GUPTESHWAR CAVE, Kusma
28.216700,83.675000
Description
A west to north-west facing cave entrance, walled-up with a portal leaving an about 1.2 m wide and 2 m high door, gives access to a natural temple cave, which is only slightly modified by man and basically consists of a single, about 183 m (COWARD 1971a) and 148 m (LISIECKI 1986: 47) or 110 m (personal survey 1990.03.27) long stream cave passage with some overlaying cave passages at a higher level --all exclusively formed in an apparently fluvially deposited conglomerate of probably Palaeocene age (note 1). The sacred cave is characterised by a generous helping of calcite formations (speleothems) of which several are interpreted to represent Hindu goddesses and gods whilst the largest and most priminent secondary calcite deposit is regarded as an uniconic representation of the subterraneously Hidden Lord. ETYMOLOGY: Little doubt remains that the reported cave names »Gupteswary Cave« (COWARD 1971d: 63-66; PAVEY 1976: 9 no. 16; WALTHAM, Jane M 1971a: 17) and »Gupteswary Guffa« (LISIECKI 1986: 49-50) derive from the compound Sanskrit noun "gupteshwar" composed of "gupta" (hidden, secreted away, secret) and "ishwara" (god, lord), a term commonly applied to caves and sacred sites with a stalagmite (standing speleothem), which Hindus identify as a lingam (phallus shaped, aniconic representation of the male Lord Shiva) that is hidden underground and, in cases, recognised as "swayambu" (self-arisen) or, if you prefer, of natural origin. SITUATION: At an estimated walking distance of about 1000 m approximately west of Kusma (note 2), a small town about 30 kilometres as the crow flies east of Pokhara (N28°14': E083°59'), and right in the centre of Parbat district, the southernmost district of Dhaulagiri zone in Western Nepal region. The village of Kusma is perched on a river terrace on the interfluve between the Modi Khola and Kali Gandaki rivers, which confluence a short distance downstream. In March 1990 a nicely laid path paved with slabs of rock led from the village centre for an estimated walking distance of about 300 m to the sacred site at an elevation of about 1000 m asl (note 3), where one finds not only a Hindu shrine and a couple of secondary religious buildings, but also a daylight-lit, inhabitable rock shelter with an artificially levelled floor, complete with a proper saddhu for the tourist season in addition to a perenniel holy source of karst water. Adjacent to a comfortable rock shelter, which has been modified for pious troglodyte purposes (ideal for devotees admiring much frequented road-side hermits), an artificially improved gateway to the cave opens in the side of one of the dry gullies, which serrate the Kusma terrace above the Kali Gandaki valley about 300 vertical metres below. LISIECKI (1986: 49) found the cave entrance »z Kusmy w 15 minut dochodzi sie do zagospodarowanego otwuru, przed ktorym mieszka swiety mnich. Jaskinia jest uzwana za swieta, wiec przed wejsciem zostawiamy obuwie.« CAVE DESCRIPTION: Gupteshwar cave is characterised by a surprising amount of secondary calcite formations (speleothems) and two cave levels 3 m to 10 m above each other and mostly separated only by a false floor. The entrance chamber (on average 7 m wide, 10 m high, 12 m long) is decorated not only with calcite masses but also with man-made sculptures (carved from allochthonous rocks). The easily accessible part of the cave is paved with Palaeozoic ripple marked quartzite slabs for the convenience of the barefoot visitor (note 4). At the end of Entrance Chamber, just out of the daylight, a climb to the upper level leads to a small chamber entirely covered in white flowstone. A difficult traverse along a false floor continues and finally joins the upper chambers further in. The bottom level, however, is easier to visit. Here, in the back of Entrance Chamber, a continuous series of gour pools, down which pours the stream that finally flows out of the entrance, leads by a one to 1.5 m wide gallery to the pilgrim visitor's goal: a cluster of up to 7 m high stalactites in the Mandapam (=Temple Chamber, 5 m wide and high, 30 m long). The cave apparently ends in Mandapam, but sometimes a notched, mouldy and slippery piece of wood aids climbing to an inconspicuous rift passage 2 m above the floor, which gives access to a relatively low and somewhat dirty, but still richly decorated innermost chamber. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1971a: »At Kusma is Gupteswary Cave which is 600 feet [182.9 m] long formed entirely in conglomerate. It is a well known Hindu shrine, and was found to have a well decrated stream passage leading [upstream] to a chamber containing some large stalagmites. The largest stalagmite was called ”The Shrine" and many devote Hindus visit the cave and come to this chamber on pilgrimages. A small passage leads of from the back of the chamber for two hundred feet to the end which was blocked with breakdown« (COWARD 1971a: 33 photograph showing "Formations in Gupteswary Cave, Nepal" and page 35). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1971b: »Gupteswary cave, which is a well known Hindu shrine, is located near the town. The cave was found to be about 600 feet [183 m long] and formed entirely in conglomerate. It carries a small stream, and the cave is well decorated with rimstone pools to a chamber containing several large stalagmites [speleothems]. The largest stalagmite, about 20 feet [6.10 m] high, was called the 'Shrine', and many devote Hindus visit the cave and come to this chamber on pilgrimages« (COWARD 1971c: 69). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1971c: »The cave is a resurgence discharging a small stream (about 10 galls/min [0.63 ltr/sec] on November 8th 1970). It is developed in two main levels -- an active streamway, and along most of the cave, an abandoned higher level, generally 10-30 feet [about 3 to 9 m] above the stream. A few feet from the entrance, a edge leads up to a small chamber, containing some fine [calcite] formations. A difficult traverso continues in the roof for about 100 feet [30.5 m] to more decorated chambers conaining a number of bats, though it is easier to walk along the streamway. One hundred feet [30.5 m] from the entrance, a number of rimstone pools [gour dams] are developed across the passage. The first ten of these are about three feet [0.9 m] wide and six inches [15 cm] high, but are followed by a series with each one up to four feet [1.22 m] high. Several pebbles, mostly about one inch [2.54 cm] across, which must have fallen from the conglomerate roof and walls, are cemented in the rimstone dams. The streamway continuos up to the Temple Chamber. A steep scree slope leads up to a group of stalagmites, the largest of which is almost 20 feet [6.1 m] and is known to the pilgrim visitors as the shrine. At the end of Temple Chamber, the passage closes down but a small crawlway about six feet [1.8 m] above the floor leads to a tight canyon passage and further on to a boulder strewn chamber. The water emerges from an impassable boulder choke, but a short passage leads back to the Top Chamber. This chamber contains a few formations, although the floor is generally of mud and breakdown; a few bats were also observed here« (COWARD 1971e: 63). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1985: »Przez zamykany wybetonowany otwór 1,2m x 2m wchodzimy do korytarza o dlugosci 60m / SE /, wysokosci do 8 m. Dnem pod plytami z lupka plynie potok. Docieramy do 5m progu, a dalej po stopniach do sali 15m x 15m, wysokosci 10m, z zawaliskiem na srodku i stalagmitem /wys. 6m, srednicy 3m/ w knocu sali. Po 10m otwiera sie kolejna sala 7 x 8m, wysokosci 5m. Przy pomocy drewnianej belki dostajemy sie na prog /2m/, spod ktorego wyplywa strumien. Nastepnie ciasny korytarz doprowadza nad studnie 2,5m/, zaslanej glazami. Z sali przez prosek, po 6m osiagamy koniec. Jaskinia bogata w szate naciekowa« (LISIECKI 1986: 49). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2011: »Another cave [no name mentioned] (+12 m and 160 / 180 m long) at Khusma Bazar is a Hindu shrine of minor speleological relevance« (note 5). CAVE SURVEY: Two published cave plans are found in WALTHAM (1970: 65 figure 12 with section projected to circa 030° or about NE) and LISIECKI (1986: 51) whilst a third, unpublished sketch is in my notebooks. A strange phenomenon is the decreasing length of the cave: In 1971 the 'British Karst Research Expedition to the Himalaya' surveyed 183 m (COWARD 1971c: 69) of passage while the Polish team in 1985 found it to be 148 m long. When I myself spent in march 1990 an hour in the cave, i found with the help of a topofil that the length had shrivelled in the meantime to mere 110 m of passage length but when comparing the three cave plans, the shape of the cave has changed only a little (note 6). KARSTOLOGY: A relatively small rivulet flows from the cave, which discharged during the dry season an estimated 10 gallons per minute (note 7) on 8th November 1970 (COWARD 1971d:63) and less than 0.25 ltr/sec in early October 1990 (personal observation). During the monsoon (rainy season), however, a larger amount of water and considerable flash floods (spates) can be expected to rush through the cave. The cave has probably formed in the vadose zone due to subterranean water dissolving predominantly carbonate cementation from the porous boulder clays. Subsequent mechanical removal by flooding helped and still helps clearing the underground water course. Observations of rhythmically deposited and resolved calcite formations has been ascribed to long term climate changes (Coward 1971d: 63-65) and might be influenced as well by short term climate changes due to differential recharge of depositing versus dissolving percolation water either caught laterally or otherwise from the CO2 enriching vegetation and soil cover above. COWARD (1971d: 66) relates to overall cooling of the recent climate, or cultivation of the terrace above the cave as possible causes for the obvious current re-juvenation of solution processes (note 8). CAVE CLIMATE: Air temperature in "Temple Chamber" was 15°C on 8th November 1970 (COWARD 1971e: 64). CAVE LIFE: Members of the »British Karst Research Expedition to the Himalaya« saw some bats (Chiroptera) in the late spring of 1979 but visiting the cave in October 1989 i saw none.
NOTE 1: The cave is formed in conglomerate river terrace deposits resting on Palaeocene bed rock (WALTHAM, A C 1971a; COWARD 1971d: 63). The boulder clay's grain size ranges from extremely fine glacial detritus to well-rounded, rolled pebbles larger than half a metre in diameter. One analysed sample collected from the cave bearing boulder clay, was structurally and chemically investigated (COWARD 1971d: 63-64). It gave a porosity of 32% and a vertical permeability of 120 litres per square metre each day, a magnitude considerably larger than the primary permeability of typical cave bearing limestone (0.00005 ltr/d/m2). The sample showed 27 % by weight to be acid soluble (mainly calcium carbonate), 36% siliceous cemented sandstone, 18% phyllite, 1% quartz and 18% fines (including mica, quartz and clay minerals) of less than 1 mm in diameter. NOTE 2: Kusma N28°12': 83°39' (unspecified geodetic datum probably Everest 1830, COWARD 1971e: 63) is positioned as »Kusma« near N28°14': E083°41' (nima.mil/geonames, accessed 16.11.2003) and indicated again as »Kusma« near N28°13'00”: E083°40'50” : 1025 m asl on the Central Service Map no. 44 Parbat (1989) but as »Kushma« in the India Road Atlas, Eicher Goodearth (2006: 24 D2). Marcel Duchene (2011.07.13 personal correspondence) tells me that (Kushma Bazar is a fairly large town which lies about 30 km in a direct line west or 57 km along the the road from Pokhara to Beni (N28°20'30”: E083°38'18”): »Kushma Bazar est une ville assez grande située sur la route qui va de Pokhara à Béni, à 30 Kms à l'ouest de Pokhara en ligne droite (à 57 kms par la route).« NOTE 3: COWARD (1971d: 63) attributes an altitude of 700 m asl to the cave but this is the height of nearby confluence of the Modi Khola (± 250 m N28°12'00”: E083°40'15”: 700 m asl) and Kali Gandaki and about 300 vertical metres below the Gupteshwar Gupha and the village of Kusma. NOTE 4: »No Native … keeps his shoes on when he enters a room, unless he intends disrespect« (ROBERTS 1897 edited 1898: Forty-one years in India.- chapter 11 note 8). NOTE 5: »Une autre grotte de +12m et longue de 160/180 m existe à Khusma Bazar , c'est un sanctuaire indouhiste, mais qui n'a que très peu d'intérêt spéléologique« (Duchene, Maurice 2011.07.13 personal correspondence: Re: Gupteshor Cave, Khusma Bazar). NOTE 6: Personally I am tempted to deduct from the fast shrinking of the Gupteshwar Cave (COWARD 1971) that 1st) caves in remote corners of the world appear to shrink fast but proportional. and 2nd) that the degree of cave shrinkage is a function of time. Only repeated surveying will allow a better understanding of the shrinkage rate. NOTE 7: It is difficult to decide if the Canadian »10 gall / min« (COWARD 1971d:63) are 10 British gallons (45.5 litres / second) resulting in 0.76 litres / second or to 10 US gallons (38 litres) resulting in 0.63 litres / second). NOTE 8: Cultivation certainly does not enrich biological diversity and the recent climate in Kali Gandaki area is known to be warming up since the 14th to 17th century "little ice age" (SCHMID, B 1993: Dendrological Research in South Mustang.- Ancient Nepal (Katmandu), June-January 1992-93, no. 130: 20-33). NOTE 9: Christian Parma kindly forwarded a photocopy of Janusz Lisiecki's report in "Wiercica: Biuletyu Speleoklubu Warzawskiego" nr. 53 (1986) and cared not only to make the original name of cave plan's author illegible but also to overwrite the blackened name with »Christian Parma«
Documents
Bibliography 15/07/2016History
EXPLORATION HISTORY: 1969: "His Royal Highness" (overweight) King Birhendra of Nepal, visited the Hindu shrine (WALTHAM, Jane M. 1971a: 17). 1970.11.08: Julian M. H. Coward, Mary J. Coward and Roger J. Bowser visited »Gupteshwary Cave« on 8th November (COWARD 1971e: 63) or »late in the season« (COWARD 1971c: 69), photographed and mapped: »Tony and Jan, and later Rog, Julian and Mary, all walked out [from Tukche] via Beni and Kusma in order to visit the well known Gupteswary Cave, a Hindu shrine …« (WALTHAM, J. M. 1971a in: WALTHAM, A. C. 1971: 17). 1985.03.13: Christian Parma (note 9), Janusz Lisieki and Stanislaw Miskowiec visited, explored and surveyed (topofil & compass) the cave: »Pomiar wykonal w dniu marca 1985 roku zespol: Janusz Lisieki, Stanislaw Miskowiec, Christian Parma. Poslugiwano sie topofilem Vulcain« (LISIECKI, J. 1986: 49-50). 1990.03.27: H. D. Gebauer visited and mapped (topofil, compass & clino) 110 m of cave survey length, photographed a bit, and eventually shared "biskitts" and a cup of chai or two with resident saddhu, and chatting about the mythologically known seven underground Hindu worlds and, of course, about Lord Shiva's favourite vegetables (ganja, datura).
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.4 | ALOPE GUFA | ||
| 1.8 | Gupteshwar Gupha | ||
| 2.1 | BHOOME GUFA | ||
| 3.1 | NAYAPOOL SHELTER (aa -) | ||
| 4.6 | ALAPESHOR GUFA | ||
| 4.6 | KALIDAHA | ||
| 8.5 | KANYAGAR CAVE (Caves near) | ||
| 12.7 | ANDHI KHOLA (Cave in the) | ||
| 13.0 | Myagdi Shelter |