Dhankhar Lake

My name is Dikit Yangzom. I am from Dhankhar village. Dhankhar is high on a cliff overlooking the confluence of the Spiti and Pin Rivers. It was once the capital of Spiti. Dhankhar has two monasteries, and old one and a new monastery. The old monastery is about 800 years old.

Dhankhar village; the old monastery is on the left.

Two kilometres above my village is a big lake . Three springs fill this lake. People come from all villages and other countries to see the lake. Every year Dhankhar villagers clean the lake. The following day two Khandoma, sky dwelling goddesses, come to the lake and clean it again. If you throw a stone in the lake it will rain. The lake provides clean drinking water for my village. In the center of the lake there is a window. Nobody knows what is on the other side of this window, but in the old days, a man who did not know about this window, went for a swim in the lake. The next day pieces of his body were found in the village’s drinking water. So, now, no one goes swimming in Dhankhar Lake.