MAHENDRA GUFA

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

Twentyfive (25) semicircular steps lead down into collapse doline which descends 7 m down to the north-facing official cave entrance (about 5 m wide and 2 m high) of a much trampled horizontal cave formed beneath the coarse facies of the calcareous Pokhara conglomerate. The most easiest accessible part of the cave, which is characterised by soot coated stalactites, electric illumination and, of course, a shiva lingam, represents the most famous and only secular show cave of Nepal (note 1). An inconveniently low belly crawl across piled-up fallen masses of rock give access to the wild parts of the cave (note 2), which contains not only the absence of self-styled guides, immaculately dressed businessmen with briefcases and umbrellas (note 3) along with sari-clad housewifes, but also the presence of only little-soiled secondary calcite deposits (speleothems, including botryoidal -cauliflower- formations) in addition to live bats (Chiroptera) along with their bat guano (note 4) and associted fauna (Arachnidae: Sparassids, Linyphiids, Salticiids, Pholcids; Collembola; Thysanura; Isopoda, snails, worms, etc.). ETYMOLOGY: The cave is called Mahendra (note 5) in honour of King Mahendra (1920.06.11 - 1972.01.31, reigning from 13th March 1955 to 31st January 1972). So far, I saw the name of this cave called or spelled, edited or printed (chronologically sorted) as Mahandra Guffa Gebauer, H D in: GEBAUER & ABELE (1983: 82 cave plan)Mahendra Cave ADHIKARI, H (2008: 45; 2011: 16); FINSTERWALDER (1993 Annapurna 1: 100'000); GAUTAM et al. (2000: 100); PHUYAL & DHOUBADEL (2006); WASTI & ACHARYA (2011: 331) Mahendra Gupha BOSE (1972, 1976, 1979: 25, 162); DURRANT et al (1979: 23.3, 23.6-23.7, 24); GEBAUER & ABELE (1983: 81) Jeskyna Maendaeri LUDVIK (2000) ? DOBRORUKA (1979) ? DUNKLEY & PAVEY (1976) ? MAURIES (1983b) ? MUNTHE at al. (1975) ? PAVEY (1976a, 1976b) no. 18 ? PHUYAL (2007) ? PHUYAL & DHOUBADEL (2006: 35) ? PRICE (1998) ? SHARMA (1976) ? THORNE (1980) ? WALTHAM (1976g)? WILSON (1977a, 1977b) SITUATION: Mahendra Cave is indicated near (±250 m) N28°16'20”: E083°58'50” (Finsterwalder 1993 Annapurna 1: 100'000) on the northern rim of the village of Batulechaur (note 6) or Pokhara 16 (PHUYAL & DHOUBADEL 2006: 35) and lies above the eastern (orographically left) bank of the Seti Khola and a few kilometres approximately north of the Mahendrapool in what had been in the 1980ies the town centre of Pokhara. POSITIONS: EPE Lat. North Long. E alt. source ±250 28°16'20” 83°58'50” 975 (±25) FINSTERWALDER (1993: Annapurna 1: 100'000) 28°16'3” 83°58'36” ADHIKARI (2008: 45); WASTI & ACHARYA (2011: 332 site 1) ±5 28°16’03.3” 83°58’25.6” 962 and 3126 feet (unidentified geodetic datum, GPS Garmin Vista, ADHIKARI, H 2011: 16). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1972: There is also a limestone cave named Mahendra Gupha where one notes a long tunnel-like cave below paddy and and maize fields (BOSE 1972 edited 1976, 1979: 25, 162). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1976: Altitude about 1100m, passage length about 200 m. … access to Mahendra Gupha has been made easier by the enlargement of the entrance, steps down into the cave and a levelled walk-way inside. Around the middle of 1976 a concrete-lined trench was built around the entrance dolina to channel the water away; guarding the entrance is an unoccupied ticket office, now used as a lavatory. … a shelter was built on the hill above the main cave entrance, but unfortunately this has partially collapsed into the cave (Pagoda dolina). The collapse is above a major bat roost within the cave but as there is no draught [air current] and the bats do not emerge from this possible exit, it seems that a new entrance was not created by the collapse (Wilson, Jane M in: DURRANT et al. 1979: 23.6). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1980 (Gebauer 1980): In the back of the cave warden's watching cabin, 25 semicircular steps descend to the electrically illuminated main passage which roughly runs for 100 m from north to south with a trapeze shaped ross section, measuring in the average 5 m in width and 3 m in height. At about 20 m from the cave entrance, one passes the first lingam (stalagmite speleothem). Another 20 m further on, a short ascending side passage branches off to the left and leads to a second cave entrance amongst and below collapse boulders. The main passage below continues but narrows for a short distance to open again into the voluminous main chamber of Mahendra Gufa. Here, the ceiling is entirely covered behind a perched carpet of short, straw-type stalactites (speleothems). They are obviously nurtured by calcite depositing waters, which rather oozes through the spongy textured conglomerate than percolates through definite fissures in the flat ceiling. Stalagmite boss Nr 2, again stout and short, has the same function like most of his famous and/or anonymious collegues and lingers leisurly around on the western side of main chamber. The main passage continues for a couple decametres and eventually leads to a ile of breakdown, effectively hidden in the shade of the last ugly lamp. People like to spin the yarn of a some lost passage which is supposed to connect with Mahendra-Gufa-B, about a kilometer further east. The legendary passage became unpassable due to a fabulous earthquake, which was said to have happened just a few years ago all through the decades I came around between 1969 to 1993.Some 5 m north east of the second stalagmite, a low slot below the ceiling and at the base of the western wall leads to the hidden side passage. Having passed a low but broad lateral chamber, a 15 m long crawl gives the chance to getting rid of impromptu cave guides. As soon as their shrieks of fear and danger cease to be heard, one stands in a loftier tributary passage formed in dangerously unstable and fine grained conglomerate. There are no secondary calcite formationes around here and the breakdown piles are fresh and young and of very fragile structure. Here, the -rock- is durable to a degree alloing to crumble it between bare fingers. On the surface above this breakdown area, about 100 m west of the main cave entrance, a hole at the side of the road to Oderibuwan Gufa developed within three years from a fist sized opening in 1979 to a metre deep sinkhole in 1982. by 1990, however, counter-caving forces had cared to see this eagerly developing third cave entrance to Mahendra Gufa almost filled in with debris and faeces spiced rubbish. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1979: The site has been developed as, well, not exactly a show cave, but still a tourist attraction. Accompanied by a guide from a local trekking agency, I was shown around the easily accessible parts of the cave by a six-year-old, barefooted Nepalese kid with a candle. He assured me he was a -Good cave guide, cave guide, Sahib, good guide, one rupee, 'ello, 'ello ?- Unfortunately as soon as the passage lowered from its customary 3 m by 3 m square section, the rest of my party mutinied with cries of -Much danger, much danger- and I was then limited to seeing what I cared to, solo. Points of note were the guano scattered around the cave, the candle smoke graffiti on the walls, and the air temperature underground. The place was quite hot and sticky, something possibly attributable to the cave's proximity to the surface (THORNE 1980). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2000: The Mahendra and Gupteshwar caves [compare –>Gupteshwar Cave, Kaski], which are regularly visited by tourists and therefore represent sites prone to hazard related to possible failures of certain parts [note 7], are developed within the Phewa Formation (Koirala et al. 1996) (GAUTAM et al. 2000: 100). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2006: Mahendra Cave (Pokhara 16) Accessible cave roost, situated by motor road, world-famous for cave adventure. The oldest recorded and most visited cave by tourists in comparison with the other caves recorded in this study. Simple and easy for caving (PHUYAL & DHOUBADEL 2006: 34 table 1 item 9). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2011: Mahendra Cave … is aso a famous tourist destination in Pokhara near the human settlement and base of the hill forest. The cave is around 200 meter long with large opening and easily accessible for moving (ADHIKARI, H 2011: 16). CULTURAL HISTORY - Human use: The badly managed show cave has deteriorated considerably within a very short time. Already in the 1980ies it was a notorious rip-off place for foreigners and an extreme example of a cave misuse. Self imposed and perfectly ignorant cave guides are outstanding experts in spoiling the visitor's mood, unless he is ready and prepared for buying kicked off bits of dirty calcite. The cave's enviroment is completely destroyed due to effective neglect of conservation combined with one of the most ugliest artificial illuminations imaginable. A flourishing lampenflora grows abundantly in the warm and moist environs of the lightsources intended to illuminate the few remnants of the cave's erstwhile beauty, which, however, is covered with soot and defaced b graffitti. PHUYAL & DHOUBADEL (2006: 35): Bat cave, Mahendra cave and Gupteshwor cave have been used as a tourism resource … Mahendra cave is found to be illuminated with 12-hour run electric bulbs, Gupteshwor cave partially lit with electric bulbs, and Bat cave only be observed with torches [read: electric torches = flash lights]. CULTURAL HISTORY - bat conservation: A bat brochure was published in Nepali language … in collaboration with Self Help Environment Awareness Camp (SHEAC), Pokhara. Brochures were distributed among people around Bat Cave [Chamere Gufa, Battulechaur], Mahendra Cave, Crazy Cave, Birendra Cave, Putli Cave, Sita Cave, Gupteshwor Cave [Gupteshwar Gupha, Chhorepatan] and Peace Cave [Shanti Gupha, Hemja 2] (PHUYAL 2007: 28). HYDROGRAPHY: … on my first dye trace between Mahendra Gupha and Chomera Odar, a distance of about 1.5 km … the flow time was less than one hour and the information was casually proffered from a passing Nepali that the stream was bright green (mart, C M in: DURRANT et al. 1979: 23.3). CAVE CLIMATE: It is possible to speculate that percolation water enters Mahendra Gupha at soil temperatures, i.e. daily temperatures 23.8°C (26.9.1976) and is cooled to 23.2°C (25.9.1976) after its passage through the cave to the downstream collapse, remaining at the temperature 23.2°C (22.9.1976) until the resurgence, Chomera Odar (Smart, C M in: DURRANT et al. 1979: 23.4). CAVE LIFE: Generally said, most of the animals collected from the caves of Nepal [Mahendra Gupha, Oderibuwan Gupha, Window Cave, Kaarr Jungle Cave] and Mussoorie [no name mentioned: Doon View Cave, Uttaranchal state, India] … seem to be troglophiles; many are attracted to underground life because of the high humidity and the abundant sources of suitable food in the form of guano (WILSON 1977b: 67). Tourists (human and bat) import food as litter and guano, micro-organisms on clothes, skin or fur as well as mud and detritus. In some places, where candle smoke blackens the rof, 1 mm to 2 mm high pin mould cover the limestone in a fine -fur-. All this imported food allows opportunist (originally surface-dwelling) organisms to invade the cave and oust the less competetive cavernicoles. More active troglobitic species retreat to nutrient-poor sections of the cave … The Troglopedetes collembola are well suited to survive … The troglobite Troglopedetes churchillatus (Wilson 1979) survives in both the trampled and virgin halves of the cave but the Pscocoptera and Thysanura (also troglobites) only inhabit the untrampled section of the cave. … Finding loach [conf. Noemacheilus] and crab [Potamon atkinsonianum] in Mahendra Gupha was surprising … (Wilson, Jane M in: DURRANT et al. 1979: 23.7). Myriapoda: MAURIES (1983b) gave a taxonomical description of the troglobiont Diplopod Camalopsidae Trachyiulus wilsonae (note 8). Chiroptera: At least in the 1970ies and 1980ies the cave was the home of a few hundred bats in the sense of mainly nocturnal mammals capable of sutained flight, with membranous wings that extend between the fingers and connecting the forelimbs to the body and the hindlimbs to the tail (note 9).1976: The four bat species {and their bat flies} noticed in September and October 1976 are the big-eared horseshoe bat Rhinolophus macrotis Blyth 1844, the greater roundleaf bat or great Himalayan leaf-nosed bat Hipposideros armiger Hodgson 1835 {Stylidia ornata}, the bicolored roundleaf bat Hipposideros bicolor gentilis {Raymondia molossa}, and the greater false vampire bat or Indian false vampire Megaderma lyra Geoffrey 1810 {Raymondia molossa} (DURRANT et al. 1979: 25 table 1: Species lists for some Himalayan caves). After several evenings observation … I abandoned my attempts to count the many bats as they flew out in the gathering dusk; most seemed to fly in and out of the cave several times before leaving for the night's hunting. There were probably well over 100 bats in Mahendra Gupha, the smaller species out-numbering the large nes by about 5: 1 … Visitors cause enough disturbance to encourage all four species of bats to roost out of sight. Only one or two can be seen roosting in the cave although they can be heard fluttering in cevices nd inaccessible passages out of the reach of the small boys who delight in maiming these delicate creatures (Wilson, Jane M in: DURRANT et al. 1979: 23.6). 2011: The bat population was believed to have … been decreased due to electric lights kept on the caves. Few individuals were observed deep inside the cave, less accessible to people to enter inside. Hipposideros armiger, Rhinolophus affinis and Rhinolophus ferrumequinum (specimen preserved in Institute of Forestry) had been recorded for the first time from this cave (ADHIKARI 2011: 16).tained flight, with membranous wings that extend between the fingers and connecting the forelimbs to the body and the hindlimbs to the tail (note 9).1976: The four bat species {and their bat flies} noticed in September and October 1976 are the big-eared horseshoe bat Rhinolophus macrotis Blyth 1844, the greater roundleaf bat or great Himalayan leaf-nosed bat Hipposideros armiger Hodgson 1835 {Stylidia ornata}, the bicolored roundleaf bat Hipposideros bicolor gentilis {Raymondia molossa}, and the greater false vampire bat or Indian false vampire Megaderma lyra Geoffrey 1810 {Raymondia molossa} (DURRANT et al. 1979: 25 table 1: Species lists for some Himalayan caves). After several evenings observation … I abandoned my attempts to count the many bats as they flew out in the gathering dusk; most seemed to fly in and out of the cave several times before leaving for the night's hunting. There were probably well over 100 bats in Mahendra Gupha, the smaller species out-numbering the large tained flight, with membranous wings that extend between the fingers and connecting the forelimbs to the body and the hindlimbs to the tail (note 9).1976: The four bat species {and their bat flies} noticed in September and October 1976 are the big-eared horseshoe bat Rhinolophus macrotis Blyth 1844, the greater roundleaf bat or great Himalayan leaf-nosed bat Hipposideros armiger Hodgson 1835 {Stylidia ornata}, the bicolored roundleaf bat Hipposideros bicolor gentilis {Raymondia molossa}, and the greater false vampire bat or Indian false vampire Megaderma lyra Geoffrey 1810 {Raymondia molossa} (DURRANT et al. 1979: 25 table 1: Species lists for some Himalayan caves). After several evenings observation … I abandoned my attempts to count the many bats as they flew out in the gathering dusk; most seemed to fly in and out of the cave several times before leaving for the night's hunting. There were probably well over 100 bats in Mahendra Gupha, the smaller species out-numbering the large nes by about 5: 1 … Visitors cause enough disturbance to encourage all four species of bats to roost out of sight. Only one or two can be seen roosting in the cave although they can be heard fluttering in cevices nd inaccessible passages out of the reach of the small boys who delight in maiming these delicate creatures (Wilson, Jane M in: DURRANT et al. 1979: 23.6). 2011: The bat population was believed to have … been decreased due to electric lights kept on the caves. Few individuals were observed deep inside the cave, less accessible to people to enter inside. Hipposideros armiger, Rhinolophus affinis and Rhinolophus ferrumequinum (specimen preserved in Institute of Forestry) had been recorded for the first time from this cave (ADHIKARI 2011: 16).