DECHEN PHUG, Netham: YESHE TSOGYAL PHUG

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

The -female- Dechen Phuk is reached via a narrow ledge with a railing of prayer flags. The cave entrance (4 m wide, 1.5 m high) leads to a passage with one wall covered with a colourful and artistic inscription in Tibetan characters. Some 7 m in and just reached by the daylight is a Hindu shrine (1.5 m wide, 1.2 m high) which occupies almost the entire passage. A few metres beyond this shrine –the ceiling height diminishes constantly– a small Buddhist statue on the right-hand side is put up. About 10 m beyond the shrine, there is a shallow drop of the floor and the passage deteriorates to a 6 m long crawl leading to a mud choke. The cave's cross sections are characterised by rounded squarish profiles but a small lateral passage entertains roundish profiles. The cave floor, featuring soil near the cave entrance and mud further in, is sprinkled with offered coins to the very distal end (Uwe Scherzer 1997.05.07 Mss).