UMTHE, Umlyngdkhur (Krem)
25.282900,92.491600
Description
NOTE 1: »Wir haben den Nordteil vermessen und Henry ist im niedrigen, wasserführenden Schluf auch nicht weiter gekommen (leider- denn das war eigentlich das Ziel). Dann wollten wir den Süd-Teil auch noch anhängen (wo wir schon mal dabei waren). Hier machten uns aber die Spinnen einen Strich durch die Rechnung. Du glaubst das vielleicht nicht --aber da krabbelten tausende über Wände und Decken (nicht die ganz grossen, aber doch schon beachtliche). Als wir dann nach ein paar Schritten merkten, dass sich die Viecher auf uns herunterfallen liessen, war es aus mit dem Forscherdrang - sorry« (Arbenz, T 2009.06.06 personal correspondence).
A natural temple cave, which is sacred to Hindu believers and dedicated to Shiva, is characterised by speleothems, including several linga (phallus shaped stones) smeared with red powder. Thrown rubbish littering the cult spot indicates that pious veneration activities combine easily with practiced disregard. IDENTITY: Based on the absence of any clue or reason whatsoever, »it most probably is Umthe« (Brooks, S J et al. 2009 Mss "Diary 2009.doc" Monday 9th February). ETYMOLOGY: The Khasi noun "ka um" translates as »water, juice« (SINGH, N 1906: 225) and is an epithet for a stream or a river. The Khasi verb "theh" means »to pour in, to spill« as "the-sei" means »to pour out in abundance« while the Khasi noun "ka them" would be »a hollow, a valley, a depression« as the verb "them" means »to subside« (SINGH, N 1906: 225). The Khasi "ka lyngdkhur" is a short form of "ka lyngdykhur" and signifies »a dove« (SINGH, N 1906: 122) but "u dieng soh lyngdkhur" (literally: dove's fruit tree) is the Khasi word for »a mulberry tree« (SINGH, N 1906: 69). As a natural Hindu cave shrine (temple cave), the alternatively called »Krem shang Umthe« (Cave associated with Umthe; Monris Nongtdu 1998.02.26) has been said to be called in Gorkhali (the language of the Nepali immigrants) either »Spiri Gufa« (Milan Lamare, Sutnga, 1999.04.04 personal communication) or »Sibiri Thapa« (Penance of Sibiri; Spindro Dkhar, Lumshnong, 1999.02.15 personal communication). SITUATION: At the head of Umthe stream, a tributary to the Um Lyngdkhur (Um Lyngdykhur, Umlyngdkhur, Umlyngdykhur), which flows into the Um Kwai (Umkwai), on the western base of the Shnongrim ridge, and at a linear distance of about 6.6 km from the crossroad village Ladmyrsiang (Latyrke) towards the approximate south (174°). The site is reached by a "Shaktiman track" (a rough fair weather road) or by 1.5 hours walking along a grass covered rolling sandstone shelf with a few pine groves at the height of the Umkwai hillocks. The cave is locally well known and used by the local Nepali population as a Hindu sanctuary. POSITION 2009: WGS84 N25°16'58.5”: E092°29'29.8”: 863 m asl (Anonymous, most likely 12-channel GPS, after Arbenz, T 2009.06.06 personal correspondence) indicates a spot 33.4 m in a direct line approximately south-west (–24.7 m north, –22.4 m east) from the earlier POSITION 2009: WGS84 N25°16'58”: E092°29'29” (circa ±100 m): circa 950 m asl (H.D. Gebauer 1999.04.04, wobbly 4-channel GPS Garmin 4). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1 (H.D. Gebauer 1999.04.04): The Krem Umthe at the head of Umlyngdkhur starts with a circular main cave entrance (1.1 m wide and 1.2 m high), which leads to a maze of smallish rift passages (on average 0.7 m wide and 1.6 m high) with several exits into the surrounding jungle. The major part of the natural sacred cave (temple cave) is almost blocked with unfortunately soot covered secondary calcite deposits (speleothems). CULTURAL HISTORY: Close to a niche, which seems to represent Patal Bhubaneshwar (Patal Bhuvaneshvar), the underground realm reigned over by Lord Shiva, there were (in April 1999) about 50 iron trishuls (tridents, large three-prongend forks) put up next to a massive, flat topped calcite boss (1.8 m in diameter, 1.2 m high). According to Nick Cain, Sophie Kumar, Rob Lamb, Louise Le Fluffy and Helen Philp (in: DAWSON 1999: 14): This cave is »… quite small but of great interest to us. Inside there appeared to be some sort of shrine. There were many candles, burned out incense sticks and what seemed like offerings of various types of money and cloth, as well as an area of rock covered in three-pronged forks.« PROSPECTS 1 (Gebauer 1999.04.04): Unmapped and unexplored remains a tiny squeeze with no air current, located in the far north, which obviously had been visited previously by an anonymous explorer but was not pushed to a conclusion by the 1999 team of cavers. Another unpushed squeeze around a calcite blockage drops to a demanding (both wet and low) but draughting canal passage (0.8 m wide, 0.5 m high) with up to 0.15 m of airspace full of stalactites. PROSPECTS 2: The cave is still ongoing (Arbenz, T 2009.02.04) but »unpleasantly low and wet on one end and filled with thousands of spiders on the other« (Brooks, S J et al. 2009.02 Mss "Diary 2009.doc" Wednesday 4th February).
History
EXPLORATION HISTORY: 1998.02.26: Monris Nongtdu told the name »Krem Shang Umthe« to Brian D. Kharpran Daly, Anthony 'Tony' R Jarratt and Brian Johnson. 1999.04.04: H. D. Gebauer, B. D. Kharpran Daly, Paul A. Edmunds, Nick Cain, Gregory D. Diengdoh, Sophie Kumar, Rob Lamb, Louise Le Fluffy and Helen Philp, guided by Milan Lamare (Sutnga) and in company with B. Kharnaior, S. Diengdoh, G. Lyngwa and students from Wells Cathedral School (DAWSON 1999) explored while surveying and mapping the easiest 81 m of cave passages. 2009.02.04: Thomas Arbenz (surveyor), Brian D. Kharpran Daly (), Peter Ludwig, Polchung "Chung" Kipgen, Roshan Yengkhom (medical assistant, Indian Navy), Bishnoi Prakash (Leading Seaman, Indian Navy), and Henry Rockcliff (analphabetic dislexist, Sheffield University Speleological Society) attempted to push the wet crawl but found it too small in size, resurveyed the northern part of the cave, and found the southern part far too spidery (note 1).According to Brooks, S J et al. (2009 Mss "Diary 2009.doc" Wednesday 4th February), they had »… walked down the slope to look for the mysterious Um The [sic!], of which the survey had been commenced already in 1999. The Shaktiman track supposedly leading down [from the village of Tangnoob] to the village of Umthe turned out to end shortly after the Krem Bam Masi turn off. A couple of local woodcutters showed the team the ancient footpath down to the plains. They found a cave near a new coal mining camp, which turned out to be the known shrine Um The (also Spiri Gufa, Puja Cave). They "surveyed" 54.18 m with the latest technology, and found the ongoing cave unpleasantly low and wet on one end and filled with thousands of spiders on the other. Then, they started for a very long hike along the valley to meet the car. On their way, they followed one of the streambeds up to a dam but found no resurgence« (. 2009.02.09: Brian D. Kharpran Daly, Louise Korsgaard, Bishnoi Prakash, and Medical Assistant Roshan Yengkhom »… went to find Umthe. They did find a cave [i.e. Krem –>Umthe, Umlyngdkhur 2] about 10 minutes above the temple cave, Spiri Gufa. They surveyed 123 m and it is still ongoing. The cave has two entrances and fits the discription [sic! qua: unscription? description?] in 'the book'. It most probably is Umthe.« (Brooks, S J et al. 2009 Mss "Diary 2009.doc" Monday 9th February).
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | UMTHE, Umlyngdkhur 2b (Krem) | ||
| 0.1 | UMTHE, Umlyngdkhur, 2a (Krem) | ||
| 0.3 | UMTHE, Umlyngdkhur 2c (Krem) | ||
| 0.3 | UMTHE, Umlyngdkhur 2d (Krem) | ||
| 0.3 | KHONGRENG (Wing Pala 2009) (Krem) | ||
| 0.6 | AA CAVE, Tangnub 08 | ||
| 0.7 | QUIET BIRD CAVE (aa -) | ||
| 0.7 | AA CAVE, Tangnub 04 | ||
| 0.7 | AA CAVE, Tangnub 06 |