towards the Edakkal caves, I was recalling the importance of pilgrimage in Indian spiritual traditions. We have various sites where from primeval times people have gone on a journey to discover a source, that is both cultural and spiritual. Scholars have suggested that the path taken by pilgrims often follows ancient routes taken by migrating tribes, whose routes often followed a seasonal pattern, and cyclical rhythm, which had a seasonal rational. The Edakkal caves, lying in a range of the Western Ghats, not far from what is known as Sultan’s Battery (Bathery), has been a path through a very ancient pass in the mountains that lie at the edge of the Nilgiri range, where we know that very ancient tribes found a place to settle. This part of the Western Ghats has been frequented as a trade route from primordial times.
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