Macchial Lake
Macchial Lake is a low altitude lake which is situated in Mandi district (7 km from the Jogindernagar town). This lake is considered sacred and is named after Macchendru Devta or Matasya Avtar of Lord Vishnu.[1]
References
- ↑ Machhiyal is sacred to local natives and surrounding villages. In earlier days people made their wishes to Machhendru Devta and on fulfillment of their wishes they offer the promised gift to Machhendru Devta. One of such offerings was to ornament the sacred Mahashir fish with gold nasal rings and in earlier days (15-20 year ago) such sacred Mahashir fish wearing golden rings could be noticed easily in the Lake. This tradition has almost disappeared nowadays. However it is still very common to feed sacred Mahashir fish to observe happy ceremony and/or as a wish for good luck and to avoid bad luck.
A fair marking the commencement the Indian traditional month of Vaishakh is held here every year. Fair is held for 3 days in which people from surrounding villages gather and observe the fair with great pomp and show. Along with a number of other sports activities wrestling is center of interest which is held on the final day. Wrestlers from distant cities and districts come to show their talent and to win a handsome prize money.
Around 2000, due to presence of some poisonous element in the Ranna or Gugli river water many of the sacred Mahashir fish died in and around the Machhiyal Lake. Showing divine respect toward the Machhendru Devta devotees buried all the dead fish in near by land and criticized the bad deed with anger and resentment.
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 Hydrography of Himachal Pradesh
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