Darekasa is a very small railway station on Bombay-Howrah main fine, passing through Nagpur (Fig 1 Travelling from cast to west, when the train, after a prolonged halt at Dongargarh for water leaves the station, the topography of the area passing through our eyes, gradually changes from the flat plateau to green cultivated fields to thick jungles, high and low hills. The chain of hills starts occurring regularly from Hortalao tin Chhattisgarhi onwards and when the train approaches Darckasa (in Maharashtra), the south-north running Maikal range is just in front of us. Immediately west of the railway station, the train enters a tunnel, which has been created through the width of the main Maikal range. After emerging from the tunnel, it moves on its descent journey through the jungles of district Gondia in Maharashtra, In the north lies the deep valley, jungles, and high hills with cliff formations It is in these hills that most of the caves are located. These caves which in prehistoric times were abodes of Early Man are now hideouts of insurgents.
The biggest of the Kachgad Caves could be easily seen from the Darekasa railway platform (P. & Il On the northeastern side, above the jungle, a gigantic arch is visible. It is this look of the cave that attracted my attention on 8th October 1959, when I was traveling from my home town Raipur (Chhattisgarh) to Nagpur by a passenger train, to join my duties in the Archaeological Survey of India. As the passenger halted at Darckasa for a few minutes there was plenty of time to have a good look at the huge arch. On enquires from co-passengers, mostly people from nearby areas, I was informed that there is a Khoh there but due to wild animals and dense forest, slippery ups and downs, it is difficult to approach easily. It is since then the bug entered my brain to see the cave from inside and explore the area for any such other caves. I must have passed through Darekasa several times on my up and down journeys to and from Nagpur to Raipur and distant cast and North-East for explorations and excavations. it is really strange, till the fag end of my carrier in the Archaeological Survey of India, I could not somehow make it to the cave. But whenever passed through Darekasa and looked towards Area 1 felt a pull in my brain, a cry in my cars please come, explore and excavate me' Though got time to explore and excavate in areas like Kashmir, Manipur Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Kutch, and Lakshadweep Islands, it is really strange could not get any for a site and place hardly 200 km from Nagpur. It was only from 20th September 1992 to 23rd September 1992, that the long cherished desire for thirty-three years was fulfilled. Right from Ponda Dongri to Bhadra-Sur (both in Chhattisgarh) through Darckasa, the entire area was explored, and several caves with habitational deposits were located. On 20.9.92 we settled down in the forest guest house at Bortalao. On the morning of 21.9.92, we left the guest house for Darekasa to visit the arched cave and explore the nearby areas for others. Before crossing the rail line at Darekasa, we halted at a roadside small tea hut for tea and for inquiries about the approach to the caves. It is hearing my eyes met the eyes of Mulur Kathout, the owner of the tea stall. A little chitchat convinced me-hear is a man who knows places and who can take us to different caves. He did take us to all the caves described here. A medium-statured, fair-complexioned, middle-aged man, surprisingly, had visited all the caves, some are far away, some are in the most inaccessible areas, and dangerous to visit alone.