Shanti Sagara

Shanti Sagara, widely known as Sulekere, is a huge tank at Sulekere near Kerebilachi in Channagiri taluk, Davanagere district, described as the second largest built lake in Asia. Its building is placed in the 11th or 12th century, with 1128 given as the year, and is said to have taken three years. Legend credits Princess Shantava, who built it as atonement after her father cursed her as a courtesan; the water drowned his city, and the name Sulekere, from sule (courtesan) and kere (tank), recalls the tale.

The lake spreads over 6,550 acres with a circumference of about 30 kilometres and irrigates 4,700 acres. Its embankment, set between two hills, is only about 290 metres long but up to 37 metres wide, and the Channagiri–Davanagere road runs along it. Two sluices, Sidda on the north and Basava on the south, release water into the Haridra. The lake also now supplies Chitradurga with drinking water.