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In Hindu mythology Ravana is depicted as the ten headed demon king. It is said that the king had performed austerities on the island situated in a lake in Tibet to appease the deity Lord Shiva, who resided in a mountain nearby to acquire unprecedented power. When meditation was not enough, the king shook up the mountain of residence of the god! Still left with no results, he began to sacrifice one of his ten heads each day. On the 10th day the almighty pleased with his devotee's determination, sacrifice and prayer appeared infront to grant the wish.
This lake is known as Langa Tso or La Nga Tso in Tibet, Rakshas Tal, Ravana Tal or Ravan Harda in India.
According to some versions this lake was created by none other than the demon king himself with the sole purpose of prayer and meditation. Thus, Rakshas Tal, Ravana Tal or Ravan Harda all translates as the Lake of Ravana.
The Lake of the Demon or Lake of Poisoned Water or Poison Lake (as it is also called) has severe notoriety associated with it and no one is supposed to take a dip or drink from it. Securing a place for itself in the list of 10 top notorious lakes in the world!
Tibetan Buddhists too consider this lake as unholy but the origin of the name remains unclear. The actual spelling of the lake in English (it's a tricky business in the first place to write Tibetan or Ladakhi names in English due to phonetic and grammatical reasons) is Lag ngar Tso. After some research one feasible translation of the Tibetan word Lag ngar by author and Tibetan translator Sarah Harding came up as ulna. Ulna is the thinner and longer of the two bones in the human forearm, on the side opposite to the thumb. At the cost of sounding foolish and completely off the mark it appealed nevertheless. Geographical movements had separated this lake from an adjoining one of superior repute called Mapham Tso and thus it left me wondering if it was referred to as an arm or extension of the other lake in olden times? Though it is clearly stated that in Buddhism while Mapham Tso is considered as the Sun (representing light) due to its round shape, Langa Tso in contrast is considered as the Moon (representing darkness) due to its crescent shape. From the aerial and satellite shots the shape depiction may not seem entirely convincing to faithless and hopeless beings one such as thyself.
Keeping aside the mythological concoctions, the lake must have gained it's notoriety due to the saline nature which restricts any water weed or other aquatic life growth. Though during the winter months when the lake's surface freezes into an ice sheet it is not unusual for nomads to take their cattle for grazing to the islands in the middle of the lake. One can't help but think if such notoriety was associated during the time when it was still a part of Mapham Tso, which is a fresh water lake or the channel that later connected (still does connect) the two lakes called Ganga Chhu (chhu is water in Tibetan) and drained the excess glacier melt water (from Mapham Tso) into the Langa Tso basin preventing salinity? Also, according to mythology Mapham Tso was conceived in the mind of the almighty creator, while Langa Tso was a demon's creation. If both was one singular lake before the geographical gig in the Tibetan Plateau then where does the two creator theory stand? However, mythology and logic were never bosom friends and thus looking into such things are either dubbed as futile or sacrilegious but it leaves one frustrated nevertheless because if layers of each legend, folklore or even mythology is peeled away then some facts and figures does usually emerge.
Situated at an altitude of 4, 752 meters / 15, 591 ft., covers an area of 250 sq kms / 97 sq mi. From the north western tip of the lake originates the river Śutudri in Sanskrit, more popularly known as Sutlej or Satluj in India and gLang chen kha 'bab or Glang-chen Kha-'bab in Tibet. Needless to say the water of this river is integral part of irrigation both in India and Pakistan (where it completes its course).
