Balighat Cave

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

An obvious cave entrance, visible from far away, gives access to an about 10 m long talus cave, which is embraced by two gravitationally dislocated slabs of rock leaning against each other. Traces of much corroded secondary calcite deposits (speleothems) are visible on the ceiling SITUATION: In the village of Balighat (note 1), opposite across where the Lahur River (note 2) joins the Sarju at a travelling distance of 5 km north from Bageshwar (N29°51': E079°46'). The obvious cave entrance above the west (orographically right) bank of the Saryu is easy to reach by crossing the river upstream of Balighat via the suspension bridge and by following a trail down to the cave (Scherzer 1991.11 Mss: Caves of the Kumaoni Hills). CULTURAL HISTORY: The cave (or the village?) seems to be associated with the Sanskrit term -bali- (literally: to cut) which is 1) a certain kind of religious performance (sacrifice) staged by Hindu priests (note 3) and, on the other hand, the Vedic ruler of the undrworld, or king of demons (note 4). Scherzer (1991.11 Mss) reports the former temple cave was sacred to Shiva, and still is occasionally used by passing saddhus as a troglodyte retreat, which was slightly modified by man who had walled up numerous holes (note 5) and erected partition walls inside the sheltered area.An obvious cave entrance, visible from far away, gives access to an about 10 m long talus cave, which is embraced by two gravitationally dislocated slabs of rock leaning against each other. Traces of much corroded secondary calcite deposits (speleothems) are visible on the ceiling SITUATION: In the village of Balighat (note 1), opposite across where the Lahur River (note 2) joins the Sarju at a travelling distance of 5 km north from Bageshwar (N29°51': E079°46'). The obvious cave entrance above the west (orographically right) bank of the Saryu is easy to reach by crossing the river upstream of Balighat via the suspension bridge and by following a trail down to the cave (Scherzer 1991.11 Mss: Caves of the Kumaoni Hills). CULTURAL HISTORY: The cave (or the village?) seems to be associated with the Sanskrit term -bali- (literally: to cut) which is 1) a certain kind of religious performance (sacrifice) staged by Hindu priests (note 3) and, on the other hand, the Vedic ruler of the undAn obvious cave entrance, visible from far away, gives access to an about 10 m long talus cave, which is embraced by two gravitationally dislocated slabs of rock leaning against each other. Traces of much corroded secondary calcite deposits (speleothems) are visible on the ceiling SITUATION: In the village of Balighat (note 1), opposite across where the Lahur River (note 2) joins the Sarju at a travelling distance of 5 km north from Bageshwar (N29°51': E079°46'). The obvious cave entrance above the west (orographically right) bank of the Saryu is easy to reach by crossing the river upstream of Balighat via the suspension bridge and by following a trail down to the cave (Scherzer 1991.11 Mss: Caves of the Kumaoni Hills). CULTURAL HISTORY: The cave (or the village?) seems to be associated with the Sanskrit term -bali- (literally: to cut) which is 1) a certain kind of religious performance (sacrifice) staged by Hindu priests (note 3) and, on the other hand, the Vedic ruler of the undrworld, or king of demons (note 4). Scherzer (1991.11 Mss) reports the former temple cave was sacred to Shiva, and still is occasionally used by passing saddhus as a troglodyte retreat, which was slightly modified by man who had walled up numerous holes (note 5) and erected partition walls inside the sheltered area.