Phalebas(Parbat), Oct 5: The Gupteshwor Cave in Parbat is awaiting publicity and promotion.
The cave located near the Kushma Bazar, the district headquarters of Parbat, is one of the main attractions of the district with great religious and touristic importance. It is considered probably the longest cave in the country. It is believed that the Goddess Parbati went on meditation in the cave, wishing to get the Lord Shiva as her husband.
The cave was first found in 1990 BS by a local Ratna Bahadur Karki. It depicts portraits of various Hindu gods and goddesses including Shiva, Mahakali, Mahalaxmi and Saraswoti and the Panch Pandav, the mythical characters in the Mahabharat.
The cave is located some 500 meter down from the Pokhara-Baglung Highway. Lack of physical infrastructure development has caused inconvenience to visitors. Devotees coming to visit the 700-meter long cave face difficulty due to lack proper management of light inside the cave, Balgopal Shrestha, cave conservation committee chairman said. Visitors could not fully enjoy the beauty of cave because of darkness.
Khem Raj Acharya, cave’s priest for the past 25 years has stressed the need of developing physical infrastructure for its promotion. The locals have accused the government and non-government bodies of paying no proper heed towards the publicity of the cave, which according to them is an ‘identity’ of the district.
Various religious festivals are organised here on different occasions. Devotees throng the cave in the month of Saun to observe the Shiva Mahapuran festival and on the special occasions of Balachadurdashi, Mahashivaratri, Haribodhani Ekadashi, Harishayani Ekadashi, Mage Sankranti and Chaite Dashain.
RSS
