Lanka Lake

Brief Introduction of Lanka Lake

Except for Lake Manasarovar, there is a small lake at Gandisê Range. That is the Lanka Lake. Comparing with Lake Manasarovar, the Lanka Lake, located on west side of Lake Manasarovar, is always out of favor in history. It is also so little known. It may be caused by many reasons. Among these reasons, one is that people think the Lanka Lake is the gathering place of Rakshasa Kings. In Indian ancient Ramayana Story, the Rakshasa King with Nine Heads who abducted the beautiful Sida lived there. Although there is no obvious difference between Lanka Lake and Lake Manasarovar from their surfaces, some travelers said that they ever came across some ill-boding omens on the bank of Lanka Lake. Consequently, except the Caiqie Monastery on the bank of Lanka Lake is often visited by travelers, there is no road for circumambulation near Lanka Lake. Another reason is that there is no hot spring for having bath near the Lanka Lake. In winter, the climate around Lanka Lake is very cold, and the scenery of it is very bleak and desolate. So, it is not as attractive as Lake Manasarovar. In terms of area, the Lanka Lake is smaller than Lake Manasarovar. The area of Lanka Lake is 70 kilometers. At the same time, the shape of the Lanka Lake is not very beautiful. The unique advantage of Lanka Lake is the two islands in the lake. One of these two lakes is named Lajuetuo. It is the habitat of wild birds. The other one is named Tuobu Sema. According to legends, there was a monk from Kang District ever practiced alone there for 7 years in early of this century.

Legends about Lanka Lake

Buddhism Believers also think that the Lake Manasarovar and Lanka Lake separately presents bright (or masculine gender) and dark (or feminine gender). But they are not isolated. The Lake Manasarovar and Lanka Lake connect with each other through a river course on bottom of lakes. According to legends, there were two goldfishes in the Lake Manasarovar. Once a time, there was a conflict between them, and they had a mortal combat. One of these two fishes was unable to resist. So, the fish opened a river course to Lanka Lake and flowed to Lanka Lake. Consequently, people think that the circulation between Lake Manasarovar and Lanka Lake is an auspicious thing. If the river course dries up, the circulation between two lakes will break off. It may bring disaster to the world.

Although the Lanka Lake is not as beautiful and attractive as Lake Manasarovar, it is also worthy visiting in your Tibet tour. So, you can appreciate the different charm of different lakes in Tibet. When you have Tibet tour, you can pay a visit to the Lanka Lake when you visit the Caiqie Monastery which is located on the bank of Lanka Lake. I believe that the small Lanka Lake will give you different feelings after enjoying other amazing and charming lakes in Tibet.