Mahendra Gufa (Cave)

My sister is a Ghostess of the Cave

You know what I like about Mahendra Cave the most, especially in Summer, the chill you feel as you enter the cave due to continuously dripping water. :D

Driving across the K I Singh pul (bridge), at the top end of the Pokhara, heading north past the Gurkha Camp, turning right up to a paved road 600 m beyond the bridge and following it for about 3 km to the end. Literally, end, if you walk further you will hit nose against gigantic hills that surround the Pokhara Valley.

There were not many tourists on that day. We visited very early as a next stop and final stop from Bindyabashini temple. Bought a ticket, I don't remember the ticket fare, could be Rs 25. It was a springtime and greenery greeted as I entered the cave vicinity. Warm weather, bright sky, cool breeze and shade of tall trees. Heaven on earth. Trees really excite me but "Hariyo Ban Nepal ko Dhan" (‘Green forests are Nepal‘s wealth’), an age old adage in Nepal, alarms me concerning the loss of rich bio-diverse resources every day, all in the name of development. 

Anyway, there on the right end of the botanical garden was stone laid stairs that take you down to the cave. It is as if I am walking into the wide-opened mouth of some mammoth, the only missings are tusks and grinding teeth, if you know what I mean.   
This limestone and honeycomb kinda cave's corridors are dark with occasional punctuation of installed lights that sparkled the rocks and also tricked eyes. I easily tripped the entire time plus continuously dripping water overhead added merry to the falling. I don't think I walked all the 2 km inside the cave but managed to reach Shiva altar. The atmosphere was mysterious, away from hustle bustle. I sat on a big rock, turned on my mobile phone light and looked at rock formations carefully, one by one, wondering how must they have formed. After that, I took lots of photos of them and stone shrines.

Stone offerings.

I read, Mahendra cave used to be well-known for its limestone stalactites, but these have unfortunately been ransacked by vandals, and few surviving stalagmites are daubed with red sindur or vermilion powder and revered as Shiva Lingam because of the resemblances to phalluses. 

After spending good amount of time in there, I happily departed from  Pokhara the same afternoon.

And of course how can I forget, The name Mahendra Cave is named after our Late King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev and place is Batulechaur, at the northern end of the Pokhara city.

Location: Batule Chaur
Getting there: Bus from Prithivi Chowk