Khecheopalri The wish fulfilling lake

Located in West district of Sikkim and situated at a distance of 25 kms from Pelling lies the Khecheopalri Lake. It is one the most important sacred lakes of the state also notified as the sacred lake by the State government, and is considered sacred by both the Buddhist and the Hindus. The placid waters of the lake attract many pilgrims and tourists, it is one of the tourist hotspot and the lake receives more than 60,000 visitors in a season as told by the people residing in the area.

The Lake remains hidden under the rich forest cover and it is unbelievable to see the lake clear without a single leaf floating on it. It is believed that birds do not permit even a single leaf to float on the Khecheopalri lake surface.

It is also known as the wish fulfilling lake and is regarded as one of the blessed lake by ‘Guru Padmasambhava’. Guru Padmasambhava also preached 64 yoginis in this place and according to Buddhist literature the lake is dwelling place of the Goddess tara Jestum Dolma, and th shape of the lake also signifies to be her foot print. The lake also serves as a livelihood for the locals around the lake.

The 15th full moon day of the 1st month of lunar calendar which falls in Feb-March, there is usually a festival of mass worshipping of lake with prayers and offerings during when the lake area is fully crowded with pilgrims. Above the lake in about one hour walk there is a monastery named Khecheopalri Monastery on the hill. The monastery is said to have been founded by the, first “Khecheo Rimpoche”. Almost all the monks of this monastery are Lepchas except a few Bhutia monks. On the other side similarly n about one hour walk from the lake there is a holy cave which the visitors can visit. There is also a beautiful village of Lepchas and their culture traditions and way of life are interesting to experience.

The lake is more important for the nature lovers as there are migratory birds which visit the lake and the bog, common ones are large cormorant, Common merganser, Common teal, ferruginous pochard etc. Occurrence of black-necked crane was also reported once in the year 2002.

Overview

This 3500 years old lake is surrounded by forested Ramam watersheds (12km) and falls on the southern limit of Kangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve (KBR) limiting the reserve forest boundaries of the lake. The open water surface is estimated to be 37,900 m with a mean dept of 7.2m. The lake is well drained from the watersheds with internal seepage flowing from two perennial and five seasonal inlets which are believed to recharge the aquifers below the lake. The lake drainage area constitutes of 91 hectares, of which water from 68 hectares falls in the inlet stream rising from the water shed and 23 hectares falls directly into the lake which brings the sediments and nutrients to the lake. The lake water outflows through one perennial outlet. The lake is halting place for trans-Himalayan migratory birds which use the lake as a stopover place in between November and March. The lake is surrounded with marginal vegetation forming ‘kettle hole bog’ dominated by Sphagnum sp. The bog has an area of 70,100m with the peat formation of around 2-5m dept (Jain, 2000).