JNANA GANGA CAVES

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 29/03/2016

A couple of caves, of which four contain ice, are situated in the neighbourhood of the Amarnath Cave proper, or, to be precise, in the valley of the Jnana Ganga and on the way to the pass and peak of Amarnath mountain. The path runs either on ice or over scree and is probably not very obvious because »no shepherds pass by this way.« SITUATION: To reach the entrances to these caves, PRANAVANANDA (1949: 176 note) recommends to get down from the Amarnath Cave and to »cross the Amravati to its left bank by an ice bridge. After proceeding for about two or three furlongs [some 400 m to 600 m], recross the Amravati by another ice bridge to its right bank and proceed up the Jnana Ganga northwards. On the way there are several caves, of which four still contain ice. One of them contains as much ice as Amarnath cave, with two or three Shivalinga-like protuberances on the mass of ice. All these caves are situated on the right side of the path while going up for a distance of 1 furlong [circa 200 m].«