CHAKRATIRTHA - PARAHAMSA GUFA

ललितपुर महानगरपालिका (ललितपुर - NP)
27.650000,85.296700
Grottocenter / carte

Description

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 15/07/2016

At least six cave entrances give access to the Chakra Tirtha - Parahamsa cave system (note 1), the second longest cave of Nepal. Of vadose origin, the cave is developed in argillaceous Palaeozoic limestone (note 2) and characterised by an inclined labyrinthine maze (dipping by ) of predominantly small sized passages (on average approximately half a metre wide and one high) connected by short vertical drops. The cave system lies between the village of Cobhar (Chobhar) and the gorge of Bagmati River at a distance of about 7 km along the road from Kathmandu to Dakshin Kali (Dakshinkali). Since Czechoslovakian explorers connected Chakratirtha Gufa in 1985 to the neighbouring Parahamsa Gufa (note 3), at least six cave entrances (note 4) are known to be scattered around the hillock. The uppermost entrance lies near the footpath on the edge of the canyon, close to a kind of 'mini stupa'. From the lowest entrance (about four metre above the level of the Bagmati river bed) emerges small spring. Two other entrances (close to each other) are found behind a small building »resembling a bus-stop structure« (note 5). ETYMOLOGY: »Chucker-teerut [KIRKPATRICK, W J 1811] -- Chakratiratha« (GURUNG, H 1996: 52 NO. 118). So far, I saw the name(s) of the cave in the gorge of the Bagmati River near the village of Chobhar / Cobhar transcribed and spelled, edited or printed as Grotte de Bagmati MAURIES, J-P (1983b); DUCLUZAUX, JUBERTHIE & DECU (2001: 1943, 1945) Grotte de Chakra Tirka DUCLUZAUX (1993b: 27) Chakra Tirtha Gufa (note 6) Gebauer XXXX?Grotte de Chobar HUBERT, M (1973) Chobhar Cave WIESNER, U (1976: 241); DECLEER, H (1995); KNAB, O (1990: 4 no. 3), SANDAY (1989) Chobhar Cave B DURRANT, G A et al. (1979: 35) Cave at Chobbar JOSHI, R V (1966b edited 1973: 80) Chukra Deertah PAVEY, A (1976a, 1976b) Chukra Deertah Gupha DURRANT, G A et al. (1979: 35) Cave of Goraknath DECLEER, H (1994); DOWMAN, K (1981: 270-271); LEWIS, T (1988: 204); DARLO, R (1981) Parahamsa Gufa CÍLEK, V et al. (1989); KNAB, O (1990: 4 no. 3). SITUATION: The entrance to Parahamsa Gufa is situated on the southern slope of the hillock, near the road and in the upper part of a large doline (in American English: sinkhole), which lies approximately 140 m south-south-east of Jala Binayak temple. POSITION: THAPA, S (2010.05.15: 26) recorded for an unidentified spot »within 500 meters periphery« of the »Chobhar Gorge« the GPS position N27°39'35.3”: E085°17'39.2”: 1404 m a.s.l. (unspecified precision error, unidentified geodetic datum, dated »Sep. 16 2008 and December 30-31 2009« = 2008.09.16 + 2009.12.30 - 31). CULTURAL HISTORY: The cave is not only mentioned in Tibetan sources claiming to date back to 1150 AD but also in the biography (note 7) of the Tibetan Buddhist yogin Rwa Lotsâwa (note 8), the 'Translator of Rwa', which is ascribed to his spiritual grandson Ye shes Senge (in Sanskrit: Jñâna-singha) and relates to episodes which have happened there (note 9). »On the west side of the [Chobar] gorge are several meditation caves. An enclosed overhang froms a kuti where Goraknath himself (or one of his lineage) is reputed to have meditated. Rwa Lotsawa is also said to have meditated in one of these caves. Behind the caves is a labyrinth of tunnels [cave passages] that penetrate to an underground lake [water table]. There are no images within. One of the tunnels [cave passages] that are now bricked up [infilled by collapse debris] leads up to the Adhinath Temple of Karunamaya / Macchendranath in the Co Bahal of Chobar Village high up on the ridge. Ganesh dug it after he had been omitted from a meeting of the gods at the Bahal. Leaving his Jalavinayaka residence at the south end of the gorge, he arrived enraged at the centre of the convention and demanded an explanation of the slight« (BALPO NAWANG DORJE / Bal po Ngag dBang rDo Rje 1741 transliterated in WYLIE 1970: 37-41 Appendix A, translated by DOWMAN 1981: 270). CAVE LEGEND: »The Cobhar caves originated as the result of fight between Shiva and sage, later demon Hariyanakashipu. After a long fight Vishnu had to use finally his chakra to destroy the demon. The flying chakra hit the walls of limestone hill, it created the gorge and its caves. It helped to drain the lake situated on place of nowadays Kathmandu« (speleo.cz/soubory/speleo/sp32/ojeskyni.htm accessed 2005.11.15), ARCHAEOLOGY: The lowest entrance to the Chakra Tirtha Gufa or some of the shallow rock shelters and niches nearby may have been superficially investigated sometime in September or October 1961 by JOSHI (1966b edited 1973: 80) of the Archaeological Survey of India: »A small cave was noticed in the cherty limestone [note 10] about 4 m above the water level on the right bank of the Bagmati near Chobbar [sic!]. However, it did not yield any cultural deposit, nor were any tools found inside or in its neighbourhood …« CAVE DESCRIPTION 1981: »At a spot very near to lake Sword [mtshoral gri, = Taudha], to the west of an angular ravine region, there are numerous caves, one of which is known to be the one of Siddha Gauraksha, another one is associated with the disciples of this Maha-siddha, and two further ones are stated to have belonged to the great Guru Bharo and to the great Ra-Lo [Vajra-kirti] respectively. Yet, as I did not find any historical data by means of which to attribute a specific {cave} to each of them, I am unable to write about them here. To the rear of these practice caves there are extremely long tunnels through which one may eventually reach the ocean. Within, there aren't any scared images whatsover or other items [associated with the presence of those yogins]. According to some, this is definitely the practice cave of Guru Bharopa the Great. Also, on the outside, there is wall support built of baked bricks [like an outer room], behind which there is another tunnel that leads up to the Avalokiteshvara temple located in the town of Chobhar and through where one may descend. As for the famous vihara known as Patan's Sun Throne, it is located in the region of Chobhar, but at present there seems to be no more trace of it, so that it is impossible to visit it. This Patan's Sun Throne vihara is the one which the Newars [used to] refer to as the Suryasan Vihara« (DARLO, Rinchen 1981: gNas bshad Ngo mtshar gTam gyi Rol mo [Music of Amazing Tales].- translated in DECLEER 1995, chapter: The practice cave of the Siddha Gauraksha, Guru Bharo and the Great Translator from Rwa). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1989: »One of the most striking aspects of the Chakra Tirtha / Parahamsa Gufa cave system is the presence of man made features in the various parts of the cave. The cave's passages are on many places artificially widened. The small pools where fresh water is captured are enlarged. Relics of stone altars were erected in few places. Two deep passages display man made steps now covered by flowstone ... about 15 mm thick. Few pieces of pottery were found on several places and a skeleton of a 40 to 50-year-old man, who died here some 200 years ago, was discovered. Some of the relics may belong to the oldest remains in Kathmandu valley. We expect, that even before Jala Binayak temple was constructed the caves served as meditation halls, and may be, as underground sanctuaries for holy men« (CÍLEK et al. 1989). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1995: »The Chobhar cave system consists of two different complexes, with most of the "Chakra-Tirtha Gupha" or Chobhar cave proper situated below what can roughly be called there storeys (horizons) if the "Parahamsa Gupha" cave group with its separate entrance further north-west. […] The 'frightening' aspect of the cave is in its' intensive structure' ("boyaux") meaning that at every few meters, side tunnels are visible right and left, above and below, and that. after reaching a dead end and turning around, it is nearly impossible to remember, at the next 'crossroads', which one of the dozens of identical looking tunnel entrances one just came from. Seldom is the tunnel height more than one meter, and often crawling has to be alternative with sliding in a horizontal position« (DECLEER 1995). CAVE LIFE: In 1966 Michel Hubert (Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris) collected from »la grotte de Bagmati« the troglobiont Diplopod Cambalopsidae Trachyiulus wilsonae, which MAURIES (1983) described as a new species from »la grotte de Chobar.« HUBERT (1972: 166) described a new species of spider: Nesticus nepalensis n. sp. (Aranea: Arachnida: Nesticidae). On several occasions in the 1980ies and 1990ies I noticed only a relatively small number of bats (Chiroptera indet.) which selected the cave as a day roost. Jane Wilson (in: DURRANT et al. 1979) found the Phychodid fly Phlebotomus longiductus, a potential vector for the fatal Kala-Azad fever (visceral Leishmaniasis).

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 15/07/2016

NOTE 1: »Chobhar Cave« (WIESNER 1976: 241) is no. N2 (KNAB 1990: 4). NOTE 2: The crystalline limestone belongs to the Phulchok unit of the Himalayan nappes (SHARMA 1990) and contains copper to some degree. This can be found in the form of minute malachite and azurite crystals (Dr. Robert Seemann, Wien, personal correspondence) that protrude from those surfaces, which were not touched and thereby abraded by visitors. NOTE 3: CÍLEK 1986a, 1986b, 1986c, 1987; CÍLEK & GEBAUER 1988a, 1988b; CÍLEK, KACHA & HASEK 1988, 1989; EXPEDICE HIMALAYA 1985; GEBAUER 1989; HASEK, CÍLEK & KACHA 1986). NOTE 4: A legendary cave entrance is said to lie hidden below the –>Ganeshwar Bitrag Shikkara, which faces the temple of Adinath within the village of Cobhar (WIESNER 1976: 241, SANDAY 1986). A first systematic attempt to differentiate cave entrances (referring to each as a distinct cave) is found in a modern Tibetan gnas yig (guide book for religious travellers, pilgrims, and / or New Age tourists) by Rinchen DARLO (s.a., circa 1981): »At a spot very near to Lake Sword [in Tibetan: Mtsho ral gri, in Gorkhali: Taudah), to the west of an angular ravine region, there are numerous caves, one of which is known to be the one of Siddha Gauraksha [–>Gorakhnath Gufa, Cobhar], another one is associated with the disciples of this Mahâ-siddha, and two further ones are stated to have belonged to the Great Guru Bharo and to the Great Ra-Lo [Rwa Lotsâwa] respectively …« In the same reference we find a characterising description of Chakra Tirtha Gufa and its main entrance: »To the rear of these practice caves there are extremely long tunnels through which one may eventually reach the water-table [literally: 'ocean']. … According to some, this is definitely the practice cave of Guru Bharopa the Great [in Tibetan: Ye shes Seng ge]. Also, on the outside, there is a wall support built of baked bricks (like an outer room), behind which there is another tunnel that leads up to the Avalokiteshwara temple located in the town of Cobhar and through where one may descend« (Hubert Decleer, Kathmandu 1994 personal correspondence; DECLEER 1995). NOTE 4: DURRANT et al. (1979). This was erected in around 1974 by lama who had started to build a retreat house there, but had to move away (and eventually settled near –>Gorakhnath Gufa, Pharphing) because people took off the door, windows, and everything movable inside at the first opportunity (DECLEER 1994 personal correspondence). NOTE 5: DECLEER (1995): »Rinchen Darlo has the location right: the cave group is located on either side of the Chobhar gorge, a little upstream of the Jala-Vinayaka temple with its naturally formed Ganesha image, and of the chain bridge from where the steps leading down to the cave entrance on the right bank are just barely visible. If one approaches that entrance from the main road, along these steps constructed some distance from it, one does indeed, through an arched porchway, reach the remains of the brick built hermitage, next to the cave's entrance.« NOTE 6: Back in the year XXXX? I followed PAVEY (1976) and identified his »Chukra Deertah« (unidentified source, unidentified origin) as a version of the Hindi (Gorkhali etc.) "Chakra Tirtha" where "chakra" is the Sanskrit etc. word not only for »focus of one's spiritual power« but also for the disc-like weapon of the Hindu god Vishnu while »the word "tirtha" is derived from a Sanskrit root, 'tri', to cross, implying that the river has to be passed through, either for the washing away of sin, or extrication from some adverse destiny« (MONIER MONIER-WILLIAMS 1898, 8th edition: Shakoontala note 14). NOTE 7: YE SHES SENGE (1150) in YAB GHZIS GLANG MDUM (1905); in DECLEER (1989 Mss: The life and complete liberation of Jetsun Rwa Lotsawa), DECLEER (1992, 1994a, 1994b, 1995). DECLEER (1995): »Since Master Vajra-kirti himself was born in 1016, this would make the work one of the earliest full-length sacred biographies known in Tibetan literature; moreover, one composed within living memory of the subject. Unfortunately there exist some doubts about this claim. Certain passages seem an all too likely effort to 'get even' with other Buddhist Masters of that period. In the first place with none other than Marpa the Translator; also with the Nyingma Master Langlab, early expert in the Vajra-Kila tradition, and others. A seventeenth century dating is perhaps the more likely one, if not for the entire composition-quoted by various early authors, Taranatha among them, in 1631-at least for a thorough 'rewriting'. It does not help that the first printed edition of the work is from as late as 1905: in a manuscript transmission, uncontrolled alternations are all the more easy. Nor is authenticity served by the fact that the Life refers to certain contemporaries by titles known to have been introduced only much later in Tibetan society. In the present case, with regard to the Bajracharya transmission from Bharo 'Maimed Hand' to Vajra-kirti from Rwa, the historicity of the authorship matters less, since the other known accounts of Vajrakirti's life corroborate this part of the story, at least in rough outline.«NOTE 8: In Tibetan rDo rje gRags, in Sanskrit Vajra-kîrti, also called Rwa the Great, Translator of Rwa, or simply Rwa). In 1030 AD Rwa had practiced something Tantric there and finally gained realisation of Vajra-Bhairava. NOTE 9: Jnana-simha: The Melodious Drumsound All Pervading.- (D 16-18 = P 15-18 in: DECLEER 1995): »Vajra-kirti … had noticed that) every night, as it grew dark, his Guru would enter a dense forest and go off from there, and this night too, as usual, he went there. This time, however, Vajra-kirti followed him from a distance. In the middle of a grove with birch trees abounding with flowers, there was a cave, a deep one, containing a spring; and into that cave the Guru now entered. Vajra-kirti too came in there and (deep) inside the cave there hung a scroll painting of Shri Vajra-Bhairava, the Lightning Terror, with a set of offerings laid out to in front. Seated there was the Guru in person, his body naked but for the bone ornaments, and engaged in mantra recitation.« NOTE 10: It does not help to know that there is no cherty limestone anywhere to be found on the banks of Bagmati River.

Documents

Bibliography 15/07/2016

History

EXPLORATION HISTORY: 1030 (circa): Rwa Lotsâwa used the cave for Tantric practices (YE SHES SENGE 1150, DECLEER 1989 Mss, 1992, 1994a, 1994b, 1995). 1960 (autumn): JOSHI, R V (1966: 80, 1973: 75-82) visited an unidentified and relatively »small« cave with unspecified dimensions about 4 m above the water level in Chobbar gorge. Apparently Chakra Tirtha Gupha was entered for a short distance only. 1966: Michel Hubert (Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris) collected from »la grotte de Bagmati« the troglobiont Diplopod Cambalopsidae which MAURIES (1983) described as a new species. 1972 ±3: »The story goes that in the early seventies, Drupthop Rinpoche from Swayambhu took some of his younger monks for a quite outing, for which how also foresaw some crawling fun in the caves. One young monk went missing for one and a half day, and was found, in utter panic, after a frantic search, involving a good number of the Chobhar villagers« (DECLEER 1995). 1973: HUBERT (1974: 165-1699) had a new spider species (Araneae: Arachnidae: Nesticus nepalensis) collected from an unspecified cave in the Chobbar gorge. 1974: MUNTHE, WEST, LUKACS & SHRESTA (1975), in the pay of one »Milwaukee Public Museum Palaentologic Expedition to Nepal«, visited estimated 120 passage metres and planned to return in spring 1976. 1976 spring: Jane M. Wilson noticed the presence of the Phychodid fly Phlebotomus longiductus (DURRANT et al. 1979).1976, autumn: Andrew PAVEY (1976a: 3-8) and John Dunkley in the course of their "BIKE" excursion (Burmo-Indian Karst Expedition), found a ready excuse not to explore this cave as soon as »our first impulse of promptly entering was slightly modified by the discovery of several heaps of excrement.« 1980 March 22: Natsumi Kamiya (Yamaguchi Caving Club, Japan) commenced cave mapping but was pressed by his assistants Dr. Uppreti (Tribhuvan University, Geol. Dept.) and Dr. Bhattarai (Geol. Survey of Nepal) to abandon surveying after having mapped the first 80 m of ongoing cave passages in Chakra Tirtha Gupha (KAMIYA 1980: 4-5).1982 spring: H. D. Gebauer and Andre Abele, suffering from shits, paid a a preliminary visit.1984 (5 to 7 April): H. D. Gebauer mapped solo (Topofil & Suunto instruments) 640 m of cave passages (GEBAUER & KAMIYA 1984: 4).1985 autumn: Vaclav Cílek, Z. Hasek, V. Janacek, S. Kacha, A. Kobryn, J. Mynar and Z. Rerabek (Zlaty Kun Caving Club, Czeskoslovakia) mapped another 600 m in the neighbouring Parahamsa Gupha and connected it to Chakra Tirtha Gupha (EXPEDICE HIMALAYA 1985, CÍLEK et al. 1988, 1989).1997 spring: Following unidentified local youngsters and one sirdar Ngawang it was Desmond MARSHALL (1997) who made a through trip believing "to explore" Twang Reng Gupha. 2008.09.16: THAPA, S (2010.05.15: 26) reports a bat spotting activity that had been performed on »Sep. 16 2008 … Chobhar Gorge …« 2009.12.30 - 31: THAPA, S (2010.05.15: 26) reports another bat spotting activity that had been performed during »December 30-31 2009 … Chobhar Gorge …« Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 15/07/2016

Caves nearby

Distance (km)NameLength (m)Depth (m)
0.1CHAKHU BHAKHU PWA
0.1CAVE UNDER CRASHER (aa -)
0.7Ganeshwar Bitrag Shikara Gufa
1.1BAGH CAVE
1.1MANJUSRI CAVE
1.1BARAHI CAVE
1.1NAYA CAVE
3.9BASBARI
3.9BASBARI 2