SYNDAI CAVE
25.181600,92.137700
Description
The rectangularly shaped cave entrance (an estimated 2 m wide and an 1.7 m high) faces west and allows, on the one-hand side, the grown up and especially unbending people to exercise the skill of banging one's head against surprisingly uncompromising limestone and gives, on the other hand, access to a popular Hindu temple cave, which is exploited as a religious show cave (note 1) sacred to the gods Shiva and contains not only stalactites and venerable stalagmites regarded as linga (note 2) but also is reputed to represent the entrance to a fabulous tunnel leading all the way underground to "China" -- apparently in the sense of the realm beyond the known horizon (note 3). ETYMOLOGY: More often than not, the attractive cave is not called by it's specific name (or names) but after the nearby village of Syndai. The Bengali Rupnath Gufa (note 4) or »Cave [of the] Enlighted Place [of, like, as] Silver« derives from the Hindu religious term "rupnath" (Sanskrit), which is often applied to stalagmites regarded as "linga" (note 5). LALOO, S S (1995a, 1995b: 4 item 2) translated the Bengali cave name "Rupnath Gufa" simply as »Rupnath Cave« but BAZELY, J P 1992, 2: 73) more elaborately as »Ka Krem Pubon Rupasor« (note 6).So far, I saw the name of this temple cave called or derogated, spelled and edited or printed as Boom boom Cave (note 7) Smart, C M (2013.03.06 personal correspondence) Krem Boomboom (note 8) Smart, C M (2013.04.01 Mss: Krem Rupasor / Krem Boomboom 20 February 2012) Cave of Jognindra ZIMBA, D T (1977 / 1991: 146) Krem Pubon Jognindra BAZELY, P J (1992, 2: 73) cave east of Dawki (note 9) Allsup, F W (1939.04.17 letter to Col. Penney) cave at Roopmath SMITH, G (1882: 114) Grotte de Roupmath LINDBERG, K (1960d: 45) Krem Pubon Rupasor BAZELY, J P (1992, 2: 73); DIRECTORATE OF TOURISM, Meghalaya (1993) Rupasor Cave LALOO, S S (1995a: 4; 1995b: 4) Cave of Rupasor, Synden SINGH, G P (2008: 202) Rupmath Cave (note 10) CHOPARD, L (1921); GEBAUER (1980: 6); GEBAUER & ABELE (1983: 66); HARRIES, D B et al. (2008) Cave at Rupnath ALLEN, B C (1906: 9) Caverns at Rupnath HUNTER, W W (1879, 2: 211) Rupnath Cave CHOPARD, L (1921) Krem Sooty (note 11) BROOKS, S J (1992, 1993b, 1993c); BROOKS, S J & SMART, C M (1995: 33); HARPER, R C (1993) Sooty Cave BROOKS, S J & SMART, C M (1995: 33) cave near Syndai Hutton, J H (1925 Mss diary: 21st October); HUTTON, J H (1926: 341) grotte près de Syndai CHATTERJEE, S P (1936: 47) Krem Syndai BROOKS, S J & SMART, C M (1995: 33, appendix 1: iii) Syndai Cave BASKAR, BASKAR & KAUSHIK (2012: 119); GEBAUER, H D (1980: 5); KHARPRAN DALY, B D (2006 s.a.: 36); MOHRMEN, H H (2012.07.30); SIMON, Ivan M (1996b: 225); ZIMBA, D T (1977, 5th edition 1991: 146) Krem Syndai Cave BROOKS, S J & SMART, C M (1995: 12) Syndai Krem Pubon amlarem.gov.in (accessed 2010.01.31). SITUATION: On the southern edge of the Meghalaya Plateau (CHATTERJEE, S P 1936) and some 400 m south west from the village of Syndai, which itself lies at a travelling distance of about 35 km along the road from Jowai (N25°21': E92°12':1350 m) generally south towards Jaintiapur (N25°09': E92°07'30”). SITUATION 1906: The cave »… at Rupnath … is about two miles [3 km] from the Inspection Bungalow at Syndai, [which itself lies] 22 miles [35 km on horse back approximately to the south] from Jowai on the Jowai - Jaintiapur path« (ALLEN, B C 1906: 9). SITUATION 1918: At an elevation of about 1000 or 1500 feet (300 or 450 m asl) in the Jaintia Hills north of the town of Jaintiapur N25°09': E92°07'30” (CHOPARD, L 1921: 512, 518 after R. Friel). SITUATION 1925: »From Syndai I went down to the famous diary, about two miles [3 km] away« (Hutton, J H 1925.10.21 Mss; HUTTON, J H 1926: 341). SITUATION 1960: »Grotte Roupmath [sic! qua: Rupnath], située dans les monts Djaintia« (LINDBERG, K 1960d: 45). SITUATION 1992: The cave entrance to »Krem Syndai is located some 400 metres south of the village of Syndai« (BROOKS & SMART 1995: 33). APPROACH 1992: The cave entrance to »Krem Syndai … is reached by following a track downhill from the village to a point where the track steepens. Immediately below this point, a [relatively] small path to the left [of self-centred person who faces an unidentified direction] leaves the main path and after approximately 50 metres reaches a large depression containing some concrete benches and a obvious cave entrance« (BROOKS & SMART 1995: 33). SITUATION 1995: »At Syndai village« (LALOO, S S 1995a: 4; 1995b: 4). POSITION 2012: Near (unspecified precision error) N25°10'53.8”: E092°08'15.7”: 412 m asl [WGS84] modified from »±10 m N25.18160 E92.13769 412 metres, WGS84« McManus Stuart J 2012.02.20 GPS Garmin Oregon 300). POSITION 1921 - 2011: At an approximate elevation of »1000 - 1500 feet« (CHOPARD, L 1921: 512, 518) or circa (±75 m) 375 m asl. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1879: The »Caverns at Rupnath in Amwi [note 12]« are one of the most notable of the peculiar caves and caverns of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills (HUNTER, W W 1879, 2: 211). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1936: An unidentified cave (no name mentioned) at Syndai is one the three best known and most popular of the beautiful caves on the southern escarpment of eastern Meghalaya (Jaintia Hills): »Le long de l'escarpement Sud, il y a de fort belles grottes. Les mieux connues sont celles qui s'ouvrent près de Nongtalang, Syndai, et Lakadong« (CHATTERJEE, S P 1936: 47). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1925a: »The opening is smallish but there is room enough within and a vast number both of stalagmites and stalactites - some of them smeared with red paints by the Saddhus who come up from the plains in some numbers and worship at these naturally-formed lingam. Even before the cave is reached the rocks among which the path runs become fantastic, for they seem to have been formed of mixed hard and soft stone, of which the later has gone leaving the former looking like gigantic cinders. There is an inscription near the mouth of the cave in Bengali characters and clear enough still, I think, but the light was too bad for me to be able to decipher it, and I had brought nothing to take a rubbing with. It is surmounted by some sort of symbol which I could not make out. In the evening the owner of the cave, a man of Syndai, came to see me. He says that he takes pice from votaries who come to see the cave according to their means, but he refused to take anything from me« (Hutton, J H 1925.10.21 Mss). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1925b: »The opening is smallish (Plate 26, figs. 17 and 18), but there is room enough within, and a vast number both of stalagmites and stalactites, some of them smeared with red paint by saddhus, who come up from the plains in some numbers and worship at these naturally formed lingams. There is an inscription near the mouth of the cave in Bengali characters but I could not read it in the bad light, and had nothing to take a rubbing with. It is surmounted by some sort of symbol which I could not make out« (HUTTON, J H 1926: 341). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1977: »At the moment, the two well-known caves of Meghalaya are 1st the Siju Cave and 2nd Syndai Cave … Syndai cave is also called Jognindra. During the Hindu festival of Shivaratri, many people visit the cave. They are taken into the cave by local guides by lighting either bamboo torches flamed with kerosene oil or petromax« (ZIMBA, D T 1977 / 1991: 146). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1992: »Ka Krem Pubon Jognindra (Her honerable [sic!] limestone-cave Jognindra) … consists of a number of large halls replete with resplendent stalactites and stalagmites« (BAZELY, P J 1992, 2: 73 photograph facing page 73). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1995a: »The Syndai Cave … The Rupasor Cave is the second largest cave found at Syndai village. Inside this cave there are fields, rooms and the various graving of nature on lime stone« (LALOO, S S 1995b: 4). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1995b: »Syndai Cave … The Rupasor Cave is the second largest cave found at Syndai village. Inside this cave there are fields, rooms and the various gravings of nature on lime stone« (LALOO, S S 1995b: 4). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1995c: A stooping height arch with unidentified dimensions combined with an unidentified orientation gives access to a cave passage with relatively impressive proportions of unidentified size. The way on lies down a relatively steep calcite slope and leads into a main cave passage which is an estimated 30 m wide, apparently 25 m or more high, and contains not only comparatively much flowstone but also relatively impressive secondary calcite formations represented by relatively large stalagmite bosses in addition to stalactites and columns with unidentified characteristics and unspecified dimensions. This cave passage continues in similar proportions for an estimated 200 m with unidentified cross-sections in an easterly direction with the visible part of the floor rising and falling due to comparatively large calcited boulder piles and groups of relatively large (person sized) stalactite formations. After some scrambling up and down, the main cave passage begins to diminish in size and eventually leads to a calcite blockage with no obvious way on. At some 70 m from the cave entrance an opening of unidentified dimensions and unspecified shape, which is low on somebody's private »right« cave wall, drops down into a relatively spacious cave passage of unidentified size that runs for an estimated distance of some 90 m in an unidentified spatial relation »a little to the side and below« the main cave passage, is somewhat similar to the main cave passage and eventually gives access to a calcite blockage. Regretfully the kerosene bamboo torches that are used by the local guides when showing visitors around the cave have significantly blackened the surroundings. As a result most of the cave passage and many of the secondary calcite formations are covered in a dark slime that detracts somewhat from their appearance (after BROOKS & SMART 1995: 33). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2008: »In the Khasi-Jaintia Hills the caves … the limestone cave of Rupasor near the village Synden or the Syndai cave … [is] worth mentioning« (SINGH, G P 2008: 202). CULTURAL HISTORY 1879: HUNTER, W W (1879, 2: 211) draws the attention of the credulous world to a fabulous tunnel, which is »imagined by the people to reach as far as China, and a Hindu legend states that a Chinese army once marched by this route to the invasion of India.« SMITH, G (1882: 114) repeats that there are limestone caves »… at Roopnath, where one cavern is popularly believed to reach to China.« CULTURAL HISTORY 2012: Smart C M, Harper R C, McManus S J and Sanderson K »… were driven up the NH towards Syndai and stopped at a bridge over a dry river bed. The entire area was a mass of Hindus with market stalls selling flowers, water, food, beer (!) [note 13], and just about everything you would want. We had arrived on the festival day. Hindus come from miles (or even kms) around to visit the cave which is a short walk up the paths on the eastern side of the river bed. We had to pay for entrance and joined tens of Hindus in the cave - they were shouting Boom boom [note 14] all the time - presumably to wake the spirits [note 15]. We drove past the dry river bed and over the bridge again the next day and it was totally deserted« (Smart, C M 2013.03.06 "RE: Syndai Cave (Hutton 1926) = Krem Rupasor" personal correspondence). CAVE LIFE 1921: »R. Friel and W. Ballantine iii-18« had collected in March 1918 from »Rupmath Cave, north of Jaintiapur, Jaintia Hills, Sylhet District (alt. 1000 - 1500 feet)« not only one single immature male specimen of »Speleoblatta (?) caeca« (CHOPARD, L 1921: 512-514, plates XXI, XXII) but also specimen identified as »Diestrammena brevifons (CHOPARD 1919: 318)« (CHOPARD, L 1921: 518-519). CAVE LIFE 1960: »Ainsi, de la Grotte Roupmath, située dans les monts Djaintia, Chopard avait décrit un Blattide, Typhlobatta caeca (syn. Spelaeoblatta? caeca Chopard), Blatte aveugle et aptère, montrant ainsi des traits remarquables d'adaption à la vie cavernicole, aussi le Diestrammena brevifons frieli …« (LINDBERG, K 1960d: 45). CAVE LIFE 1992 November: C. M. Smart »… observed moths in the threshold zones of Krem Syndai and Krem Jyniaw [note 16]« (BROOKS & SMART 1995 appendix 1: iii).CAVE LIFE 2001: »Diestrammena caeca Chopard … Rupmath cave (Jaintia Hills); troglophile« and »Typhloblatta caeca (Chopard); Rupmath Cave (nord de Jaintia [sic! qua: Jaintiapur]; Jaintia Hills]; anophtalme, de´pigmentée, atère, sans arolia; troglobie« (JUBERTHIE, DECU, CAZALS & LEBRETON 2001: 1796). CAVE LIFE 2008: »A troglomorphic dictyopteran [cockroach], Thyphloblatta caeca (previously Spelaeoblatta caeca), was described from Rupmath Cave in the Jaintia Hills (Chopard 1921). The species is totally depigmented, anopthalmous and is clearly a troglobite. The cavernicolous orthopteran [cricket] Eutachycines brevifrons frieli has also been recorded from Rupmath Cave (Chopard 1921). The specimens were collected by R. Freil [sic! qua: Friel] and W. Ballantine« (HARRIES, D B et al. 2008: 165). CAVE LIFE 2012: BASKAR, S; BASKAR, R & KAUSHIK, A (2012: 119) report to have undertaken »geomicrobiological studies on Syndai Caves … with an aim to understand the mineral- microbe interactions. SEM observations of speleothems and cave wall deposits prove the presence of fossil microbes (bacilli, cocci, ovoid, tubular forms), hollow microbial tubes, microcrystalline fibre calcites, calcified filaments and biomineral structures, which could be interpreted as biogenic in origin. Further, in situ experiments are being undertaken to confirm the biogenecity of these deposits« (online: isc2012.com/pdf/proceedings/environment.pdf accessed 2013.08.06).
NOTE 1: Christopher M. Smart told me about a »10 Rupee entrance ticket« (2013.04.01 Mss: Krem Rupasor / Krem Boomboom 20 February 2012). NOTE 2: »… the famous cave near Syndai … The opening is smallish, but there is room enough within, and a vast number of stalactites and stalagmites, some of them smeared with red paint by saddhus, who come up from the plains in some numbers and worship these naturally formed lingams. There is an inscription near the mouth of the cave in Bengali characters, but I could not read it in the bad light, and had nothing to take a rubbing with. It is surmounted by some sort of symbol which I could not make out« (HUTTON 1926). NOTE 3: There is only one sky all over the earth but the horizon is different at each point. NOTE 4: gupha (Sanskrit), from Saanskrit gupta (Sanskrit, past participle of gupd) concealed, hidden; preserved (WILSON, H H 1855: 39, 190); concealed, guarded, protected (KALYANARAM, S 1998: 1911, 2086); secret, unseen; rectum (WILFORD, F 1801: 502) -- the same word as »cava« (Latin, Portuguese), »cave« (French, English), »cofa« (Anglo-Saxon), »cova« (Portuguese, Spanish), »cueva« (Italian, Spanish), etc. for the same feature; an underground chamber, typically of natural origin, and in a hillside or cliff. NOTE 4: rup, rupa (Sanskrit, Hindi, etc.) »silver« and "nath" (literally: protection) »Lord« (god) form an epithet of the Hindu god Shiva, the Mahadeva (Great God), and hence one of the words for a lingam (see below). NOTE 5: lingam, plural: linga, literally a token, badge, mark, sign, (sexual) characteristic (Sanskrit, Hindi, etc.), is the word for a »phallic symbol; symbol of Shiva« (LONELY PLANET, India 2005: 1109), which is not only an uniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva but also a symbol of divine generative energy, typically consisting of an upright standing object: »… the symbol of Siva [Shiva] which is so extensively an object of worship among the Hindus, in the form of a cylinder of stone« (YULE & BURNELL 1886 / 1903: 517). Among the countless linga on the Indian subcontinent are twelve »naturally occurring« jyoti linga (jyotir linga) which are believed to derive currents of shakti (creative energy, power) from within themselves rather than being ritually invested with mantra shakti by priests. NOTE 6: ka rupa (Khasi loanword, noun), the silver (SINGH, N 1906: 176; SINGH, N 1920: 474; BLAH, E 2007: 274; OLDHAM, T 1854 / 1984 appendix C: lxviii).ka sòr (Khasi, noun) a station, an enlighted town (SINGH, N 1906: 210); sòr (adjective) »noiselessly, stealthily« (SINGH, N 1906: 210) which seems to be synonymous with the Sanskrit "gupta" for hidden, secret, unseen.NOTE 7: »… Krem Rupasor which we called Krem Sooty in 1992 is also called Krem Boom boom and no I am not making up cave names! We … joined tens of Hindus in the cave - they were shouting Boom boom all the time - presumably to wake the spirits« (Smart, C M 2013.03.06 personal correspondence). NOTE 8: The matrilinear Khasi mountaineers, generally Christians, look not only physically down upon the Hindu plainsmen who, for example, regard mothers of daughters barren and throng the Syndai cave to propitiate an oversized phallic representation of Shiva in hopes of being not only favoured with sons but also protected from female offspring. And then we need not wonder how it came when »… in Mukhtapur we asked about caves in the area and were directed to Krem Boomboom« (Smart, C M 2013.04.01 Mss: Krem Rupasor / Krem Boomboom 20 February 2012) when we consider that the »[Khasi]… people are cheerful in disposition, and are light-hearted by nature, and, unlike the plains people, seem to thoroughly appreciate a joke« and »the women are specially cheerful, and pass the time of day and bandy jokes with passers-by with quite an absence of reserve« (GURDON, P R T 1906: 4). The border town of »Mukhtapur« (Smart, C M 2013.04.01 Mss) is indicated as »Muktapur« near (±500 m) 25°09'45”N: 92°07'35”E (WGS84 modified from 25°09'45”N: 92°07'45”E Everest 1830) on the Survey of India Half-Inch Series sheet 83-C/SW (edition 1922) close to the Bangaldesh border and 3 km to 4 km north of Jaintiapur (±1 km 25°08'00”N: 92°07'20”E WGS84). NOTE 9: »I know of another cave east of Dawki [Dauki] which was recently got at on elephants and which is said to run in some quarter of a mile« (Allsup, Frederick William 1939.04.17 letter to Colonel Penney). NOTE 10: CHOPARD, L (1921) interpreted the Bengali (Sanskrit) "nath" (Lord, god) as »math (or muth). -- A chapel or small temple, also a sect« (HAMILTON, W. 1828, 2: 727); »math. A Hindu shrine or conventional establishment« (IMPERIAL GAZETTEER 1907-1909, 25: xviii); »math -- monastery« (LONELY PLANET, India 2005: 1109; 2007: 1145; 2009: 1211). NOTE 11: Outsiders nicknamed the frequently visited temple cave not only as a mixed Derbyshirish Pseudokhasi »Krem Sooty« (BROOKS, S J 1993b, 1993c; BROOKS, S J & SMART, C M 1995: 33; HARPER, R C 1993) but also as a pure Derbyshirish »Sooty Cave« (BROOKS, S J & SMART, C M 1995: 33). ba bit phuïong (Khasi; adjective) sooty (SINGH, N 1920: 485), literally: became soot (covered) from: u phuïong (Khasi; noun) spelled: u phu-iong (SINGH, N 1906: 158), u phuiong (SINGH, N 1920: 485) the soot (SINGH, N 1906: 158; SINGH, N 1920: 485) »esp. in cooking vessels« (SINGH, N 1906: 158). ba don pring (Khasi; adjective) sooty (SINGH, N 1920: 485), literally: [containing] soot, from: u pring (Khasi; noun) the soot (SINGH, N 1906: 163; SINGH, N 1920: 485; BLAH, E 2007: 281). NOTE 12: Amwi (HUNTER, W W 1879, 2: 211) or »Umwi … the country through which the stream Umwi near Jarain [N25°20': E092°08'] passes« (SINGH, N 1906: 243). Also: »Amwai … a very poor country, the soil is sterile, and hardly anything can be cultivated on it. Villages: 1. Number of houses: 135. Population: 553. Dolloies: 1 …« (Hudson, C K 1858.08.13 in: ALLEN, W J 1858 appendix 8 no. 11), and »Amwaie« (ALLEN, W J 1858: 78). NOTE 13: British sportsmen are famous the whole world over as keen observers of »beer (!)« (Smart, C M 2013.03.06 personal correspondence). The traditional beverage relished on occasion of Shivaratri at Shiva temples is an intoxicating variety of the »sweet and savoury lassi, a yoghurt-based drink, … another wonderfully rejuvenating beverage« (LONELY PLANET, India 2009: 87) prepared with … 1820 »… the herb bhang (a well-known species of hemp) … grows spontaneously in great abundance throughout this country, and is likewise cultivated and sent prepared in its various intoxicating shapes to the low country, where it meets with a ready sale« (FRASER, James Baillie 1820: Journal of a tour through part of the snowy range of the Himala Mountains, and to the sources of the rivers Jumna and Ganges.- London: Rodwell and Martin, page 118). 1828 »Bang -- An intoxicating drug prepared in India from the flowers and juice of the hemp plant, to which opium is sometimes added« (HAMILTON, W 1828, 2: 720). 1901 »News is not meant to be thrown about like dung-cakes, but used sparingly -- like bhang« (Mahbub in; KIPLING, Rudyard 1901: Kim). NOTE 14: The full parole of the day is "Boom Shiva Shankar" (Wake up! Gracious Creator). NOTE 15: What happened is that the Hindu god Shiva, literally "auspicious, gracious" (Sanskrit), the creator, has fallen asleep but this is another story. What matters just right now is that the sleeping creator dreams the world which we experience as the reality. Hence it is no wonder that the apparent reality is but the usual nonsense that appears to happen when one dreams. But Shiva wakes up on occasion of Shivaratri, every year on the 6th day of dark fortnight of the lunar month of Phalgun, which lasts 28 days during the solar months of February and March. NOTE 16: »Krem Jyniaw« (BROOKS & SMART 1995 appendix 1: iii) is one of the three known Jynniaw Caves near Mawsynram in the West Khasi Hills, of which the currently six known entrances where understood to lie at an unidentified position (Brooks, Simon J 2012 personal correspondence) somewhere in the vicinity (±5 km) of N25°15'40”: E091°35'30”: circa (±250 m) 1300 m asl (representational approximation).
Documents
Bibliography 29/03/2016- Allen, B C 1906; Allsup, Frederick William 1936; Baskar, Sushmitha, Baskar, Ramanathan & Kaushik, Anubha 2012; Bazely, Peter James 1992; Brooks, Simon J 1993b, 1993c; Brooks, Simon J & Smart, Christopher M 1995; Chatterjee, Shiba Prasad 1936; Chopard, L 1921; Craven, Stephen A 1969; Directorate of Tourism, Government of Meghalaya 1993; Gebauer, H D 1980; Harries, Daniel B et al. 2008; Hunter, William Wilson 1879; Hutton, J H 1926; Juberthie Christian, Decu Vasile, Cazals Monique & Lebreton Bernard 2001; Kharpran Daly, Brian D 2006; Laloo, Shining Star 1995a, 1995b; Lindberg, Knut 1960d; Meghalaya District Gazetteer Jaintia Hills 1996; Mohrmen, H H 2012.07.30; Smart, Christopher M 1995a; Smith, George 1882; Wolf, Benno 1938; Zimba, Dawa Tsering 1977 / 1978, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1989, 1991, 2005.
History
EXPLORATION HISTORY: 1879: HUNTER, W W (1879, 2: 211) regarded the »Caverns at Rupnath in Amwi« as one of the most notable of the peculiar caves and caverns of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills: »In another cave [or part of the same cave?], the limestone stalactites have been carved into images representing the gods of the Hindu pantheon.« 1882: In the »Province of Assam … Khasi and Jaintia Hills District … [there are] limestone caves … also at Roopnath …« (SMITH, G 1882: 114). 1918.03: R. (Ralph?) Friel and W. Ballantine collected specimens of cockroach (Orthoptera: Spelaeoblatta Chopard 1921, renamed Thyphloblatta caeca) and the cricket (Dictyoptera) Diestrammena brevifons Chopard 1921, later Eutachycines brevifons frieli) from »Rupnath Cave« in the north of Jaintiapur, Jaintia Hills, alt. 300-450 m (CHOPARD, L 1921: 512, 518). 1925.10.21: Hutton, J H (Naga Hills tour diary: 1925.10.21); HUTTON, J H (1926: 341) visited the »famous cave at Syndai.« 1992.11.08: Simon J. Brooks, Christopher M. Smart, Rob C Harper and Helen Harper, who had been chauffeur-driven by »a local taxi driver, by the name of Mr Noro« (BROOKS & SMART 1995: 9), were »led through the jungle to the Krem Syndai cave by a local guide. Cave explored and surveyed [sportsman standards]« (BROOKS, S J 1993b, 1993c; BROOKS & SMART 1995: 12; HARPER, R 1993). 1992.11.09: Simon J. Brooks and Christopher M. Smart »went back to Krem Syndai for photography while Rob [Harper], Helen [Harper] and Geronimus Pala plus the [unidentified] guide [no name mentioned] and a [likewise unidentified] local bird hunter [no name mentioned] made a reconnaissance visit to another [unidentified] local cave [no name mentioned] called [sic! qua: dubbed] Krem Sweep. This cave was further explored, surveyed and photographed by all later that afternoon« (BROOKS & SMART 1995: 12). 2012.02.20, Shivaratri day: Christopher M Smart, Rob C Harper, Steward J MacManus and Keith Sanderson visited »Krem Rupasor which we called Krem Sooty in 1992« when the "mela" (annual religious fair) was held on occasion of the Shivaratri day: »We were driven up the NH towards Syndai and stopped at a bridge over a dry river bed. The entire area was a mass of Hindus with market stalls selling flowers, water, food, beer (!), and just about everything you would want. We had arrived on the festival day. Hindus come from miles (or even kms) around to visit the cave which is a short walk up the paths on the eastern side of the river bed. We had to pay for entrance and joined tens of Hindus in the cave - they were shouting Boom boom all the time - presumably to wake the spirits. We drove past the dry river bed and over the bridge again the next day and it was totally deserted« (Smart, C M 2013.03.06 "RE: Syndai Cave (Hutton 1926) = Krem Rupasor" personal correspondence).
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.2 | SHUKI (Ka Krem Pubon) | ||
| 0.7 | AMKOR TYRMEI (Krem) | ||
| 0.9 | AMLADKOH (Krem) | ||
| 1.0 | RHEN RMEN (Krem) | ||
| 1.0 | LANGOHMAT (Krem) | ||
| 1.2 | SYNDAI CAVE, 2nd (Smart 2013) | ||
| 1.3 | KRIAH (Krem) | ||
| 1.3 | KYNDA, Syndai (Krem) | ||
| 1.3 | AMKHLOO, Syndai (Krem) |