Kashmir's Kalaroos Caves: Secret Tunnel to Russia

Ground Report | New Delhi: Kashmir's Kalaroos Caves; Believe it or not, this is a story about a wonderland. The caves located in the village of Kalaroos in the Kupwara region, about 90 km from the summer capital of Srinagar, are associated with many myths. But everyone is intrigued by the fact that these caves are secret tunnels to Russia. Located ten kilometers from the regional headquarters, the caves, according to local residents, are a secret route to Russia.

Kashmir's Kalaroos Caves

 The village of Kalaroos gets its name from the myths associated with the caves. The name is actually Qil-e-Roos, which means Russian fort. These caves are located between the villages of Lastial and Madhmadu. At the end of the village of Lashtial, there is a stone carved from a mammoth called Satbaran. The stone is engraved with seven doors and people call it Sat Barr (in the local language), which means seven doors.

“These seven doors point to seven different routes to Russia and other countries. I heard from my ancestors that Russians passed through this tunnel,” says Ghulam Rasool, an eighty-year-old man.

There are other caves a few meters away from this giant rock. Locals usually visit the crimson Tramhan (copper mine) cave. There are low-grade copper deposits in the cave. Having visited the cave, the locals were surprised to see the peculiar aura of the cave.

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“I drove with my friends about 2-3 kilometers into the depths of the cave. We only had torches with us.  Deep in the cave is an old faded plaque with something written on it in Chinese, ”

says a resident of Bashir Khan.

Some villagers believe that these caves have huge bodies of water. A group of young people who had recently visited the cave heard the sound of flowing water. “There might be a reservoir inside the cave, as we approached the sound of the water, our torches dimmed and we returned,” the young people say.

Locals believe that Satbaran may have been a temple many centuries ago that served as a place of worship for the Pandavas. Mohammad Aziz, another local claims that this structure was built by the Pandavas. These structures are of unique archaeological importance. Place Satbaran is a carefully built stone half-buried in the ground. These caves attract residents of the surrounding areas.

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Archaeological treasures

These structures are of unique archaeological and geological significance. Satbaran meticulously worked the stone half-buried in the ground.

The most recent and only documented information about these caves was provided by a group of Americans led by experienced cave explorers Amber and Eric Fiss. They explored three caves in 2018 and reached endpoints for each one.

They mentioned the possibility that the two caves may have been linked in the past. Although one of the two caves points upward and the other slopes downward, they both have the same elevation and azimuth.

Researchers were unable to determine a similar height for the third cave, as it was sealed by the Indian army several years ago so that militants could not take refuge in its crevices.

The researchers concluded that there was no trace of recent human passages in the third cave, where they could not reach the final end. However, the cave was inhabited by large porcupines.

"Nobody knows the history of the buildings and the exact age of the buildings."

Referring to Satbaran, they said:

Everyone who has visited these caves at least once has fallen in love with their antiquity and wishes to visit them again. The team's exploration of the caves has greatly helped Kashmir understand the cave system that has remained a mystery for generations.

Concerned about the importance of these caves, locals are demanding that they be declared cultural heritage sites.

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