Thousands of hand-carved caves lie high on Mustang’s dry, rocky cliffs, offering insights into our history. Some five stories tall, these caves form a remarkable archaeological and cultural treasure.
Travellers describe this region as “frozen in time”, having preserved Tibetan Buddhist culture with minimal outside interference. Once known as the Forbidden Kingdom, this Himalayan desert features ochre cliffs, steep canyons, and windswept villages.
Hidden within the eroded valley walls of Mustang are hundreds of cliffside dwellings known as the Sky Caves. Archaeologists and trekkers alike have taken an interest in these man-made caves carved into rock. Explorers also suggest these were not just homes but ritual sites.
In the 2000s, a Western expedition found dozens of skeletons of men, women, and children in a single chamber: some adorned with red ochre and copper beads. Many bones bore cut marks.
Seemingly a Himalayan sky‑burial tradition, it may have been a ritual where the defleshed skeletons were not left outdoors. As one archaeologist wrote, “All the bodies showed signs of defleshing: after death, the flesh was completely removed using a sharp knife.”
Other caves hold intact shrines and mummy remains. For instance, the Luri and Tashi Kabum caves in the southern region contain Buddhist murals and mummified corpses alongside stupas. Archaeologists have also found centuries‑old statues, bronzes, and sacred manuscripts scattered in niche‑storerooms.
According to radiocarbon dating, some caves were occupied in the Late Neolithic (800–700 BCE) and later used by Buddhist hermits. They had wall paintings and manuscripts from roughly the 12th to 15th centuries.
Likewise, Italian and Nepali teams discovered a collapsed cave containing 55 panels depicting scenes from Buddha’s life, painted between the 12th and 14th centuries.
There are thousands of folios and sculptures from Bonpo and Buddhist shrines, with walls having geometric patterns of the Himalayan “animal style”, dating to the first millennium BCE.
In one remarkable find, a child’s mummy from about the 4th century BCE was excavated at Mebrak and is now preserved in Kathmandu. These discoveries prove that Mustang’s cliffs sheltered human life – and death – over two thousand years ago.
But why were the caves built? Locals point to wartime need: “The people of Chhoser and adjacent villages were always under threat,” one tourism guide claims, “so they stayed together inside [Shija Jhong] cave for safety.”
Indeed, Mustang lies astride the historic salt caravan route between Tibet and India, and its plateau was a frequent battleground.
One archaeologist notes, “Control over such a trading route signified political power,” and forts were built along the Kali Gandaki valley as early as the 8th century BCE. This has led some to theorise that the sky‑caves were bunkers or emergency villages during Tibetan-Nepali conflicts. However, no firm evidence ties the caves to a single war. Many lack defences or army entrances.
Archaeologists today favour multiple purposes. “People still live in some caves around Garphu and Chosser,” says Wangchhen Lowa, a local hotelier. Some are even used for storage or as homes. Researchers view the cave network as an all‑purpose refuge: burial sites, meditation chambers, grain silos, or lookout posts depending on need.
Some are literal tombs – a few with collective burials, others with upright coffins – while others open onto cliff‑top fields. In places like Samdzong, funerary artefacts – gilded masks, ceremonial daggers and robes – suggest elaborate rituals blending Buddhism with older Himalayan beliefs. Given the altitude and remoteness, caves also offered a stable climate: cool in summer and sheltered from harsh winds.
In short, Mustang’s caves likely served whatever function society needed over time: spiritual havens, food storage, and emergency shelters, and the true original intent may never be known.
Major Cave Sites
Sky Caves of Chhoser (Shija Jhong)
One of the most famous sites is the Chhoser Caves, also called Shija Jhong, a complex just south of Lo Manthang near the village of Chhoser. A five-storey honeycomb of rooms and tunnels is carved into a soaring red sandstone cliff. More than 40 vertically aligned chambers are interlinked by wooden ladders. Soot-blackened ceilings mark ancient fires, and narrow passages lead to meditation cells, storage niches, and concealed burial chambers.
Experts believe the cave dates back 2,500 years, with burials possibly from 1000 BCE. In later eras (10th–14th centuries), families and warriors used Chhoser as a refuge. Archaeologists found bones with cut marks (sky-burial style) in its depths. Artefacts include pottery, beads, and Buddhist tools, hinting at both daily life and ritual use. Its dramatic setting – high above the valley, with cave holes peppering its facade – has made Chhoser an icon of Mustang’s mysterious past.
Chungsi Cave (Ranchung)
Chungsi Cave is different in character – a natural cavern formed by erosion, not carved. Located on the trek between Samar and Syangboche villages, it holds a special aura. Locals consider it a living shrine. Legends say Guru Rinpoche practised tantra here in the 8th century, and Shiva meditated here too. Prayer flags mark the entrance, and small offerings lie inside. The cave’s wind-sculpted rock walls appear to form shapes seen as deities or lovers.
Tashi Kabum Cave (Luri Gompa)
Tashi Kabum is a temple cave near the famous Luri Gompa in Upper Mustang, about an hour’s trek from Yara village. Perched 50 metres above the Puyon Khola gorge, this singular domed grotto is hewn into the cliff. Unlike Chhoser’s rough chambers, it has smooth, plastered walls painted with Buddhist designs. In the centre stands a damaged white stupa that once rose under auspicious symbols.
Himalayan art historian Gary McCue notes that Tashi Kabum’s domed layout mirrors the nearby Luri cave. Both contain murals in ochre and white with central Buddhist icons.
Guides date these caves to the 13th–14th century when Buddhist art flourished in Mustang. Sadly, vandals broke open the stupa dome, scattering sacred scrolls. Still, many wall paintings survive. Pilgrims continue to visit; khatas (white scarves) draped over a wooden pillar inside suggest recent worship. Today, it remains a hidden cave-gompa high above the valley, rich in murals and legend.
Other Notable Sites
There are numerous lesser-known caves in Mustang’s cliffs. Nyiphu Cave, north of Lo Manthang, is a multilevel site accessed by ladders, with notable wall paintings. The Luri Gompa complex near Chhuksang is built on a rock promontory and includes cave temples and stupas; the central cave is decorated with breathtaking murals.
Kanchok Ling Cave contains exquisite 13th-century murals of Buddhist deities. Many of these sites are difficult to access, requiring ropes or climbing, but each adds to Mustang’s archaeological landscape. These sky caves were even nominated in 1996 by Nepal for UNESCO’s World Heritage Tentative List.
After centuries hidden in legend, should these caves be explored more? They now stand at a crossroads between tradition and modernity. A handful of rock shrines and ladder-accessed caves are still used for prayers, but most are secular relics – monuments to the past.
Mustang was only opened to foreign trekkers in 1992. The question of protection is urgent. The cliff‑caves and Lo Manthang were nominated to UNESCO’s Tentative List in the 1990s, but the full listing stalled. Columnist Amish Mulmi warns that foreign NGOs often fund monastery conservation, while art theft remains a threat.
National Geographic’s feature on Lo Manthang noted crumbling palace murals and feared that even small relics were at risk. Locals hope heritage status and stricter regulations will help.
Although there have been some conservation efforts via a small museum in Jomsom that displays cave artefacts and proposals for a conservation area around Lo, the caves remain largely unguarded.
As historian R.K. Dhungel wrote, Mustang’s people preserved a “unique culture of Tibetan Buddhist tradition” while guarding life in high places. Today, that legacy depends on local stewards and respectful visitors.
Without active documentation and protection, the sky‑caves’ stories may vanish beneath dust, alongside the relics still at risk. The caves reveal human ingenuity carved in stone and a heritage that must be carefully shepherded into the future.
Pratikshya Bhatta is a junior editor with Nepal Connect.
