A visit to Sar ki Dhar - Seven Ponds

Hi,

It was 6th July 2014, me and Tarun visited Sarkidhar to locate the seven Sar(ponds), which are believed to be formed by Arjuna from the epic Mahabharata.

As the local legend goes, once Pandvas and their mother 'Kunti,' when they were on their Agyat-vaas(residence in secret or anonymity) were passing through this place.

Kunti felt thirsty, and as there was no water source on these mountains, Arjuna struck the earth with the arrows and therefore erupted the springs of underground water.

This resulted in the formation of the seven ponds or locally named as Saat Sar. The place is named after these 7 ponds as "Sarkidhar" means the mountain of seven pond. The names of the seven ponds, which I found on himachalspider.com., are as given below:

1. Suk Sar
2. Kal Sar
3. Kunt-Bhayo Sar
4. Khadla Sar
5. Nil Sar
6. Chita Sar
7. Saaf Sar

Rewalsar lake clicked from Padma-Sambhava statue

It is said that the color of the water of each lake is different from one another.

Some say that the famous Riwalsar lake is also one of the seven ponds, so we had to find the other six ponds. The first one we found at Sarkidhar, on the road from Rewalsar to the Naina Mata was 'Kunt Bhayo'.

Tourism notice, Kunt Bhayo- Rewalsar, Mandi

 At Kunt Bhayo, a notice board by the Department of Tourism of Himachal Pradesh, also indicated the presence of the seven ponds at the place. Kunt Bhayo is on the left bank(while riding upwards) of the road, and among all those lakes along that road it was having the largest volume of water at the time of our visit.

 We asked the local people about the other ponds and they indicated the presence of second one on further left at a distance of about 700 m from the main road and the first one, i.e. Kunt Bhayo.

Kunt Bhayo - saat sar, Rewalsar, Mandi

Though it was much smaller than the Kunt Bhayo, but it was also beautiful and quite away from the village, so offered solitude. However I could not find any plate or any tourism board erected, so I am not sure about the name of the pond.

Ponds or Sar ki Dhar, Rewalsar

Then there were two ponds near to the Cave of Padmasambhava, which seemed to be connected, and so sharing the same water while the water level would get high enough to over run from the short embankment of the elevated pond.

Though, the water level at the time of our visit was not that much high for the two lakes

Ponds of Sar ki Dhar hiding behind the trees, Rewalsar - Naina Devi, Mandi

At the end of the day, when I calculated the number of the lakes/pond that we visited, I had to be contented with four which is three less than the seven. I have to give another visit to this place to find all of the seven lakes/ponds. If you have any details, please share with me.

In some online article it is written that Rewalsar lake is famous with Hindus and the legend of Lomas Rishi(Sage) is the link that I found. This famous sage did meditation and penance at the bank of this lake, and afterwards, Shiva and Parvati visited him and told him the divinity of this place. I have not read the Skanda Purana, but they say, this story of the Lomas Rishi is mentioned in it.

Thanks for your kind visit, please visit again!