Floating Island at Parashar Lake – Mystery Behind the Tehla Islet Unravelled

Abstract

The Parashar Lake, situated at an altitude of 9000 feet in Mandi district, has an island floating in it. This floating island, which also keeps changing its position within the lake, is an enigma for visitors. But the fabrication of a floating island was not difficult for the great sage Rishi Parashar, who had mastery over fourteen branches of knowledge, including Astrology, Agriculture, Plant Science, Ayurveda, Geology and Hydrology. Floating islands are routinely created in the Dal lake at Srinagar, and utilized for growing vegetables. The technique of fabricating floating vegetable gardens in Kashmir is age old, and was probably devised by the ancient sages, who were contemporaries of Rishi Parashar. The latter Rishi, besides creating such enigmatic landmarks in the ashrams and places named after him, also named these landmarks cryptically, as hints for future generations. Thus, the name of the floating island is Tehla, which is also the name of the village from where one gains access to the hilly Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar district of Rajasthan. The rocky terrain of Sariska forest provided safe refuge to the Pandavas during the last year of their exile, when they were supposed to stay incognito.