The subterranean caves are an interesting geographical feature in the Himalaya that is famous for its high snow capped peaks, rivers and valleys. These could be limestone grottoes hidden in the rocky mountains, ice caverns in the glaciers or holes created by humans in the fragile pebbled and sandy cliffs of the Trans-Himalaya.
To many Buddhist and Hindu monks, these caverns were and are meditative spaces where they lock themselves from the outside world for a specific time, ranging from a few months to many years, to attain moksha or nirvana.
At the foothills, 22km from Rishikesh, on the banks of the tranquil Ganga is the Vasisht Gufa. It is at this holy spot that one of the saptarishis, Sage Vasisht, the manas putra of Lord Brahma and the Guru of Shri Rama performed penance with his wife Arundathi. The spiritual vibrations, inside the cave are intensified by the silence that pervades and a divine altar that has a Shiva linga.
At the confluence of the Ramganga, the Sarayu and the Guptganga in the Pittorgarh District in the Kumaon Himalaya there is a natural, still active limestone cave, Patal Bhuvaneshwar, where water drips and creates the calcium salt pillars that hang from the roof, known as the stalactites and the projections that emerge from the floor of the caves, identified as stalagmites. Discovered by Raja Rituparna of the Surya Dynasty in the Treta Yuga and by the Pandavas in the Dwapara, it was rediscovered by Adi Shankaracharya in this Kaliyuga.
Mythology subjects
The various interesting limestone formations are likened to the headless form of Ganesha receiving the life giving nectar from Brahma above; the Seshnag holding the earth; the matted tresses of Lord Siva and many other mythological characters and incidents. The imposing snow capped peaks of Trishul, Maiktholi, Mrigthuni, Panwali Dhar, Nanda Devi, Panch Chuli and peaks of Nepal line the landscape.
Buddhist cave
The famous Amarnath (12,756 ft.) a rock cave in Kashmir, that houses an icy stalagmite, revered as the Lingam is open only between July and August every year.
The fascinating Ice Caves formed within the glacier bodies are found in those parts of the Himalaya where the temperature is subzero for most part of the year. They are impermanent and can change form and shape according to the weather conditions.
In the Trans Himalaya, several man made caves serve as Buddhist monasteries like the Tabo, the Ajanta of the Himalaya, overlooking the Spiti River.
Caves impart poignant scientific information about the geological activities, the sustaining plant and animal life forms and the art and lifestyle that existed eons ago, to the geologist, the Biologist, the Archaeologist and the Paleontologist.
The writers are ace photographers known for their travelogues
