DOLPA-- The Nepalese army and the country's rampant Maoist rebels are vying for control of the multimillion-dollar trade in an exotic traditional medicine known as the Himalayan Viagra. Prized for its reputed powers as an aphrodisiac and panacea, the medicine is made from a creature known to locals as yarchagumba, a caterpillar with a parasitical mushroom that grows from its head and will ultimately kill it. The yarchagumba commands high prices in China and in the health food shops of California. For the people of the bleak valleys of the Inner Himalaya, the yarchagumba season is an opportunity to earn riches in a poor economy. Major Jitendra Karki, the Royal Nepalese army officer responsible for the district of Dolpa, where most of the caterpillars are collected, said the Maoists made about $700,000 by taxing the trade last year. "Last year we had information that the Maoists imported around 100 yak-loads of supplies from Tibet," said Maj Karki. "According to our information, that was funded with yarchagumba money." A Western security analyst in Kathmandu believes that yarchagumba is the rebels' second biggest source of income after protection rackets. This year the government is trying to regain the initiative, with an extra 520 troops posted in Dolpa. Source: Daily Telegraph