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Kankaria Lake and Zoo, Ahmedabad, Gujarat



Kankaria Lake, formerly known as Hauj-e-Qutb, is the second largest lake in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. It is located in the south-eastern part of the city, in the Maninagar area. It was completed in 1451 during the reign of Sultan Qutb-ud-Din Ahmad Shah II though its origin is placed in the Chaulukya period sometimes. A lakefront is developed around it, which has many public attractions such as a zoo, toy train, kids city, tethered balloon ride, water rides, water park, food stalls, and entertainment facilities. The lakefront was revamped in 2008. Kankaria Carnival is a week-long festival held here in the last week of December. Many cultural, art, and social activities are organised during the carnival.

Several stories are told for its name Kankaria. One reason said is that it was named thus due to large quantities of limestone (kankar in Gujarati) dug out of it during excavation. Another story narrates that the Sultan Qutb-ud-Din asked the saint Shah Alam to select the site for the tank and the garden. The saint scattered some pebbles at the site which was excavated and the lake was built. Thus it was named Kankaria. Another story says the saint Hazrat-i-Shah Alam cut his foot on a pebble while passing through excavation and exclaimed, "What a pebble!" So it was named Kankaria (pebbly). It was mentioned as Hauj-e-Qutb (the tank of Qutb) after the Sultan Qutb-ud-Din in the inscription at Kankaria.

There are various versions of its origin. According to the 14th century chronicler Merutunga, Chaulukya ruler Karna built a temple dedicated to the goddess Kochharba at Ashapalli after defeating the its Bhil chief Asha. He also established the Karnavati city nearby, where he commissioned the Karneshvara/Karnamukteshwara and Jayantidevi temples. He also built the Karnasagara tank at Karnavati next to Karneshvara temple. Karnavati is identified with modern Ahmedabad and Karnasagar tank is identified with Kankaria lake but this identification is not certain. Another version attributes the lake to the Kankana Devi from which it takes its name.

The construction of the lake started by Sultan Muizz-ud-Din Muhammad Shah II in the 15th century. The inscription at the lake mentions that it was, it was completed during the reign of Sultan Qutb-ud-Din Ahmad Shah II in 1451. According to this plate, its name is placed as "Hauj-e-Qutb" (Pond of Qutb) after him. Whether the lake existed before this and was only widened or deepened in 1452 or whether it was created from scratch at that time is something that still remains unresolved.

Throughout the period of the Gujarat Sultanate and of Mughal rule, the Kankaria lake with its Nagina Bagh were the favourite leisure place of rulers and the people and it were among the tourist sights of Ahmedabad ever since. The European travellers of the seventeenth century, Pietro Della Valle (1623), Johan Albrecht de Mandelslo (1638), Jean de Thévenot (l666), all had visited the lake gave its accounts.

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