MUKTESHWAR GUPHA

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

In the far corner of a spacious, up to 15 m wide, 5 m high and 15 m long chamber, which is sacred to one Mukteshwar (Lord / God of liberation, an epithet of Shiva), issues a small running in the face of which Scherzer (1991.08.18 Mss) refrained from taking a bath because the source had the same smell as the goat - sacrifice site in the Kali temple [note 1] a kilometre further uphill. SITUATION 1996: Mukteshwar cave lies about a kilometre north-east of the Kali temple at Gangolihat (Scherzer 1991.11 Mss: Caves of the Kumaoni Hills). SITUATION 2005: A relatively long path from an unidentified starting point characterised by where the care stood close to a comparatively large and unidentified temple, leads 150 vertical metres down to the cave entrance (Breitenbach 2005.10.29 to 11.13 Mss: Tagebuch). Vertically some 170 m below Gangolihat and in an area with trees of oak (Quercus incana) (Breitenbach 2005.12.01 Mss: Bericht). APPROACH 1991: To reach the cave from the Kali temple at Gangolhat (N29°40': E080°03': 1750 m asl), one has to take the trail downhill, choose the second path off to the left and proceed some 300 m (Scherzer 1991.11 Mss: Caves of the Kumaoni Hills). APPROACH 2006: To reach the cave entrance from Gangolihat, walk down east across a flight of zigzagging steps descending into a valley of a stream which eventually joins the Ramganga (Ram Ganga) from the north-west (Breitenbach 2006.03.21 personal communication). CAVE DESCRIPTION (Scherzer 1991.11 Mss: Caves of the Kumaoni Hills): Screened by a curtain of dense vegetation (in summer 1991), the sizeable entrance (up to 10 m wide and 5 m high) leads to a single, dimly lit chamber with a calcite floor covered in mud, muck and soot, and descending from the west towards the entrance. An inlet high up in the far west has been dammed to provide a pool apparently used for ritual purposes. To push this lead, initially almost a metre large, would require delving into it's smelly brine characterized by a -arfume- strongly reminiscent of the goat slaughtering spot in the Kali temple above. The repelling odour, however, does not keep pious people from offering here decapitated flower heads along with other paraphernalia suitable for worshipping performances. Put up in the left (southern) half of the chamber are additional religious items (trishul / tridents and a dhuni or sacred fire pit) indicating Lord Shiva is worshipped here, where somebody had constructed man-made terraces fit for troglodyte hermitage dwelling. On the ceiling above these terraces, a female shaped figure was painted with soot. This seems to represent an image of the goddess Kali. In the right (northern) part of the chamber, a huge fallen boulder shelters another small pond (0.5 m square). The access passage to this pond undermining the fallen boulder is narrow and quite muddy. I was not able to find out if this pond has a special meaning. The cave is entirely developed in massive limestone rock. The altitude of the etrance is similar to the Patal –>Bhubaneshwar cave. Around Gangolihat exist more limestone boulders like the Mukteshwar one but this one is the only, which contains a cave. CULTURAL HISTORY: Breitenbach (2005.10.29 to 11.13 Mss: Tagebuch): The cave is suspected to have been made inhabitable by ancient troglodyte cave dwellers. Breitenbach (2005.12.01 Mss: Bericht) confirms that the site appears to have been considered as a temple cave.trance is similar to the Patal –>Bhubaneshwar cave. Around Gangolihat exist more limestone boulders like the Mukteshwar one but this one is the only, which contains a cave. CULTURAL HISTORY: Breitenbach (2005.10.29 to 11.13 Mss: Tagebuch): The cave is suspected to have been made inhabitable by ancient troglodyte cave dwellers. Breitenbach (2005.12.01 Mss: Bericht) confirms that the site appears to have been considered as a temple cave.