The valley of Pokhara lies at the base of the Annapurna Range, 125 miles west of Kathmandu. The name comes from 'Pokhari' meaning a pool of water, which refers to the three fair-sized lakes and several smaller ones found in the valley. Inspite of the lakes still present, Pokhara's valley floor was never a lake bed, so the soil of the valley is very hard and stony and not as fertile as Kathmandu Valley. For a long time it was a mystery how pokhara valley was formed and why there are so many very large rocks at the upper end of the valley.

Local legends tell how the powerful hero, Bhim threw these rocks from Machapuchere. One especially large, round one on the college campus is worshipped and the area is called Bhimkali Patan because of this rock. Another legend tells how a God, taking the form of a hermit, visited the community living in the Fewa lake area. All the people were rude and inhospitable except for one old woman and her daughter who took the stranger into their home, though they had very little to share. They were told by the stranger to leave their house the next morning and go on up the hill. This they did, just in time to avoid a great flood that swept all the houses and wicked villagers away, leaving Fewa Lake where the village had been. The temple on the island in the lake honours this god.

Recent discoveries and a better interpretation of the forces at work in glaciated mountains have led geologists to conclusions indicating that the legends have some truth to them. The rocks did come from Machapuchere. There was a glacial lake on the mountain above which flooded the valley and filled it with rocks when the dam of glacial deposits broke.

If one follows the Seti River to its source on Machapuchere, the way becomes difficult because of the narrowing of the vallery and its steep sides. Although the valley is V-shaped and not the U-shape recognized as that formed by a glacier, the fine sediment which gives the river a milky white look indicates that it comes from a melting glacier. Colonel Roberts, who founded "Mountain Travel", said that the local young people get to the lake at the source of the Seti over the top, through his pheasant preserve. This lake used to be much larger, as indicated by an old shore line high on the sides of the natural amphitheater surrounding it. This indicates that a cataclysmic event, probably and earthquake, had caused the cliff face to sheer off into ththe lake and break through its ice-moraine dam. Flood waters from the moraine lake carried 5.5 cubic kilometers of glacio-fluvial material into Pokhara Valley below. The flood and landslide must have filled the valley in a matter of minutes. Larger rocks were left at the upper end of the valley, and smalleer ones were carried farther down the valley. There is just mud, silt, and clay in the outwash at the lower eastern end, where bricks and pottery can be made. One Harka Gurung recognized that Pokhara Valley represented glacial outwash in his doctorate thesis on Pokhara Valley in 1963, but "catastrophic glacial dam outburst" was not a recognized term, and had not been studied much then.

Catastrophic glacial dam outbursts have been observed in other places in high glaciated mountains. For example, a few years back, the Dudh Kosi's glacial lake broke through its dam and washed out bridges and trails in the Everest region.

Since the Seti River carries a large quantity of limestone ground into fine sediment by the glacial action above, the rocks that filled Pokhara Valley have been cemented together into a hard conglomerate bedrock. The caves and deep gorges are due to the erosion of this limestone matrix. As the limestone cementing material was dissolved in slightly acidic water, some stones were realeased and washed away. The remaining pillars and caves have a characteristic topography called 'karst'.

Caves, sinkholes and gorges are found in other parts of the world where there are deposits of limestone, but there has not usually been mass wasting and the formation of conglomerate as found in Pokhara. Similar formations are found in some of the valleys to the east.

The infertile condition of the soil and lack of forests in the valley are an indication that this event happened about 600 years ago. This would have been shortly after Nepal was invaded by the Sultan of Bengal in 1349 A.D, when the western world was involved in the cursades.

At the lower, eastern end of the valley, the silt and mud have been sufficiently fertile to support Sal forests. Since malaria control made it safe for permanent settlement in the 1960s and the road was built to Kathmandu, this area has been divided into lots, and settlements with paddy and rice fields are growing fast. Termites and other soil forming processes are at work in the rest of the valley but to form really fertile soil takes more time than has passed in Pokhara since the catastrophic dam outburst. Stream-rounded stones were carried to the edge of the hill to the south of Pokhara Valley to form Fewa Lake. 
When the man made dam for FewaLake broke some years ago, a lake bottom of limestone deposits was revealed, with interesting shapes and holes, where the limestone ahd been dissolved.

In the years following the catastrophic dam outburst, the Seti River has cut and dissolved its way down several times to form numerous river terraces and deep gorges in the conglomerate bedrock. When the Mahabharat range rose to the south of Pokhara Valley, as it has been doing for many thousands of years at intervals since the formation of the earlier and higher Himalayas, it slowed down the flow of the Seti and other rivers draining the midlands. At times when the river drainage was cut off Begnas and Rupa Lakes were formed in the then lower north side of the Valley. Whenever the stream flow has slowed down, meandering has formed a river terrace. When an outlet to the valley is cut through, the increased cutting force of the stream has been able to cut thought the terrace until another river terrace is formed lower down. In many places it is possible to see five to seven different river terraces formed by changes in the velocity and cutting force of the river.

It is probable that the settlement of Pokhara Valley came very slowly after weathering and plant growth made more mature soils along the edges of the outwash. The marshes surrounding Begnas and Rupa Lakes have harbored malarial mosquitoes. Malaria kept the lowland plains and low valleys like Pokhara free from permanent settlement until relatively recent times.

Pokhara is located at the crossroads where east-west travelers met north-south travelers. Traders came through in the winter when danger from malaria was at a minimum. Seasonal teashops were setup to take advantage of the demand by the traders. Some farmers settled on the hills above the mosquito zone and cultivated rice fields in the valley during the day. If they returned up the mountain at night, they could usually escape malaria. Sometimes farmers would build houses lower down, around the hills surrounding Begnas Lake and live close to their fields a number of years. It is possible that some of the hill people settled some low caste people in this area to raise rice in the fertile but unhealthy lowlands near Begnas and Rupa Lakes. Metal workers, shoemakers and tailors then would have been the early settlers in Pokhara Valley, but the valley was ruled from the higher and more healthy kaski ridge. The Kaski kings had a winter home in Batulechaur.

Muslim traders in bangles and colorful ornaments have brought their goods to the villages surrounding Pokhara from very early times, perhaps from the time that Nepal was invaded by the Sultan of Bengal in the 14th century. Other traders were Tibetans bringing salt, wool and hides from the Tibetan plateau.

They often brought the salt on the backs of pack sheep and goats and transferred the loads to donkey and mule trains at lower elevations. The salt and wool or hides were exchanged for grain. This trade route was almost completely cut off when China closed the Tibetan border in the early 1960s. Cloth goods and manufactured items came up from India as is more and more the custom today. Ghee from buffalo butter and medicinal herbs are exported from the mountains around Pokhara.

Pokhara Valley probably remained without permanent settlement until the time of the Shah kings in the 18th Century (Pokhara the Heart of Nepal L.B Thapa, 1990). Pokhara bazaar was built then and Newars were invited to move in from Bhadgaon and build modern houses typical of Kathmandu Valley. Pokhara was made the headquarters of West No 3 (Kaski and Lamjung) and a post office, court and military camp were established. It was not until 1920 that General Babar Shumsher Rana brought piped water to Pokhara.

In 1899 Ekai Kawaguchi, the Japanese Buddhist scholar, was the first foreigner to visit and descrive Pokhara. He said: "In all my travels in the Himalayas I saw no scenery so enchanting as that which enraptured me at Pokhara."

Toni Hagen, who traveled widely all over Nepal on foot, said of Pokhara in his classic book Nepal (1961), "Pokhara is certainly one of the most extraordinary and most beautiful places in the whole world."

Unfortunately, Pokhara is located in the sub-tropics where malaria has been prevalent in the past. A resurgence of malaria or a cholera epidemic would cause the farmers settled in the more fertile lowlands around Begnas lake to move back up to the ridges where clean water prevented cholera, and fresh breezes drove out the mosquitoes and kept the people healthy. Government workers were less able to move out once offices became established.

Under the Ranas in the 19th century there was frequent traffic between Kathmandu and Pokhara. Covered resting platforms for overnight stays by travelers can still be observed along the road to Kathmandu. Early Rana officials copied the British in planting attractive gardens with flowers introduced from all over the world.

As more people settled in Pokhara after malaria control made it safe in the sixties, many of the temporary teashops became permanent. More Newari merchants moved in from Kathmandu Valley and started cloth shops, metal casting and hardware shops. Thakali traders had built godowns (warehouses) for trade goods in transit and to house the pack saddles and equipment for the donkeys and mules. A two-mile line of shops was built along the main north-south trade route and another developed along the eastern route to Kathmandu. Pokhara became known for its long bazaar.

All the houses along the roads had shops on the lower floors facing the roads, with sheltered verandas. During the day people sat there, talked and made their purchases. At night, travelers often occupied the veranda and were given facilities for cooking their food and straw mats for their beds. The travelers had usually bought or sold something at that house. Well-established merchants had customers from the hill villages. It was taken for granted that shopkeepers would provide both bed and cooking facilities for customers and their porters.

It took about fifty years for the banyan, peepul, or siami trees on the resting platforms (chautaras) to reach a good size. The streets leading to Fewa Lake from the western side of the bazaar were wide and grassy and were provided with numerous resting platforms with magnificient shade trees.

An earthquake in 1934 and fire in 1948 caused much damage, and there was rebuilding after each disaster. Development, since Nepal was opened to the rest of  the world in 1950 has caused more changes than the earthquake or fire.

Story Courtsey: Dorothy Mierow (Artist and Author)