Amar Sagar Lake

Distance :7km west of Jaisalmer

¤ Lake Attractions

Amar Sagar is a small but pretty lake adjacent to a 17th century pleasure palace called the Amar Singh Palace. It was built by Maharawal Akhai Singh (reigned 1722-61) in honour of one of his predecessors Amar Singh. Next to the palace are pavilions with a large jetty leading down to Amar Sagar Lake.

In close proximity to the lake are figureheads of various animals carved in stone. Located nearby are many wells and cenotaphs of the royal family as well as a large garden with a water tank in the middle known inevitably as the Amar Singh Tank. Being an ardent devotee of Shiva Amar Singh had a Shiv temple built in the complex – a tribute to the deity known as the Destroyer among the holy trinity of gods in the Hindu pantheon.


¤ Jain Temple Attractions

As Jaisalmer was located on the trade route with west Asia, there was a pre-ponderance of wealthy Jain businessmen in the city who constructed many fine Jain temples. Amar Sagar has as many as three, the most famous of which is the Adeshwar Nath Jain temple built by Patwa Bafna Himmat Ram in 1928. Located towards the rear end of the tank, the temple is carved in what must have been a fairly avant garde design at that time, with one projection made in ivory coloured marble.

There are two other Jain temples at Amar Sagar with ornately sculpted galleries and latticed walls surrounded by old step-wells. The lake usually dries up in the summer heat, but commeth the monsoon and it fairly brimmeth over.