MARATIKA PHUG

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

The largest and most important of the four caves (note 1) at the pilgrimage site of –>Halesi / Maratika. The cave entrance lies on the north-eastern end of the sacred cavernous hill (source of the river Maratika Chu / Mahadev Khola). The main feature of the cave are abundant, though decaying speleothems (calcite concretions, including stalactites, columns, stalagmites, draperies and disks) and a couple of dwar (note 2). Building activities, intended to ease the visit of pilgrims, covered almost everything with concrete except a few places where linga stay, stalamites thought to represent phallic manifestations of Lord Shiva. ETYMOLOGY: Mara is the Buddhist personification of that which obstructs the cultivation of virtue, often depicted with hundreds of arms. Also the god of death (LONELY PLANET, India 2005: 1109). The Tibetan cave name Maratika Phug has been translated as Cave of Immortality (note 3).CAVE DESCRIPTION 1971: Another single chamber cave further along the ridge (WALTHAM 971h). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1990: Now some qualities of this holy place [note 4]. I speak according to the vision of ordinary people so that there may be few obstacles [to understanding]. A good explanation should be accepted [even] if it comes from a child … The ground is like a lotus with eight petals. At the centre of this lotus, a rock rises up like the anthers of a flower. Since the rays of the sun and moon are distant, the temperature is moderate [keyword: cave climate]. In front, a stream of water flows down in a cascade. The centre of the holy site [is like] a huge assembly hall that has developed naturally. High and vast, it can hold a thousand people. Above, bordering the disk-like rounded door of the sky, in the hard rock, grow various kinds of trees. Inside [the cave] there can be clearly seen an incalculable number of statues of divinities, mudra of peaceful and terrible deities, seed-syllables, and divine attributes. Above all, the attributes of this great holy place are thenumerous stone linga, the bigger ones of which measure an arm span while the smaller are the size of a hand span. They have arisen by themselves, they are white and smooth and shine brightly. At auspicious times, shining drops of amrita [nectar] flow. There are many cavities, into which one can enter to test one's positive or negative karma, which represent doorways to hell and ways to paradise. … In the celestial sphere of the vast cave, bats assemble like hermits. One cannot see their forms, but one hears the sounds of their mantra of longevity that they utter continually … (BYA 'BREL RINPOCHE s.a., circa 1990: Joyous Tempura of Melodious Sound: Real Treasure of the Halesi / Maratika Caves, a Holy Place [which confers] Immortality.- in BUFFETRILLE 1994d: 58). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1992 / 1994: An impressive, recently constructed staircase takes the visitor down into the cave entrance pothole (10 by 15 m wide, 15 m deep) where a wall with two doorways, also of recent construction, conrols access. From here onwards bats and birds pee and shout on the pious visitors. Another stairway on the left climbs up to a chamber or niche (note 5) overlooking the main cave. The main cave, a spheroid chamber of roughly 20 m in diameter, is subdivided into a lower part and a higher part that is the more important one for both Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims. It can be reached by yet another recently constructed stairway. Here, in the centre of a fenced off area, rests the venerated Shiva-linga stalagmite boss. On its right, a large stone is representing the 'cover' to be put over the linga, and other calcite formations represent Brahma and Vishnu. To the right hand side further concretions can be imagined to represent Ganesh and Kumar, son of Ganga. A tripod upholds a vessel that collects the drops of 'milk' falling from one of the stalactites. Among the breakdown boulders further in the back a central block is an oracle called 'Mother', dutifully flanked by two side piecs of a son on the left and a daughter on the right. Hindus call the rock -mangakamanamata- (wish granting mother) and Buddhist Sherpas refer to it as -Ivikali- (entrails of the mother) or -gang 'dog g.yang gi ga'u- (reliquary of good fortune which grants all wishes). Here the pilgrims articulate their wishes while putting a hand into one of the holes in the rock to pull out whatever they find there. Broken rice heralds the birth of a daughter while unbroken rice indicates a son; earth is associated with a good harvest, and coins pre-announce wealth. (after SCHERZER 1992: 5 (with cave plan) and BUFFETRILLE 1994d). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2011: A small gate opens into the dark hill, its gateway coloured by the hundreds of lüngdhar strung from one end of the hill to the other … The pilgrims offer khadars and coins. As one walks further up inside the hill, over the stairs, touching the jutting rocks for blessing with their rosaries, the hill slowly opens up to the sky. … The clearing inside he rock is huge, at least a hundred people can fit in easily. The cuts on the rocks are filled with khadars and prayers. … It’s quiet, cold and dark inside the cave. All one hears is the echoing of Baza Guru from the pilgrims, who chant the prayers loudly. By the time the pilgrims are out of the cave, the money (nedar) offered is long gone. Village children pick them up as soon as they are offered. After walking out of the hill, a roughly cut staircase outside the hill leads the pilgrims to the main temple of worship. … The main cave also has a temple of Lord Shiva, visited mostly by Hindus. “Lord Shiva was the host when Guru and Mendarava were meditating here,” lam Tsampa said. History says, initially, there was a conflict between Buddhists and Hindus, each claiming that the cave was more Buddhist or Hindu.… After about four hours, the tour of the nye ends at the 31-year old Maratika Chimey Takten Choling monastery with the lighting of butter lamps. “It’s a very sacred place, which hs to be visited at least once in a lifetime,” lam Tshampa said (Sonam Pelden 2011.01.02). CULTURAL HISTORY - religious folklore: Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava and his consort Mandarava (note 6) displayed in Maratika the manner of achieving the unified vajra body (in Tibetan: rdo rje'i lus / sku) on the vidyadhara (note 7) level of life mastery. CAVE CONSERVATION: The caretaker of Chimey Takten Choling monastery, Chimi Palden, said it’s believed that one should not take anything, including stones, from the cave. “Last year, I heard a Bhutanese, who had come here, fell sick after he had taken with him a piece of the rock,” Chimi Palden said. “Only after the stone was returned to the cave, did he recover” [Sonam Pelden 2011.01.03].he rock is huge, at least a hundred people can fit in easily. The cuts on the rocks are filled with khadars and prayers. … It’s quiet, cold and dark inside the cave. All one hears is the echoing of Baza Guru from the pilgrims, who chant the prayers loudly. By the time the pilgrims are out of the cave, the money (nedar) offered is long gone. Village children pick them up as soon as they are offered. After walking out of the hill, a roughly cut staircase outside the hill leads the pilgrims to the main temple of worship. … The main cave also has a temple of Lord Shiva, visited mostly by Hindus. “Lord Shiva was the host when Guru and Mendarava were meditating here,” lam Tsampa said. History says, initially, there was a conflict between Buddhists and Hindus, each claiming that the cave was more Buddhist or Hindu.… After about four hours, the tour of the nye ends at the 31-year old Maratika Chimey Takten Choling monastery with the lighting of butter lamps. “It’s a very sacred place, which hhe rock is huge, at least a hundred people can fit in easily. The cuts on the rocks are filled with khadars and prayers. … It’s quiet, cold and dark inside the cave. All one hears is the echoing of Baza Guru from the pilgrims, who chant the prayers loudly. By the time the pilgrims are out of the cave, the money (nedar) offered is long gone. Village children pick them up as soon as they are offered. After walking out of the hill, a roughly cut staircase outside the hill leads the pilgrims to the main temple of worship. … The main cave also has a temple of Lord Shiva, visited mostly by Hindus. “Lord Shiva was the host when Guru and Mendarava were meditating here,” lam Tsampa said. History says, initially, there was a conflict between Buddhists and Hindus, each claiming that the cave was more Buddhist or Hindu.… After about four hours, the tour of the nye ends at the 31-year old Maratika Chimey Takten Choling monastery with the lighting of butter lamps. “It’s a very sacred place, which hhe rock is huge, at least a hundred people can fit in easily. The cuts on the rocks are filled with khadars and prayers. … It’s quiet, cold and dark inside the cave. All one hears is the echoing of Baza Guru from the pilgrims, who chant the prayers loudly. By the time the pilgrims are out of the cave, the money (nedar) offered is long gone. Village children pick them up as soon as they are offered. After walking out of the hill, a roughly cut staircase outside the hill leads the pilgrims to the main temple of worship. … The main cave also has a temple of Lord Shiva, visited mostly by Hindus. “Lord Shiva was the host when Guru and Mendarava were meditating here,” lam Tsampa said. History says, initially, there was a conflict between Buddhists and Hindus, each claiming that the cave was more Buddhist or Hindu.… After about four hours, the tour of the nye ends at the 31-year old Maratika Chimey Takten Choling monastery with the lighting of butter lamps. “It’s a very sacred place, which hs to be visited at least once in a lifetime,” lam Tshampa said (Sonam Pelden 2011.01.02). CULTURAL HISTORY - religious folklore: Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava and his consort Mandarava (note 6) displayed in Maratika the manner of achieving the unified vajra body (in Tibetan: rdo rje'i lus / sku) on the vidyadhara (note 7) level of life mastery. CAVE CONSERVATION: The caretaker of Chimey Takten Choling monastery, Chimi Palden, said it’s believed that one should not take anything, including stones, from the cave. “Last year, I heard a Bhutanese, who had come here, fell sick after he had taken with him a piece of the rock,” Chimi Palden said. “Only after the stone was returned to the cave, did he recover” [Sonam Pelden 2011.01.03].