KHRIANG (Krem)

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 30/03/2016

A south facing, triangular shaped cave entrance in limestone, up to 1.8 m high and 6 m wide, is obliterated behind the culvert of the road that passes in front of the cave entrance, and is said to give access to a solitary cave passage, about 1 m high and 1.5 m wide, which runs parallel to the road following the east-west aligned base of the hillside. Some 5 m into the cave entrance and still in the twilight zone, there is a »sump« or wet spot (beware of water) can easily be bypassed. The following cave passage is surveyed up to a length of 60 m, after a further crawl of about 30 m another »sump« can be reached, beyond which the seasonally active cave passage continues unexplored. A few metres short of the second sump, daylight from above can be seen entering a relatively small hole of unknown size. ETYMOLOGY: The Khasi "khriang" (noun) has been translated by »a rapid; a shallow current [of water]« (SINGH, N 1906: 35); »a torrent« (SINGH, N 1920: 533).SITUATION: About 500 m east of Nongjri Bazar, about one third of the way to Krem –>Lymput, and at a place where a sandstone caprock dips by about 45° south-east.