PAJYARE RA KOTLA 2

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 30/04/2016

A cave passage of supposedly gravitational origin (considered »tectonic« by some), which contains secondary calcite formations (speleothems) and features an interesting acoustic phenomenon, leads to a chamber about 20 m long and 4 or 5 m wide (note 1). This item is suspected to be identical with –>Kotla Cave (Glennie 1937). ETYMOLOGY: The »First Cave 20 odd milesnorth of Arki« (HODGSON 1970b: 3) is one of the »three caves in the Souy area« (HALL 1971: 6-7) and has been recorded as »Pajyara Ra Kotla 2« not only by Conway (1971 undated, unpublished: Map) but also by CHABERT & CONWAY (1972) and Glennie (undated 1972 Mss). SITUATION: At a village of Kotla, which is said to lie about a kilometrr south of one »Darla Ghat« (ghat = ford or gad / khad = stream), which lies about 8 km in a direct line NNW of Arki (31°09'N: 76°58'E: 1045 m). CAVE DESCRIPTION: »The first cave [without recognised name, which we] visited [at an unknown place without recognised name in an area »20 odd miles north« from Arki by public bus there and back again] was tectonic in origin, running across the slope of the hillside formed by a section off land slipping down the slope [in other words: gravitational mass dislocation] leaving the passage behind … 150 feet [45.72 m] long … One climbs up and down the rift over rocks and formations [speleothems], in one place by means of a ladder, until a chamber at the end is reached 70 feet [21.3 m] long and 15 feet [4.6 m] wide. It is interesting to note that voices on the surface can be plainly heard throughout the cave though the roof is solidly cemented with calcite« (HODGSON, D 1970b: 3). CAVE POTENTIAL: Since the cave was visited by sports cavers in search of recreational adventure tourism, one can safely assume that »British Speleological Expedition to the Himalayas 1970« explorers, eqipped with inadequate lights of their time and determined to break depth records, did not even attempt to consider looking out for possible high level continuations.