Place · artificial rainwater lake · India
Gadisar Lake, Jaisalmer
Also known as Gadsisar Lake, Gadisar, Jaisalasar
Gadisar is the artificial rainwater lake on the southern side of Jaisalmer, about 1.5 kilometres from the fort, which for centuries was the city's main water source in the Thar. Tradition credits a first lake to the city's founder Rawal Jaisal and its rebuilding to Rawal Gadsi around 1367, which gave it its name. Chhatris and small shrines line it, and rising agricultural demand for water now threatens it with drying up.
- Date
- 1367–None
- Function
- Water & infrastructure
- Confidence
- Mixed / layered
- Location
- 26.908, 70.922
Worth knowing
Before Gadsi's rebuilding it was known as Jaisalasar, after the founder.
About the place
Placed at the coordinates given on the Wikipedia article.
Wikipedia's article on the lake credits Rawal Jaisal with building it in 1156 and Gadsi with rebuilding it; the Jaisalmer article says Gadsi Singh excavated it in 1367.
Connections (2)
- Site adjacencyJaisalmer Fort
Gadisar Lake lies about 1.5 kilometres from Jaisalmer Fort on the southern side of the city, and for centuries it was the main water source for the fort and the town below it in the Thar. Tradition credits a first lake to Rawal Jaisal, who built the fort in 1156, and its rebuilding to Rawal Gadsi around 1367. Its rainwater made a hilltop desert capital viable; today rising agricultural demand threatens it with drying up.
- Historical linkLodurva
Lodurva, 15 kilometres north-west of Jaisalmer on an exposed desert trade route, was the Bhati capital until it was besieged by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1025 and ransacked by Muhammad Ghori in 1152. Rawal Jaisal then moved the capital to the Trikuta hill in 1156, and the lake first called Jaisalasar after him is said to have been built for the new city as the only water source of the region, later rebuilt by Rawal Gadsi as Gadisar.
Sources
Wikipedia, "Gadisar Lake", "Jaisalmer".
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