Thlen, Pomdaloi (The hole) [Thliew U]
25.295500,91.678600
Location
SITUATION: About 15 m on foot south-west from the road connecting Sohra (Cherrapunjee, along the road approximately 12 km away) with Mawsahew, and only 350 m before reaching the T-junction at the eastern rim of Laitduh / Pomdaloi village. Clearly visible -- if looking out for it -- stands an octagonal -ring- of mortared masonry (about 1 m high, 1.2 m across and reminiscent of a basket -plaited- from tiles) which rises from a barren sandstone floor in the wide open country overlooking the deeply entrenched canyon of the Umpynjingthuli below the Dain Thlen waterfall. There is a low cairn covered with two slabs of rock (scarcely visible from the road) about 15 m to 115° from the -well- and some 20 m on a bearing of 050° and on the opposite (north-eastern side of the road, an inconpicuous and shallow man-made mound (6 m in square, 0.8 m high, embraced with -dry masonry- (without mortar) now veiled under a cover of grass and soil). This looks as if it once had been the plinth of a monument. The rock Dain Thlen (-cutting [up of] Thlen-) lies about halfway between the hole and the cairn. This -rock-, however, is not a boulder (as GURDON 1906: 176 implies) but a structured section of the exposed sand floor featuring an about 2 m long garland of consecutive parallel -cut marks-, each about 10 cm long, pinching in at their ends and a couple of centimetres deep: Tiny karren in a small band of arenaceous limestone.
Description
Various descriptions
One of the smallest of the known potholes of Meghalaya and, for that matter, of the entire Indian Subcontinent, consists of a cute little, calf deep hole, which, associated with the legend U Thlen, is a unique site in the Khasi folklore. CAVE DESCRIPTION: The famous hole (in Khasi: thliew) opens as a 22 cm by 27 cm wide pothole that drops unspectacularly 32 cm down into the bell shaped entrance shaft and onto a pitch base with a level soil and sand floor. At a closer look, the subterranean space is large enough to house a caver's entire head under the preconditio that no helmet is worn. TACKLE: No equipment is required to explore the pitch -- with the possible exception of reverse binoculars or an endoscope. CAVE POTENTIAL: Little doubt remains that the chance to discover penetrable but unexplored cave passages in this pothole are desolate but the spot where the serpent was pulled out is still preserved (DIRECTOR OF TOURISM s.a. circa 2006). CULTURAL HISTORY - snake cave legend: When the Thlen had been killed, … the people held a council to consider how to dispose of the body of the Thlen, and it was decided that to make their triumph complete it was better to prepare a feast and to eat the body of U Thlen, so the carcass was dragged out of the cave and was divided on a flat rock into two portions. One portion was given to the people of the plains from the East, to be cooked after their manner, the other was given to the Khasis from the hills and the West to be cooked after their manner. The marks of the axe are said to be seen on the rock o this day, and the place is called Dain Thlen (the cutting of the Thlen). The hole which was bored by U Suidnoh in the top of the cave is also said to be visible to this day (RAFY 1920 edited 1985: 65).
Documents
Bibliography 06/01/2018Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.4 | MIH THLONG (Krem) | ||
| 0.5 | THLEN, Pomdaloi -- the cave (Krem U) | ||
| 0.5 | DAIN THLEN 2 (Krem) | ||
| 0.6 | DAIN THLEN (Krem) | ||
| 1.4 | THLEN, Rangjirteh (Krem U) | ||
| 3.0 | AA Cave, Sohra (Sud Gatphoh and Patra 2000) | ||
| 4.9 | RANG KATHEI (Krem U) | ||
| 5.0 | LUMSHYNNA CAVE | ||
| 5.1 | HAIDROM (Krem) |