{"id":13427,"date":"2019-10-21T13:42:11","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T08:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goheritagerun.com\/?p=13427"},"modified":"2020-04-30T10:45:57","modified_gmt":"2020-04-30T05:15:57","slug":"stories-of-bhopal-part-2-lakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goheritagerun.com\/stories-of-bhopal-part-2-lakes\/","title":{"rendered":"Stories of Bhopal, Part 2: Lakes"},"content":{"rendered":"
Well-known for its lakes and in-fact christened as the “City of Lakes”, Bhopal quietly makes its’ charm felt among the tourists because of the immaculate beauty of the lakes. These charming lakes provide a chance for tourists to indulge in water sports and have unlimited fun and frolic. While some of the lakes are a gift of nature to Bhopal, others have been artificially made.
\nThe Lakes in Bhopal are one of the major tourist attractions here. One just can\u2019t afford to miss the beauty and tranquillity that Bhopals’ lakes have to offer.<\/p>\n
1. Upper Lake (Bhojtal): <\/strong>Bhojtal (Upper Lake) is said to have been built by the Paramara Raja Bhoj during his tenure as a king of Malwa. According to legend, once Raja Bhoj suffered from a skin disease and all Vaidyas or Doctors had failed to cure him. One day a saint told the king to build a tank to combine 365 tributaries and then bathe in it to wipe out the skin disease. Bhoj called upon his engineers to build up a huge tank. They spotted a place near river Betwa, which was 32 km away from Bhopal. It was found that it has only 359 tributaries. In order to fulfil this shortage, A Gond Commander Kalia gave the address of an invisible river and merged the tributaries of this river. Thus the number 365 was completed. The lake was known as the Upper Lake or Bada Talab (“Big Pond”), until March 2011 it was renamed to Bhojtaal in honour of the Great King Raja Bhoj who built it. A huge statue of Raja Bhoj, standing with sword, was also installed on a pillar on one corner of the lake to cement the name of Bhopal as the city of lakes.<\/p>\n