Copy 1, Volume 2

Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, Iskardo, the countries adjoining the mountain-course of the Indus, and the Himalaya, north of the Panjab / By G.T. Vigne.

  • Vigne, Godfrey Thomas, 1801-1863.
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, Iskardo, the countries adjoining the mountain-course of the Indus, and the Himalaya, north of the Panjab / By G.T. Vigne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    20/512 (page 4)
    purpose; at least I was not able to discover one. Above them is a porch, elevated on the perpen¬ dicular face of the rock in which it is cut. The old pathway has been much injured, and I clam¬ bered up with some difficulty. Within is a small antechamber_, from which a few steps lead into another excavation behind it; but I was deterred from going beyond the entrance, by the stench arising from the innumerable bats that I disturbed, which was rendered absolutely insupportable by the great heat of the weather. The Musalman, I may here remark, says that the bat was originally formed from a piece of clay, which Jesus Christ was accidentally mould¬ ing with his fingers, and that God gave it life after¬ wards, for the sake of its divine maker. The excavation, is a dark and dismal-looking place, well suited to the purposes and trickery of priestcraft, which 1 have little doubt from its appear¬ ance were in full play within and near it. Perhaps this is the unfathomable cave which Abu Fuzl says is on one side of the springs of Bawun. On the ground, are the ruins of two Hindu temples, of the same shape as the interior building of Martund. The fine strath which I was ascending was the Pergunah of Kahawa, or Kaurah Parah. Kahawa sig¬ nifies the left, and Parah is a corruption of Pergunah. Duchin signifies the right, and Duchin Parah, is on the right side of the river Lidur, wffiich flows downwards through the strath, to bear to a junction with the Jylum, about three miles above Bij Beara. It is a very large river, inferior only to the Veshau, and when swollen with rain or melted snows its flood rushes down towards the plain with great impetuosity. Harput Nag, or the Bears Spring, may be visited