Jamal Badar (Cave of)

Histoire

CULTURAL HISTORY Cave legend: SHIRAZI (2004) narrates a story where … the Crown Prince of Persia hears about the beauty of the fairy Princess Badar Jamal - the daughter of king of Caucasus - and falls in love. The prince, after wandering and hardships, succeeds in winning the heart of Badar amal. The lake becomes the rendezvous where the lovers meet: contemplating matters of heart and their future together, hence the name. The Jinn [demon] guard of the queen of Parbat becomes jealous of their love and one day breaches the bank of the lake to drown them. But the lovers escape and find shelter in a nearby cave, which still exists. BTH - 22/01/2024

EXPLORATION HISTORY: 1854.05.21: Captain Frederick Sleigh ROBERTS (1897 edited 1898, chapter 4) and his anonymous mate F. (unidentified) marched on 21st May 1854 from Abbottabad (N34°09': E073°13') to Habibula-Ki-Ghari. Here the road bifurcates, one branch leading to Kashmir, the other to Khagan. We took the latter, and proceeded to Balakot [N34°33': E073°21'], twelve miles further on, which was then our frontier post. There we found a small guard of Frontier Police … Three days' more marching brought us to Khagan. The road almost the whole way from Balakot ran along a precipice overhanging the Nainsukh river, at that time of year a rushing torrent, owing to the melting of the snows on the higher ranges. The track was rough, steep, and in some places very narrow. We crossed and recrossed the river several times by means of snow-bridges, which, spanning the limpid, jade-coloured water, had a very pretty effect. … The people apparently did not object to our being in their counry, and treated us with much civility throughout our journey. We were enjoying ourselves immensely … Khagan was almost buried in snow. The scenery was magnificent, and became every moment more wonderful as we slowly climbed the steep ascent in front of us; range after range of snow-capped mountains disclosed themselves to our view, rising higher and higher into the air, until at last, towering above all, Nanga Parbat in all her spotless beauty was revealed to our astonished and delighted gaze. We could not get beyond Khagan. Our coolies refused to go further … We remained at Khagan for two or three days in the hope of being able to shoot an ibex, but we were disappointed; we never even saw one. We retraced our steps with considerable regret, and reached Habibula-Ki-Ghari on the 31st May without having noticed the cave of Jamal Badar. 1991: Simon J. Brooks, Jennifer 'Jenni' or 'Jenny' A. Brooks, Chris Pasteur and unacknowldged members (unidentified) of the Chiltan Adventures Assciation (Balochistan) explored and 'surveyed' (sports caver standards) to a degree yielding a number of metres. Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018