Lakha Banjara Lake, Sagar

Lakha Banjara Lake, often called Sagar Lake, lies in the centre of Sagar city in Madhya Pradesh. The city occupies its northern, western and eastern banks, with Pathariya hill and the university campus to the south and Sagar Fort to the north-west. The lake has shaped the layout of the city and long supplied its drinking water.

Nobody knows for certain how it began. The most common legend says the warrior Lakha Banjara sacrificed his son and daughter-in-law for it, and a 21-foot statue of him now stands in the lake. Experts suggest a natural lake may later have been enlarged, though without evidence. It was already here when Udanshah built a fort in 1660. Ghats and temples line the banks, among them Chakra Ghat, Vitthal Mandir and Vrindavan Bagh temple.