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I met some French guys in Katmandu, back in 88. One thing they insisted I do if I get to Kashmir was to find the Kah–Kah-Pal stone.
“Kah-Kah-Pal (Kah-Kah means 'digit eleven' in Kashmiri) it is a wonder stone found in garden of the stone temple of Shiva in the town of Bijbehara. This conch shaped stone, tapering at one end, weighs about 60 kg and can be moved from side to side by one adult.
The attraction it heralds lies in the belief that if 11 persons encircle it, and apply their 11 index fingers to the base of the stone, on repeating Kah-Kah (eleven-eleven), the stone gets lifted above the ground….”
When someone recommends something so strange, how can you ignore it? I took down the details, Kah-Kah-Pal…. Bijbehara…. 11 people needed, use one index finger and repeat kah kah kah kah till stone lifts.... Ok
That’s all I had to go on.
So a few months later I am in Srinagar, the beautiful capital city of Kashmir, just before the borders closed indefinitely in 1989. There was already a huge army presence, and looking back I realize how lucky I was to have seen this part of the world. I was traveling alone and meeting people, often the same people, all throughout India. There was no exception here. I found a lovely houseboat called Neptune and hung out with my friends Vinny and Jon from Singapore and Sylvia from Switzerland. One day I decided today was the day we would search for the Kah-Kah-Pal stone and the town of Bijbehara. Jon and Sylvia were up for the ride, so we hitch hiked the 45 ks south of the city. Bijbehara is situated by the Jhelum River and is tree lined with 300 year old Chinars imported by the Mughul emperors. In fact the whole place felt like being a time traveller, there were few cars, many ancient buildings, and people were going about their daily business by horse and cart. There was not one single tourist to be seen.
They answered, ‘aaaahhhhhhhhh Kah-Kah-Pal’ and laughed and pointed down the road.
We took a walk and I asked randomly ‘Kah-Kah-Pal?’ and was answered every time with ‘aaaaaaahhhhhhh Kah-Kah-Pal’, laughter, and more pointing. Until we found ourselves walking on what seemed like a country road out of town. We almost turned back but then came across some teenage students walking towards us carrying their schoolbooks. I asked again, and this time they spoke a little English and decided to show us and walk with us to the temple. I knew we needed 11 people and did a head count.. 3 of us… 7 students.. well it was looking good, but we were still one short.
We get to the temple of Shiva; it was run down with overgrown grass and no one around, like a deserted cemetery. Suddenly a strange little old man appeared from behind something. Pop! he was there! The kids asked where is the Kah-Kah-Pal. He knew right away, he didn’t say aaaaaaaaaahhhhh and he didn’t laugh. I already figured that he was the 11th person needed. He showed us this dense small boulder just lying on the ground in no particular place. He pointed, Kah-Kah-Pal. I took over and arranged everyone around the stone. I told them we must repeat kah kah kah kah with only 1 index finger each until the stone lifted.
We did.
It lifted!!
It lifted quite fast, above our waist and to my shoulder.
We all laughed and as soon as we stopped chanting Kah Kah it plummeted to the ground, and we all jumped out of the way so as not to get our toes crushed.
We tried again, everyone was excited! Kah kah kah kah…It lifted again, but only to the hip this time… mmmmmm..
we tried a 3rd and last time and were not able to get it off the ground!
The Kah-Kah-Pal stone had had enough..
But we were all happy, it worked 2 out of 3!
My only regret is not taking photos of the actual rock and people who created our 11. At the time it was just another weird and wonderful day in India, but years and years later, I realize I witnessed a miracle.
And after googling the internet extensively, find that I am the only one with the story, with almost no other hits at all about the mythical Kah-Kah-Pal stone.
photos: 1)myself in the Kashmir Valley 2) internet found photo from the temple of Shiva 3) internet find of a man with a stone near the only description of Kah-Kah-Pal, 4) a boy taking me around Dal Lake, Srinagar and lastly 5) Sylvia and Jon demonstrating when you stop for a moment in the street, you get an audience immediately; this is the only photo I found of us in Bijbehara.
