Travel: Land before time

Published January 31, 2016
Photo by Hanif Bhatti
Photo by Hanif Bhatti

While every adventurer dreams of travelling to far-flung places across the globe, there are many places to discover closer to home as well. If you live in Karachi, there are several places just a few hours’ drive away. It is always a pleasant surprise for a Karachiite driving up to Balochistan as the roads leads to open, scenic land.

One less explored place is the mysterious Cave City of Balochistan — an archaeological site located in district Lasbela, near Bela town. The site is the ruins of an ancient town, and is known by many names: Shehr-i-Roghan, Puranay Ghar, the Cave Dwellings of Gondrani, the House of Spirits and the City of Mai Gondrani. It is situated 180km (three-hour drive by car) north of Karachi.

It’s a smooth drive from Hub City onwards, and shortly after you cross the city limits you will see solitary herders grazing goats, sheep and camels with their babies in tow as the land opens up to rolling savannah of golden grass. The outlines of purple-grey hills rise in the horizon. After crossing crowded, unplanned and polluted Hub, in Winder you are greeted by gorgeous views of lush green oases, chikoo farms, sarson fields that could make one break into a song and cotton fields sprinkled with tiny snowflakes; and small patches of bananas, onions, maize and date palms. You can smell the onion fields before you can see them. When the sun shines over misty mountains, the water in the flooded paddy fields glistens with its reflection. As scattered water bodies start appearing, so do beautiful birds bathing in them.

Where man has interfered, the beauty is scarred with concrete construction. Flags and graffiti of political parties and banned outfits are splattered across makeshift shanties, petrol pumps, chai dhabas, tandoors and ugly cement structures that house government and private institutions. Everything is named Al-Mustafa — from schools to petrol pumps to shops to hotels to mechanics and, of course, mosques. Universities of seemingly no practical purpose in the world affairs, growth or development abound. Bikes, qingqis and tractors ply the highway. A beggar sits in the middle of nowhere, waiting for help from the heavens.


A less-explored archaeological site near the town of Bela in Balochistan is the mysterious Cave City


At Zero Point you can stop for a tea and toilet break, and then resume the journey. High hills and low mountains speckled in the sun / shade come into view. Bowls of clouds give shade to the mountains like giant umbrellas. Fresh, crisp air rushes down the mountains to greet you. Scattered sheep forage in the scraggly grass and drying river beds with patches of water.

Driving up to the entrance -Photo by Hanif Bhatti
Driving up to the entrance -Photo by Hanif Bhatti

Before long, you will reach Bela. From the bridge across the Porali River, drive westwards towards Gondrani. Soon you will turn onto a smaller road, which turns into a dirt track, till finally there is no road at all. A gravel trail will lead you up to the Cave City. You will hit a riverbank, and after some challenging driving, cars give in. From here onwards you can either go on a jeep or trek, though driving on the gorgeous dry river ‘bed of roses’ of mesmerising multi-coloured pebbles feels sacrilegious. The view looking down on miles of mountains and caves carved into the soft stone, packed with pebbles, is breathtaking.

Cave City looks like a land before time. It looks like Kashmir, but with all the trees and rivers sucked out and only the hills and pebbles and a trickle of stream left. The meandering sliver of a stream, the River Kurd, is the only source of water available to the area for drinking, cooking, washing and bathing. There is a graveyard too — how do they dig out the graves from under the pebbles? Are there more pebbles in the graves?

When the caves come into view, you keep a respectful distance to not further damage or erode the ancient site. Some cave houses are suites with a living room, two small bedrooms, a kitchen with storage sections for grains, and a veranda or front porch. Some caves are single rooms. They all have hearths and wall niches for lamps. The caves, about four square metres on average, are carved on several levels from the base to the top of the mountain. Many are connected by pathways. A large cave at the top is said to be the palace of Prince Saiful Muluk and his bride Badiul Jamal, according to one of the legends associated with the Cave City.

You can explore the pristine meandering gorge for as far out as possible on foot. On the pebbly riverbed, the walk towards the end of the range feels unending, while the locals hop across the pathways at the highest level in their tattered sandals, with the ease of mountain goats. By early afternoon, you must head back, so that you can be out of Bela in sunlight. Back at the entrance of the gorge, the flat land offers a fine picnic spot for lunch, resting and exploring the plains. There is a strip of stunning sandy beach at the bank of the River Kurd and a large cave with stalactites and stalagmites worth exploring.

Entrance to a cave -Photo by Hanif Bhatti
Entrance to a cave -Photo by Hanif Bhatti

There is no official archaeological documentation of the Cave City. The caves are thought to be the ruins of a Buddhist Monastery dating back to the eighth century. At the time of their discovery during the British rule in 1838, there were about 1,500 caves. About 25 years ago hardly 600 remained, and now there are less than 100. The higher caves, more exposed to wind erosion, have been reduced to small pits, while the slightly protected ones closer to ground are in better shape.

The Cave City should be preserved as a world heritage site, but sadly it is crumbling in neglect. No conservation efforts have been made to protect the site because of poor accessibility and lack of knowledge of the archaeological site. This is also a blessing as it has not been defaced by clueless tourists, though it is disappointing to see graffiti sprayed in some caves.

One critical point to bear in mind when travelling is to please leave the area as you find it, in its natural beauty. Please do not spoil it with thoughtless and careless littering. Some stunning parts of Pakistan, such as the Kund Malir beach, have been defaced with the influx of tourists: diapers, bottles, wrappers, ugly makeshift hotels and bathrooms full of unflushed excrement have vandalised the pristine sands.

The local people have dedicated the Cave City to ‘Mai Gondrani’. They say these mountains were possessed by evil spirits who would devour the locals, until a holy woman, Mai Gondrani, sacrificed herself to save her people. In another version, she exorcised the town and lived there until her death. Yet another legend says Princess Badiul Jamal’s father ruled this area during the reign of King Solomon. The beautiful princess was desired by seven demons. Numerous heroes tried to rescue her till Prince Saiful Muluk finally slew all the demons. The grateful king gave his daughter in marriage to him and the couple ruled over the Cave City for many years.

Whatever mystery occurred here centuries ago, this is the evidence that is left of it — hills with caves carved into them, lying still like sleeping giants resting peacefully in a land before time.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, January 31st, 2016

Opinion

Editorial

Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...
New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.