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Ancient Cave Found in Dolakha
By One Eyed View | December 10, 2007
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GAURIMUDI (DOLAKHA),
What once was home to prehistoric humans has been found inside a tunnel located at the foothills of Bhirkuna area of Gaurimudi VDC, some 40 kilometers from district headquarters Charikot.Locals said that although they occasionally ventured inside while hunting for porcupines, they never knew about its origin and the expanse of the cave. Ganesh Bahadur Tamang, a local claimed that he and his hunting mates often sneaked inside the tunnel looking for porcupines. “We walked for nearly two hours inside the hole, but returned after we didn’t find the end of the tunnel,” Tamang said.
The tunnel was not known to anyone except locals of Gaurimudi village until recently. Locals also informed that the cave is some 1.5 kilometers long.
Tamang said that although the opening to the tunnel seemed narrow, his group of hunters found a wide pathway a little further from the entrance.
According to Tamang, one has to walk stooping for five minutes from the entrance to find a second narrow hole beyond which stone-built stairs are present. Thirty minutes straight from the stairs, one can find a Chautara (public resting place) along with shelter holes.
“We also found a pond nearly the size of a room after walking for five minutes below the Chautara,” Tamang said, fascinated by the finding. Tamang said that though his team didn’t venture beyond the pond, he had also heard elderly villagers talking about water spouts inside the tunnel.
Dal Bahadur Tamang, an elderly person from one of the villages stressed that his forefathers might have built the cave in prehistoric times. “The pores in the walls are built probably to let air ventilate inside the tunnel so that persons inside could easily breathe,” he said.
Local youths, who remain bemused by the tunnel’s presence right next to their homes, said that the builders had used scientific methods to dig such a burrow in the distant past. “This can really be a matter of deep investigation,” said Dabal Tamang, a local youth.
Legislator Pakhrin recalls cave escapade
CPN-UML legislator of interim parliament Shanti Pakhrin, who also hails from the same village, claims that she had once ventured inside the tunnel during her childhood. She reminisces walking through the dark tunnel while herding goats and “gaping at enigmatic places” inside the cave. Pakhrin also asserted that she would “give her best efforts to bring the place into notice.”
Article by RAJENDRA MANANDHAR
Photo By tetraconz (not cave in article)
Topics: Archaeology, Caves |
December 15th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
This is so fascinating. I love archeology. Do you know where exactly is this cave located?
December 15th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
This is located in Nepal I believe. Here’s a map http://www.maplandia.com/nepal/central/janakpur/
I’ve never been to Nepal as I’m in the U.S., but I’ve been caving many times and I often wonder “…what kind of ancient people have been here before me?”
Thanks for your interest in One Eyed View!
December 20th, 2007 at 7:38 am
Great post!
December 20th, 2007 at 8:32 am