SAKA DRIPHUG

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A cave called Sakya Driphug, complete with a dark zone and haunted by a particularly evil demon, is said (Shungru Karma in JEST 1985 edited 1993: 96-97) to be situated somewhere on the main trail from a place called Changthang (note 1) in Dolpa (Dolpo, Dölpo) to Lhasa in Tibet. CULTURAL HISTORY - cave legend: The story teller Shungru Karma (in: JEST 1993: 96-97) narrates how a hungry elderly couple who, in bad weather, took refuge in Saka Driphug, when a caravan of traders arrived. The old ones hid themselves in the back of the cave and the traders started a fire and prepared a meal. The elderly couple was crafty: First she got undressed and he drew with charcoal a face on her buttocks. Then she moved backwards on all fours towards the cave entrance. The first attendant who saw her backside emerging from the dark, panicked and everyone fled, leaving the old people something to eat and a fire to warm themselves by. Later the traders reported: The demon of Sakya Driphug has a rounded fiure, black eyes like charcoal, and instead of having a human mouth, it has a vertical slit.ure, black eyes like charcoal, and instead of having a human mouth, it has a vertical slit.