The lockdown imposed by almost all countries across the world in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has compelled people to introspect about various forms of isolated lifestyles. Like that of a cave dweller.
One of the oldest forms of habitation, cave dwelling is practised across cultures globally and requires a high degree of endurance — mental and physical — to cope with the extreme isolation that comes with it. In India, its adherents are mostly ascetics, adventurists and a few who see it as a period of great learning in their journey of life.
MetroPlus catches up with three experimenters who claim to have developed, from their cave experience, an equanimity that allows them to face the vicissitudes of life — and negotiate the coronavirus pandemic — with great calmness.
TM Shihab, poet, gallerist and farmer
Shibab was just 20 when he embarked upon a life of caved isolation. “Life in a is the magic of the inside and the outside, of light and darkness. Inside a cave you are comfortable and feel a warmth similar to a mother’s love. Outside is a strange world. This can be the opposite for some people.”
His first experience was in Hampi in 1992 where he lived in a “rocky hideout” with an artist friend, KR Sathyan. The two were part of a month-long artists’ camp. “Though I lived in the cave for only three days, I realised that it suited my needs perfectly. Initially, cave living requires assistance from local people.”
His second stint was two years later, in 1994-95, in the Himalayas where he stayed in several caves while travelling from Rishikesh up to Tapovan, near the mouth of the Ganges. It was a time of learning and experiencing the extreme life, says Shihab, adding that he learnt to live like a ‘sadhu’ and “practise harmlessness.”
TM Shihab during his ‘cave life’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“Cave life brings about a transformation in the mind. After the Himalayas I wanted to settle down in the Sahayadari Mountains. I was also interested in Tamil siddha,” says Shihab who found a cave for himself at Vannamdorai, near the Chinnar Wild life sanctuary. It took him a year to find a suitable place. A feeder of the Pampa flowed close by and a colony of tribal people lived in the same forest, where elephants roamed freely. At first, the tribals did not take Shibab seriously but began to bring him a fortnightly supply of rations after he moved in. In nine months, Shihab met outsiders only thrice and ran out of ration twice. His day began with a bath in the river followed mainly by “sitting quietly for hours.” He cooked once a day if required and mainly lived off fruits brought by tribals.
Shihab lived there for the next four years. He read a couple of books on the famous Tibetan guru Milarepa and also built a tree house, 35 feet high on a fig tree, with the help of the tribals. It was at this time that he founded the Draavidia Art and Performance Gallery in Kochi in 1997, ushering in a trend that later bloomed in the state.
Of his lifestyle, which involves periods of extreme isolation and sporadic socialisation, he says, “This is my way of life. The ‘cave’ is now inside me. I used to be unhappy among people because their speech, gestures, body language made me feel hopeless about the human race but, with realisation from isolated living, I can sit in the middle of people and experience complete serenity.” Shihab has a simple answer for these quarantine times: “There’s more to discover within you than what’s offered outside.”
Abe: Kochi-based environmentalist and Yoga teacher
“The cave is the womb of Mother Earth. You can hear her heartbeat and feel her breath. Inside a cave, you feel secure. I observed silence and watched everything around me minutely. I heard the winds, worms, plants and flowers very clearly. I learnt to live alone,” says Abe (name changed on request), who chose to live in a cave in his search for “alone-ness.”. He lived in complete quarantine for three months in a cave in the Arunachalam Hills near Thiruvanamalai in 2014, before the Chennai floods.
As he undertook this experience to enrich himself, all he needed was basic stuff. He wore a loin cloth and bathed in a stream close by. He had to bend to enter the cave and sat in meditation or in complete silence for hours. Though he had an oil lamp he lit it only if required. “There were scorpions and snakes but one gets used to these. They do not attack unless interfered with,” says Abe who subsisted on fruits, which his students brought him once a week.
“The forced quarantine is troubling people. But it has taken a pandemic for us to realise that all beings share the same universe and that we are one family. Adapt, adjust, accommodate and enjoy the lockdown,” says Abe who has been conducting nature awareness programmes in schools across India for six years.
Filmmaker Ananda Jyothi
Ananda Jyothi aka Jyothibai was in his 20s when he had his first experience of living in a cave. The feted filmmaker from Kerala has lived for short stints in caves thrice. Jyothibai describes his early experience in a cave near Rishikesh in UP as exhilarating. He lived for a month in the famous Vasishta and Arundhathi caves named after an ancient Hindu sage and his consort.
“Cave life is about discipline. Certain tasks like collecting wood and water from the river for cooking have to be done. There is no door like in a conventional house. Most cave dwellers have a trunk to keep the ration,” says Jyothibai who lived along with an experienced ascetic who taught him the practical mode of living in the Himalayas.
Left, Ananda Jyothi, a documentary filmmaker who lived in a cave | Photo Credit: KK Mustafah
He learnt to cope with the biting cold and to breathe in lowered oxygen levels. During 1992-93, he lived for two months in a cave near the banks of the Tungabhadra at Rishimukh Island at Hampi, spending his time in meditation and chanting. Three years later, he once again undertook the experience at Omkareshwar near the Narmada. This time he conquered his fear of snakes that lived in large numbers around the cave. He also found that local people revere a cave dweller’s penance and visit from time to time with offerings of food. “They used to regularly bring home made ghee,” says Jyothibai explaining that the life of a cave dweller is spartan. “ The man in search for a meaning in life tries to train the mind and body to overcome weaknesses like hunger and bodily comfort,” he says.
Currently in Kochi, the 54-year-old is dealing with the current isolation with disarming acceptance, honed from the grittiness of cave life. “I didn’t think about coming back to worldly life from the life in the cave and its spirituality, but I got back. We cannot change the present situation but it is within our power to deal with it. The process may be slow and the end maybe a surprise.”