DHUNGE SANGU

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 15/07/2016

The Dhunge Sangu or Dungesangu (Gorkhali / Nepali: stone bridge, rock bridge), also called Bhimada or Bhim Bandha, is a natural bridge or arch, which, overgrown with grass (1980ies) and carrying a footpath, spans the gorge of the Seti Gandaki and forms a daylight-lit tunnel cave up to approximately 8 m wide, 20 m high, and 15 m long. VAIDYA (1983: 13) has »Dhunge Sangu … with a length of about 10 feet« (3 m) but this is rather the smallest width of the footpath than the span of the natural bridge. The bridge came into being after the right (western) wall of the Seti Gorge (here about 40 m to 50 m vertically deep) was undercut by lateral erosion and the subsequent gravitative failure caused a huge slab to scale off as a whole and to lean against the opposite wall of the gorge, sagging less than two vertical metres. SITUATION: At the downstream end of the Seti Gorge and near the village of Dhungesangu (Dungesangu), about 23 km along the road south-east of Pokhara. DESCRIPTION 1969: Not seen: GURUNG, H B (1969) is said to mention »… "large scale slips and cracks along the river banks which sometimes coalesce to make the Seti a subterranean river". He also writes of a natural bridge near Mahadgauda« (Christopher M Smart in: DURRANT et al. 1979: 22). CULTURAL HISTORY - cave legend: VAIDYA (1983: 20-22): Bhimsen (Bhim), strongest of the Pandava brothers of Mahabharata fame, gave »a mighty kick at the stony mountains, with such a force that the developed cracks and fissures, and the waters of the [legendary Pokhara] lake flowed out forming dry land of Pokhara and Seti river cut its way out forcing a gorge with a natural bridge. So, the name Bhimada or Bhim Bandha or the barrier or dam of Bhimsen, which has so long acted as a dam. […] Others say that Bhimsen … happened to come once to Pokhara region in his campaign of victory when king Udhistira performed Aswamedha sacrifice, and during that Journey he had broken down the mountain which dammed the river Seti. See Magazine Pranaya, No. 3, Jestha-Sravan 2036, Article Kaski - Pokhara by Jagman Gurung, page 8.« KNOWLES & ALLARDICE (1992: 122), a guidebook for rafting and kayaking, claims »the [Seti] river emerges from out of a dark cavern into the wide valley.« Compare –>Kotre Sink.