City of Caves Sharjeel Ahmed Talpur
Feature carries 5Ws+1H. It main purpose is to entertain. Hence written in interesting manner. Feature is always reporting based i.e. Observation, primary data, talk with related people, can use secondary data, but first three things are most important.
A scenario paiting,
CITY OF CAVES
Pakistan is full of natural resources and as well as the natural beauty. Its every province has Valleys, Rivers, Beaches, Jungles, Mountains, Deserts, Lakes, Volcanos and many more. If we specifically talk about Balochistan, a province which has gone through very worst days, also has a lot of unseen beauty, like rock and sand mountains, mud volcanos, beaches and as well as it also has mysterious caves.
From the bridge across the Porali River outside Lasbela town, go north along N-25 (the old RCD Highway) a full 19 km. Take the road forking to the left (west) and drive 8 km to Goth Siyan where the blacktop road ends. A gravel trail goes another 2.5 km north-westward to the cave city marked as Gondrani on most maps.
A distant mountain with black holes was my first sight of the Cave City of Balochistan.
Carefully hewn into the walls of mixtureof the caves form proper dwelling places with a veranda in front that gives access to a room behind through a doorway. The rooms have windows looking through the veranda and niches for lamps. In at least one or two, remnants of in-house grain storage vats can still be found tucked into a corner. Locals know this site as Sheher-e-Roghan.
The place was pretty much deserted and, in the absence of locals, Asif was our only source of information. His version of the history of this place was fanciful, to say the least. According to him, these mountains used to be the home of demons and evil spirits who would satiate their appetite with the flesh of the locals of Gondrani. That is until Mai Gondrani, a holy lady, sacrificed her life to kill these demons and save the rest from their scourge. Now she rests in her shrine in the nearby village in Sher-e-Roghan. We listened, intrigued and mystified. This version of the story gave rise to more questions than answers: Who would have really lived here? Why did they leave? Would it before or after the Indus civilization?
Apart from his existence in history, its mysteries and myths, which are full of suspense, were the main the reason that forced me explore this site.
There are many myths and mysteries regarding this place, I was told, but three were the main and common.
1. CAVES BELONGED TO BUDDHISTS:
According to this first myth, many historians believe that these caves were built in 7th Century A.D. by the Buddhists and these caves were a part of their large Buddhist Kingdom. It is reasonable to say that this myth is considered to be somehow authentic as one of the historians Andre Wink mentioned the root of these caves with Buddhist monastery in his book “Early Medieval India and the expansion of Islam.” He mentioned that:
“In effect, at eighteen km northwest of Las Bela, at Gandakahar, near the ruins of an ancient town, are the caves of Gondrani, and as their construction shows these caves were undoubtedly Buddhist”
According to Geographical Journal, “…not far from them are the Caves of Gondrani, about which there is no room for conjecture, for they are clearly Buddhist, as can be told from their construction”
2. SAIF UL MALUK AND BADIUL JAMAL
According to the second myth which is considered to be a local myth, the story is something like this that there was a king during the reign of King Solomon, the king had a beautiful daughter name as Badiul Jamal. According to the local legend king’s daughter was haunted by six demons who wanted to take her off with them. In order to free her daughter from these demons, the king invited seven heroes but all these attempts were proved to be failed. At the end, Prince Saif-ul-Muluk eventually released the king’s daughter and killed the demons.
3. MAI GONDRANI – THE SAVIOR
Third myth is the most famous one and usually use by many tourist guides to attract travelers towards these caves. According to this local myth, it is famous that there was an old holy woman is known as Mai Gondrani, who sacrificed her life, saved the local people of Gondrani and killed the demons that used to eat their flesh. The woman was buried near the location of these caves, which is now become as a famous local shrine.
Besides the presence of these myths one thing which is important to note is the importance of these caves in a tourism perspective. As it is one of the most famous tourist places of Baluchistan, but it is pretty unfortunate that due to the lack of conservation efforts by our government the total number of caves that is left is 500, which used to be around 1500 during the British rule.
#SharjeelTalpur
Practical work conducted under supervision of Sir Sohail Sangi
Department of Media &Communication Studies, University of Sindh
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