Munsar Lake

Munsar Lake, originally named Mansarovar, lies at Viramgam near Ahmedabad. It was built around 1090 by Minaldevi, mother of the Chaulukya king Jayasimha Siddharaja. The lake is about 220 yards across and roughly round, often described as conch-shaped. In 2016 the Archaeological Survey of India granted funds for its renovation.

Water enters from the west through an eight-sided stone silt well, each side carved with a figure in bold relief, and then runs through a channel lined with stone and a tunnel of three cylinders into the lake. Carved stonework and more than 300 small and large shrines surround the water; each shrine holds a pedestal, probably for Krishna, on one side and a basin probably sacred to Shiva on the other. Larger temples with double porches and spires flank one of the roads to the water's edge, a flat-roofed colonnade stands across the lake, and there is a temple of Munsari Mata built by the Marathas.