CHANGRU CAVE, Almora District: Garbyang

Byash (दार्चुला - NP)
30.113900,80.868100
Grottocenter / carte

Description

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 25/03/2016

The cave near Chhyangru (±500 m N30°06'45”: E080°51'50”) at circa (±50 m) 3750 m asl in Nepal (Darchula district) came -- unfortunately with a deranged location -- to the attention of the caving club's world by an anonymous note in the Bulletin of the British Speleological Association (1955, vol. 43, page 4), according to which a relatively »… large number of human skulls, bones and skelitons [sic!], similar to those found in Rulkund [note 1], have been discovered in a cave in the village of Changru [note 2] near Garbiang [note 3] on the Indo-Tibetan border of the Almora District [note 4] …« (LARGE NUMBER … 1955). CRAVEN, S A (1969: 28) refers to »an anonymous (1955) report briefly mentions a cave at Chhangru [sic!], near Garbiang in the Almora district« (after LARGE NUMBER … 1955). DUCLUZAUX, B (1993d: 54) lists »Kumaon: Craven (1969) signale une grotte à Chhangre [sic!], près de Garbyang. Chhangre [sic!] semble en rive gauche de la Mahakali, donc au Népal?« (after CRAVEN, S A 1969: 28 after LARGE NUMBER … 1955).

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 25/03/2016

NOTE 1: »Rulkund« (LARGE NUMBER … 1955) is a typographical error instead of »Rupkund« (RUPKUND TRAGEDY 1955; SHARMA, M M 1986) or »Roopkund« (from Sanskrit, Hindi, etc. "rupa" = silver + "kund" = lake), which is »situated at a height of 5029 metres in the lap of Trishul massif [N30°19': E079°47' in the Kumaon Himal, Uttarakhand]. The mystery lake of Roopkund has attracted many a besotted traveller since the discovery of human skeletons in the lake and the glacier descending into it. For many years the origin of the skeletons remained a mystery. Some thought it to be the remains of General Zorawar's army that lost its way while returning from Tibet. But the popular belief, narrated in the folk traditions about the pilgrimage to Nanda Devi undertaken by Raja Jasdhaval and his wife, the Garhwali Princess Rani Balampa, who perished in a hailstorm at Jurangali, appears to be closer to the truth; especially since the carbon dating of the skeletons and its anthropological studies point towards the authenticity of this folk-lore. The lake, surrounded by rock strewn glaciers and snow clad peaks, is magnificent« (tourismofindia.com/sts/stuttadv.htm, accessed 05.09.2004). NOTE 2: »Changru« (LARGE NUMBER … 1955) is the village indicated as »Changru« (an Anglo-Indian transcription) on the American Military Service (AMS) sheet NH44-06 Nanda Devi (U502 series, 1958 edition) but in Nepali (Eastern Pahari) on the Central Service Map sheet 75 Darchula (edition 1989) as »Chhyangru« near (±500 m) N30°06'45”: E080°51'50” and above the eastern (orographically left) bank of Mahakali (Vyas) river in Darchula district (Far Western Nepal region, Mahakali zone). DUCLUZAUX, (1993d: 54), however, preferred to corrupt the name of this item into a so-called »grotte à Chhangre, près de Garbyang.« NOTE 3: »Garbiang« (LARGE NUMBER … 1955), better: Garbyang (N30°07': E080°51' WGS84 nima.mil/geonames accessed 16.11.2003) is the village of »Garbyang« near (±1 km) N30°07'40”: E080°51'20" (AMS sheet NH44-06 Nanda Devi, U502 series, 1958 edition) at an elevation of 3145.5 m asl or »10,320 feet« (PRANAVANANDA 1949: 119) about 400 m or 500 m above the western (orographically right) bank of the Mahakali and thus in Pithoragarh district, Uttarakhand state, India. Looking from Garbyang ENE across the Mahakali, which represents the locally »approximate« border (in my eyes: nominal, existing in name only) between India and Nepal, »… we can see two villages in Nepal, Chhangru and Tinkar« (SHARMA, M M 1994: 117).

Documents

Bibliography 25/03/2016

History

EXPLORATION HISTORY: 1905, circa: Charles Atmore Sherring (then District Commissioner of Almora) seems to have been the first European to visit the cave near »Chhangru« and to notice that some of the bodies are remarkably well preserved (SHERRING, C A 1906 edited 1993: 138-139). 1936, late May: August [Augusto] Gansser, Lugano, from the Swizz Expedition to the Himalaya 1936, assisted by one Paladin from Darjeeling, a Sherpa porter, and a certain »No. 1« (a »Dotial porter« from Doti in south-western Nepal), recorded at the village of »Chagru« oral tradition (cave legend) narrated by Himeti Padani (literally: snow-like made), an old Boro women. Later, he climbed up to the cave entrance with the help of unidentified "aborigines" (no names mentioned) and cared to see the cave properly surveyed (GANSSER, A 1937: 201-208 with cave plan; forwarded by Oliver Knab, Zürich 2013.05.09). 1943: Captain Richard Keith M. Saker [1909*-1979†] and Dr. Gordon Terry »discovered« the locally well-known »series of caves high up in a limestone cliff« and were apparently the first who narrated the military worker's tale according to which the human remains represent »some of Zorawar Singh's invading Dogra soldiers« who simply »had apparently billeted themselves in 1841« (SNELLING, J 1983 edited 1990: 210-211 after unpublished »Saker, R K M 1943« Mss). 1949: Swami PRANAVANANDA (1949: 119 notes 1, 3) published a cursory cave descripton, apparently collected from hearsay information -- the wealth of details, which he usually provides with personally investigated caves, is lacking. 1955: An anonymous newspaper clipping reprinted in the Bulletin of the British Speleological Association reported the "discovery" of this cave for about the third time and moved the location to the Indian side of the Mahakali River but brought the cave to the attention of the caving club's world. compared the skeletons with those found at Rupkund: »A large number of human skulls, bones and skelitons [sic!], similar to those found in Rulkund [sic! qua: Rupkund] , have been discovered in a cave in the village of Changru near Garbyang on the Indo-Tibetan border of the Almora District« (LARGE NUMBER … 1955). 1969: CRAVEN, S A (1969: 28), quoting from LARGE NUMBER … (1955), dedicated two lines on a »cave near Chhangru« in Amora district (India). 1971: CRAVEN, S A (1971: 281), referring to the newspaper cutting RUPKUND TRAGEDY (1955), dedicated two lines to the »cave near Changru (80°51': 30°08') 2 miles ENE of Garbyang« and mislead to the 9th October 1955 issue of the 'The Hindu' (Madras) instead of the The Hindu Weekly Magazine of the same date (page 10, column 5) as it is only the latter which mentions not only Rupkund and human skeletons, but also advertises the parliamentarian Jagmohan Singh Negi Mad, Uttar Pradesh's former Deputy Minister for Forests, who is said to have said on 5th October 1955 in Lucknow, that a further study by nobody less than he himself of »historical records and the photographs taken by Mr. H. K. Madhwal, a U.P. forest officer, of the Rupkund region, pointed to the incontrovertible fact [sic!] that the bodies found were of the men of Zorawar Singh, Commander-in-Chief of the Raja of Jammu, who invaded Western Tibet in 1841-42.« 1993: DUCLUZAUX, B (1993d: 54) had undersood that it was CRAVEN, S A (1969: 28) who indicated a cave at »Chhangre« (sic!) near Garbyang and above the left bank of the Mahakali river but, who knows, perhaps already in Nepal: »Craven (1969) signale une grotte à Chhangre, près de Garbyang. Chhangre semble en rive gauche de la Mahakali, donc au Népal?« Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 25/03/2016

Caves nearby

Distance (km)NameLength (m)Depth (m)
0.2CHHYANGRU (Cave near)
1.8BHUDI (Caves near)
3.7PELSITI (Caves at)
7.4LUNGTIYAR (Caves at)
17.0VYASA GUFA, Kalirang
23.6RAPLA (Grotte près de)
24.4KHAR UDYAR
24.6VYASA GUFA, Kuthi
25.6GUKUNG (Troglodyte settlement of)