A secret behind Amer Fort

One of the best kept secrets of the city of Amer is a 17th century lake ‘Sagar’, which was the primary source of water for the adjoining forts of Amer and Jaigarh as well as the city of Amer and its people. Tucked away beyond Kheri Gate and the Anokhi Museum, the lake can be reached by car and then one can walk around its boundary. Built during the reign of Raja Man Singh, the lake which is divided into two parts- the Upper Sagar and the Lower Sagar, kept a check on the water table of the region. It was designed in a manner that it was connected with various step wells in the region, which automatically filled up once the ‘Sagar’ had reached its capacity. We were the only tourists in the area, crossing a few locals, pilgrims and animals during our little adventure. If you are visiting Amer or the Anokhi Museum in the evening, do stop by. The sunset turns the mud plastered walls of Amer into a golden labyrinth waiting to be explored.

Finding Sagar Lake

So many angles to shoot from!

Picture Perfect!

We were not the first ones to find it

A 17th century structure between the Upper and Lower Sagar

Rambo Rakesh was here!

A place to sit and think

Vaishno Mata Temple at Sagar

The photograph "Bathing Ghat Beside The Ganges River," is by Charles Parsons Pettus

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He is the richest among the kk clan, but lives by serving sanyasis, till recently.

 He wears simple dhoti and big necklace of rudraksha beads (actually dried fruit of the tree which are available at Hardwar), traveling by bus only when necessary. He prefers to walk “small” distances up to five miles.

 Now he is ill and tied to his house, which is part of our ancestral home, being the house attached to the pond for use of men folk. He has made only the minimum alterations.

He is fair, fat and handsome. He owns several plots of land. He has a collection of gold coins of different nations of the world, costing at least a few lacs of rupees, in addition to stocks and shares.

 No one knows his bank balance. He is notoriously miserly. While working in Rourkela Steel plant, where all Ramaphan brothers have worked, he used to carry tea in a thermos flask, along with his tiffin box. All his salary and plenty of overtime allowance, were deposited in the bank, surviving on frugal rice and dhal

His wife Parvathy too worked there. Once he was admitted in a hospital at Trichur. When his wife came to see him, he scolded her: Why did you waste the bus fare? Here the doctors and nurses are paid for looking after me.

Quite a few cents of the land had been washed away by the river. He reclaimed it by providing granite embankment right through the river and filling it with soil brought from a hill. The money spent is productive and so he does not mind it.

He paved the bathing ghat with granite, for the convenience of devotees at aaratu of Bhagavaty, of Kadalassery and Oorakath Ammatiruvadi, as both have it in our home.

 He is diabetic, but takes liberal quantities of rice and sweet things like appam, if offered free. I don’t want to live forever, he would say.

 He has no issues; he is seventy five.

I walked around to the south side of the lake and from here you can see the steps where everyone watches the sunset (tan steps in middle right of photo between two white buildings and below the tree line).  There are 52 bathing Ghats surrounding the lake that the pious Hindus dip into.  They believe that the water will cure skin ailments and has restorative powers to health.

Also known as Pushkar Sarovar, the lake is mentioned as a tourist site as early as 2,400 years ago when it was inscribed on coins of the period.  The number of travellers to the lake was also mentioned by Chinese traveller Fa Xian in the 5th Century AD.  In the 9th Century AD, a Rajput King, Nahar Rao Parkikar drove a white boar he was hunting to the edge of the lake.  There he put his hand into the water and a skin ailment that he was suffering from vanished.  He had the lake restored and it has continued to draw pious pilgrims in the centuries following.

The photo below is shot from the same location as the top photo but towards the left (northwest).  It is on the north and western shores of the lake that have the greatest concentration of Ghats.  You can also see the town of Pushkar, most of the “downtown” area is in the background of this photo.

Here is another shot looking towards the northwest.  This photo was taken from the southeast short of the lake near the pedestrian causeway.

In addition to the bathing Ghats, there are dozens of temples.  I visited a few of them and will post their photos later.  I shot this tall white spired temple on the east shore of the lake against the hills in the afternoon sun.

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