The Cursed Lake of Nepal

Often referred to as the jewel of Dolpo, the Phoksundo Lake is the deepest (650m) and second largest lake of Nepal. The lake and its surrounding were lovely and attractive. I could not stop myself from taking pictures. It was a really beautiful lake with clean water, transparent right to its bottom. The snow that melted from the glacier formed the crystalline water of Phoksundo Lake. The aquamarine greenish blue water of the lake could not support any aquatic life because of its cold temperature. According to locals, this lake was formed by a demoness. Legend has it that a demoness was being chased by saint Padmasambhava. She hid herself somewhere at Phoksundo and gave the villagers a turquoise making them promise not to disclose her position. However, saint Padmasambhava was clever, and turned all the turquoises into dung. The villagers were upset as a result, and revealed where the demoness’ whereabouts.
The demoness got angry and caused a flood. It washed away the entire village and turned into what is today the lake of Phoksundo. You can still see the remains of the village below the lakes surface. According to my parents, with the request of the villagers, Padmasambhava cut a hole with his sword on one of the shores to protect the nearby villages from the flood.
Today, you can see still the unique nature of the lake how a balance is created between the amount of water that gets collected into the lake and the water that escapes the lake. Because of saint Padmasambhava’s acquaintance with the lake Buddhists consider the lake holy, and is often visited by pilgrims. I could see that many houses in the village had prayer flags hung on top of their roofs with strong wooden sticks, and many there were several religious chortens and stones carved with prayers.