Roopkund - Mysterious lake of Uttarakhand

Roop means 'beautiful' and kund means 'lake or pond’.

Roopkund is a famous glacial lake located in Uttarakhand which is not only beautiful but also has a mysterious touch. Because of this reason this lake is called as ‘Mystery lake’. Roopkund is also a popular trekking destination.  It is shallow lake of about 2 mts., with the edges covered with snow almost throughout the year surrounded by snow-clad mountains and glaciers.

Roopkund will be drenched in snow and will be frozen most of the time. The mystery of this lake is that one can find the human skeletons in the water and on the banks of the river when the snow melts. Scientific research predicts that the skeletal remains are of 9^th century AD.

No one has found the exact theory for the mystery of skeletons around the lake till today.

Some of the scientists believed that they have finally solved the mystery on how the skeletons of more than 200 people came to be in a frozen lake in northern India.

There are several tales associated with this lake one of which tells that the british forest guard first discovered the skeletons in 1942 and they initially thought that those bodies are of Japanese soldiers travelling through india as part of world war II land invasion.

Because of the cold climate around the lake which is at 16,000 ft above sea level had preserved some of the flesh,hair and leather clothes of the victims. When the matter was brought to the light, an examination was conducted. It was found that these bones did not belong to the Japanese soldiers and the corpses were a century old.

Many theories suggest that the people must have died due to an epidemic, landslide or because of a ritual suicide. While some British explorers believe that the bones belong to the General Zorawar Singh’s army who lost their way and died in the lap of Himalayas while returning home after the Battle of Tibet in 1841. Many historians opinion is that these corpses belong to an unsuccessful attack by Mohammad Tughlak on the Garhwal Himalayas.

Apart from this mystery there is a legend states that when Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati were on their way to Kailash Parvat, Parvati who had killed a demon wanted to clean her. Lord Shiva then created a lake with his Trishul. When Parvati took a dip in its crystal clear water she could easily see her beautiful reflection in the lake. Hence, the lake was named as Roopkund