Gosaikunda

Gosaikunda is a high alpine lake at about 4,380 m in Rasuwa, within Langtang National Park north of the Kathmandu valley. It is a compact lake of roughly 13.8 ha (about 0.14 km²) that stays frozen for much of the year, from around October into June, and its meltwater is held to be a source of the Trishuli River. It is the best-known of a cluster of high lakes — local tradition counts 108 lakes in the vicinity — strewn across the rocky basin around it.

In Hindu belief the lake was created by Shiva, who thrust his trident into the mountain to draw cold water after swallowing the poison churned from the cosmic ocean (the samudra manthan); the legend makes Gosaikunda one of the most revered alpine pilgrimage lakes in Nepal. A submerged rock near the centre is said to be the remains of a Shiva shrine.

Every year at the August full moon of Janai Purnima — when Hindu men renew the sacred janai thread — thousands of pilgrims and shamans (jhankri) climb to the freezing shore to bathe, making the festival the lake's defining event. Buddhists also hold the site sacred.

Gosaikunda forms part of the Gosaikunda and Associated Lakes Ramsar site, listed on 23 September 2007 and covering about 1,030 ha of high-altitude wetlands. It is reached on a steep trek from Dhunche or Syabrubesi in Rasuwa, often linked with the Langtang valley or the Helambu route over the Laurebina La pass.