rNal 'byor Phug

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

Above the right (western) bank of Buri Gandaki (or: Budhi Gandaki) rising from the foot of Manaslu, in the Tibetan area of Nubri (Gorkha district, Gandaki zone, Western Nepal region), the sacred site, temple and meditation cave rNal.'byor Phug lies north of Rö. The place is said to have been used in the 12th century by no less a person than the great Milarepa himself. The oral tradition as told in Nubri, has it that a demoness tried: to seduce Mi.la Ras.pa unsuccessfully; instead he thrust a stone phallus into the rock in which she resided, thus exorcising her. Another version explains how they indulged in a competition of magic; the demoness extracted a huge boulder from the hillside and threw it to the opposite side of the valley, challenging him Milarepa to compete. He did so and threw a much larger one which fell in such a way as to form an overhang. This is the -Yogin's Cave- or rNal.'byor Phug which was later built up as a temple by people from Kok, from where it is still dministered to this day. … We were shown on the opposite hillside two caves which were said to have been formed by the extraction of the boulders during the magical contest; these are called –>sRin-mo Phug and –>Mi.la Phug. (ARIS 1975: 79)