{"id":121946,"date":"2026-08-31T18:19:46","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T12:49:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=121946"},"modified":"2026-08-31T18:19:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T12:49:46","slug":"renuka-lake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/renuka-lake\/","title":{"rendered":"Renuka Lake, Location, Biodiversity, Religious Significance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Renuka Lake is a natural freshwater lake in Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, located in the lower Himalayas. <\/span><b>Named after Renuka, the mother of Parashurama<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the lake is known for its distinctive shape, rich biodiversity and religious significance. It was <\/span><b>designated a Ramsar Site in 2005.<\/b><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Renuka Lake<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Renuka Lake lies in <\/span><b>Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, about 37 km from Nahan and 60 km from Paonta Sahib.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The lake is situated at about <\/span><b>672 metres above sea level<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and has a circumference of approximately 3.2 km.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Renuka is the <\/span><b>largest natural freshwater lake in Himachal Pradesh.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Renuka Lake is an oxbow lake formed from an abandoned course of the Giri River<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It was created when the river changed its course, leaving a curved section of its former channel separated from the main river. The <\/span><b>Giri River is a tributary of the Yamuna<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its present water supply comes mainly from subterranean freshwater springs and small rain-fed streams.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The lake&#8217;s outline <\/span><b>resembles a reclining woman<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, traditionally identified with <\/span><b>Renuka<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, giving the lake its name.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Renuka Lake is <\/span><b>associated with Goddess Renuka, wife of Sage Jamadagni and mother of Parashurama<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, giving the wetland considerable religious importance.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The surrounding forests support diverse flora and fauna, including <\/span><b>sal, shisham, kachnar and amaltas, along with sambar, barking deer, goral, Himalayan black bear and langur.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The wetland supports <\/span><b>more than 100 bird species<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, including resident and migratory waterbirds.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Renuka is one of the three Ramsar Sites in Himachal Pradesh, along with Chandra Taal and Pong Dam Lake. It was <\/span><b>designated a Wetland of International Importance under the <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/ramsar-convention-on-wetlands\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ramsar Convention<\/a> on 8 November 2005.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With a Ramsar area of 20 hectares, <\/span><b>Renuka Wetland is India&#8217;s smallest Ramsar Site by area.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The lake <\/span><b>lies within the Renuka Wildlife Sanctuary<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which protects its surrounding ecosystem.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Renukaji Temple<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> stands on the bank of the lake, making it an important pilgrimage site.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The annual <\/span><b>Renukaji Fair<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is held around Prabodhini Ekadashi, generally in November, and attracts pilgrims and visitors.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Boating is permitted at the lake, while fishing is strictly prohibited because of its sacred status and protected-wetland setting.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Siltation, plastic and tourist litter, invasive aquatic weeds and eutrophication from surrounding runoff pose major threats to the lake&#8217;s ecological health.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Renuka Lake in Himachal Pradesh is a Ramsar Site known for its freshwater ecosystem, biodiversity, religious significance, unique shape and natural beauty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":121984,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[786],"tags":[9900],"class_list":["post-121946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-general-studies","tag-renuka-lake","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121946"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121962,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121946\/revisions\/121962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}