Maratika Cave

The Halesi-Maratika Caves (also the Haleshi Mahadev temple) are located next to the village of Mahadevasthan, in the Khotang District of eastern Nepal, 3,100 ft. – 4,734 ft. above sea level. The cave and temple are about 185 km south west of Mount Everest. The temple is a venerated pilgrimage site for Hindus, Buddhists and Kirat. The caves are called the Halesi Mahadev Temple by Hindus who associate them with Mahadeva, a form of Shiva; while they are known as the sacred place to Buddhists, who consider them to be the caves associated with the legend of Padmasambhava. The Kirati Rai of the region worship Halesi as an ancestral deity of the community. The Kirat mundhum, a rich oral tradition of the Kirats, manifests that their ancestor Raechhakule (Khokchilipa) also known as Hetchhakuppa used to stay inside the Halesi cave in the remote past. For that reason, the Kirat/Rais consider Halesi as their ancestral place.

This cave is 67 feet below the surface. It is a tourist destination. Its entrance is shaped as a half moon and faces towards the east. It has a round shape, with a diameter of 193 feet, with another, separate, cave lying beneath. The floor is 223 feet in circumference. The location of this cave lies between the holy rivers Dudh Koshi and Sun Kosi. This place is usually cold and rainy. Nowadays it is accessible by motorcycles and jeeps.

According to Kirat Rai oral tradition and ethnographic studies, Halesi in Khotang is an important ancestral and cultural landscape of the Kirat Rai people . One local tradition states that a Bagbansi Rai hunter discovered the entrance to Halesi Cave while searching for his dog. Another Mundhum tradition associates the cave with the ancestral figure Raichhakule (Khokchilipa/Khakchilupa). Later traditions remember King Halesung (Holeysung) as a Kirati ruler or chieftain of the Halesi region. Some oral traditions also connect the name “Halesi” with Halesung. the early religious worship and services at Halesi were performed by Kirati priests. Two Kirati brothers, Kathur and Mathur, are remembered as the early priests of Halesi. Later, in 1861 B.S. (1804 CE), King Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah granted a royal land grant (Birta)

Cave data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).