Lake Rakshastaal ལག་ངར་མཚོ
Satellite view of lakes Rakshastaal (left) and Manasarovar with Mount Kailash in the background
Location	Tibet
Coordinates	30°41′00″N 81°14′00″E

Lake Rakshastal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lake Rakshastal is a lake in Tibet, lying close to the west of Lake Manasarovar and Mount Kailash.^[1]The Satluj River originates at Rakshastaal's northwestern tip. Despite its close proximity to Lake Manasarovar—over the road to Purang County, Lake Rakshastaal does not share the lore of worship with its east neighbor.

The name of the lake literally means "lake of the demon" in Sanskirt (Sanskirt: राक्षस ताल; Tibetan: ལག་ངར་མཚོ།, ZYPY: Lagngar Co; Wylie transliteration: lag-ngar mtsho; Chinese: 拉昂错, Pinyin: Lā'áng Cuò) . It is also known as Ravana Tal, as it is considered to be the place of severe penance tapasya byRavana, the ten-headed demon-like egoistic King of Lanka in Hindu mythology.^[2] In Buddhism, Lake Manasarovar, which is round like the sun, and Rakshastal, shaped as a crescent, are respectively regarded as 'brightness' and 'darkness'. Its salty water, a stark contrast to the fresh water of Lake Manasarovar, produces no aquatic plants or fish and is considered poisonous by locals.

There are four islands in Rakshastal: Topserma (Dose), the Dola (the two biggest), Lachato (Nadzhado), and Dosharba. [1]. Island

s are visited by local peoples only during the winter period on ice and used as winter pastures for yaks.

[edit]History

According to Hindu scriptures, this lake was created by King Ravana for the express purpose of garnering superpowers through acts of devotion and meditation to the Lord Shiva who was presiding on Mount Kailash. It was upon the banks of a special island in this lake that he would make daily offering with one of his ten heads as a sacrifice to please the Lord Shiva. Finally, on the tenth day, Lord Shiva was moved enough by his devotion and granted Ravana his wish to obtain superpowers. This lake is set as a contrast to the holy god-created Lake Manasarovar.

However, despite its notoriety, Rakshastal bears no less beauty than other lakes in Tibet. Originally joined with Lake Manasarovar and later separated by geological movements, it is still connected with Lake Manasarovar by a short river, Ganga Chhu. Rakshastal covers a total area of 250 square kilometres (97 sq mi), at an altitude of 4,575 metres (15,010 ft). Though absent of nearby grasslands, the white cobbles, the hills and the island colored with dark red, and the deep blue lake water