Know about the country’s largest saline lake “Sambhar Lake” located in Rajasthan.
Shivaksh Sharma.
Rajasthan is famous all over the world for its royal grandeur, culture, forts and palaces. Various places in Rajasthan have been a center of special attraction for tourists for many years.
Being a princely state, Rajasthan is known for its grandeur and royalty. It attracts tourists from all over the world with its beautiful traditions, culture, people, history and monuments.
Actually, on hearing the name of Rajasthan, the image of a desolate desert where only scorching sun and some people sitting on camels come to our mind. But in reality, there is much more to Rajasthan which once seen will never disappear.
There are deserts here but, there is also Udaipur, the city of lakes. Apart from this, Pink City Jaipur also expresses its beauty. So there is a lake named Sambhar near Jaipur.
Sambhar Lake is at an altitude of 1,200 feet above sea level. When full, its area covers 90 square miles. Three rivers fall into Sambhar Lake. The interesting thing about this lake is that salt is produced on a large scale from it. Sambhar Lake is the largest lake in Rajasthan and the largest brackish lake in India. Most of the salt production of Rajasthan comes from this lake spread over 230 square kilometers. Experts estimate that the source of this salt is the silt filled in the troughs of Shisht and Gneiss of Aravalli. The sodium dissolved in this silt enters the rain water and comes to the lake through rivers and remains in the form of salt. Sambhar salt is the only salt in India which naturally contains iodine and 84 such rare mineral elements are found in it. Which are used as medicine for acidity. Not only this, black salt made from Sambhar salt is the best natural laxative and has many medicinal benefits. This salt contains minerals like sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, sulphate and natural iodine. More than 2,10,000 tonnes of salt is produced in the lake every year. This salt is imported to other states including Haryana, Punjab.
This lake also has its own importance in mythological beliefs, according to Mahabharata, years ago the area of Sambhar Lake used to be a part of the empire of Asur king Vrishaparva and Shukracharya, the head of the Asurs, lived here. It was at this place that Shukracharya’s daughter Devyani was married to King Yayati. There is still a temple near the lake which is dedicated to Devayani, the daughter of Shukracharya. According to folklore, there is a popular story that Shakambhari Devi, the protector of Chauhan Rajputs, had converted a forest here into a silver field. Due to which people started fighting a lot due to which this lake started proving to be a curse for humanity. Later, when people requested the Goddess to take back her boon, the Goddess converted all the silver into salt.
It is very easy to reach Sambhar Lake. Its about 80 km from Jaipur. After reaching Jaipur, you can easily go there by bus. Going to Sambhar Lake in summer is not as much fun as it is during rainy and winter seasons. If you reach here in winter, you get the pleasure of seeing salt farming.
On the occasion of 75th Foundation Day of Rajasthan, a new campaign of Digital Baal Mela “Roots of Rajasthan” has been started. The objective of this campaign is to promote the art, culture and tourism of Rajasthan from the children’s point of view and to introduce children to the heritage of Rajasthan.
In this, children have to make a video of eight to ten minutes which contains details of the tourist places of Rajasthan and the art and culture of Rajasthan.
You Can send your video on Telegram, WhatsApp and official website of the DBM. Every month one participant whose video is best will get a mobile phone as prize and the top 100 children will be taken on a three-day trip to Jaipur and, the participant standing first will get a prize of fifty thousand, second place will be given a prize of Rs 20,000. Third place will be awarded with prize of ten thousand.
Digital Baal Mela has organised various initiatives like “Shades of Covid” “Museum Through My Eyes” to enhance creativity in children.
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