The Mysterious Lake of Human Bones in Remote India

In 1942, a forest ranger discovered a lake full of human bones high in the Himalayans.  And when I say Roopkund Lake is full of human bones—the remains of around three hundred people rest in the lake water. 

The area is remote. Before a lake packed with dead folks was discovered, the only people who traveled in that area were pilgrims, devotees of the Hindu goddess Nanda Devi. It’s remote, remote.

So how did three hundred people end up dead in a lake? We needed a story. So we came up with a few.

#1. The bodies were Japanese soldiers planning an invasion. Remember the discovery was made during WW2, and the first story we come up with is often tied to our favorite bogeyman. This story didn’t last long, though, because the bones were obviously old. Very, very old. 

#2. The bones were left behind after a battle. Good idea. After all, iron spearheads and other weapons were found with the bodies. All of the skulls show evidence of blunt force drama. But…many of the bones belong to women and children. Eventually this story too was discarded. 

#3. According to local legend, the goddess of the area, Nanda Devi, was angry with the King of Kanauj, Raja Jasdhaval. She blighted his crops and spoiled his milk until the King decided to make a pilgrimage to her shrine to appease her. Only…the good king liked his comforts. Instead of making the trek in the traditional style (which often includes going barefoot), he decided to pack cheeses and sausage and second breakfast and a dance troupe and his preggo wife and cushions and spices and some pretty girls—all the cozy things. (Being Hindu, I’m guessing no sausage was actually involved. But you get the point.) 

The goddess was not pleased.

The goddess was not pleased. So she sent hailstones and crushed them all to death as they crossed a tiny valley along the mountain ridge. With time and snow, the bodies rolled down into the lake at the bottom of the steep little valley.

This proved to be a very popular story. I suspect people like it because it has elements we enjoy in stories, like hobbit-kings who like their comforts, and a vengeful goddess. We can imagine the horror and loneliness of death from hailstones in that little valley, with nowhere to run or hide, not a tree to offer shelter. Parents, children, friends, all helpless to save each other or themselves.

Then came the PLOT TWIST:

AKA DNA analysis. 

So it turns out that half those bodies are Greeks. Yup. Closely related to the Greeks currently living by the Aegean Sea. And although modern dating methods are a little sus, the Greeks probably died in the 1700’s. 

You finish the story. What were Greeks doing on a remote ridge-line in the Himalayans? 

You finish the story. What were Greeks doing on a remote ridge-line high in the Himalayans? 

If you’d like to learn more about the lake of bones, I found this article from the New Yorker fascinating.