Roopkund – The Skeletel lake
Roopkund known as Mystery Lake is a high altitude glacial lake in Uttarakhand state of India and is famous due to hundreds of human skeletons found at the edge of the lake. The location is uninhabited and is lo…cated in Himalaya at an altitude of about 5,029 metres. In 1942, a forest guard stumbled upon hundreds of human skeletons on the banks of Roopkund. Along with skeletons, objects like wooden artifacts, iron spearheads, leather slippers, rings etc were also found. When a team from National Geographic magazine retrieved magazine retrieved about 30 skeletons, flesh was still attached to some of the skeletons.
Local folklore has it that in medieval times, king Jasdhawal of Kanauj wanted to celebrate the birth of an heir by undertaking a pilgrimage to the Nanda-Devi mountains in the Garhwal Himalaya. However, he disregarded the rules of pilgrimage by boisterous singing and dancing. The entourage earned the wrath of the local deity, Latu. They were caught in a terrible hailstorm and were thrown into the Roopkund lake.
Over the years a number of expeditions by Indian and European scientists were attempted to resolve the mystery of their death. There were several theories suggested to explain these well preserved bones and skulls. Some theorized them of being General Zorawar Singh of Kashmir and his men, while others proposed them to be Mohammad Tughlakâs unsuccessful attempts to capture Garhwal Himalaya. Carbon dating of the corpses puts them between 12thand 15th century. The fact that intrigued the investigators was that there was no historical account of trade route to Tibet in this area.
If you have a story, photo, suggestion, complains or any other concern, email us at: rahs08@gmail.com
———-
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roopkund