THE SPOOKY WATERS OF ROOPKUND: THE SKELETON LAKE REMAINS A MYSTERY

Dhriti Chopra

THE SPOOKY WATERS OF ROOPKUND: THE SKELETON LAKE REMAINS A MYSTERY

With bright hues of blue and white, the sky never looked better. The bird chirps, flying from one end to the other. While the greens of the land are competing with the aesthetics of the shiny sun and grainy sky above us. As you reach the end of the trek, sweaty and ready to chill by the lake, beads of sweat run down your spine when you see what lay by the lake- broken bones, hanging skulls and hundreds of skeletons.

Roopkund Lake in all its glory. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

India offers hundreds of destinations to the outdoorsy humans, waiting to pack their bags and get onto a week-long journey, either solo or with a bunch of strangers. The mountains of North India offer some of the best trekking experiences for the adventurous. One such spontaneous trek that is quite popular these days is the Roopkund trek.

What could be the reason for its newly gained popularity? The canopy of oak trees that dominates the trek and makes everything look even better? No. The local wildflower known as bugyal is only found in this region? No. The picturesque view makes you forget all the troubles and think only about the good in life? Well, no. The reason is pretty interesting.

The search for this answer continued when in 2004 a new theory erupted. It was believed that there were people who were on their way to the Nanda Devi Raj Jat Yatra which happens once in 12 years. On their way, they, unfortunately, met with a hailstorm that led to their death. The legend states that these people were none other than the King of Kannauj, Raja Jasdhaval who was on his way to the Yatra with his wife and family.

However, this lake became the talk amongst scientists and archaeologists. They couldn’t wait to solve this mystery and the first ancient-human genome was done to figure out the skeletons through more organised and detailed data. While some were expecting surprising finds, no one expected what they found out.

According to the data collected. 38 skeletons out of the lot belonged to a completely different genetic group and it was believed that the skeletons were not deposited at once but at different events over 1000 years. Other than that, the origin of these skeletons also differed. While some belonged to the South-Asian region, others were of Mediterranean ancestry.

Even after a lot of speculation, we are not sure as to what exactly happened and to who does these carcasses belong. Yet, due to its haunting and spooky nature, it has become one of the popular destinations amongst the trekkers. This location is a must-visit and should be on the bucket list to witness the peculiarity of nature with our own naked eyes.

When you finish your trek, you reach a ridge and around 200m below the ridge lies Roopkund. When you cover the 200m distance, you come across a glacial lake, so pretty and white, yet once the water melts you can see around 300 skeletons on the bottom of the lake. What are these skeletons and how did they find their way to this lake?

Well, in 1942, a forest ranger from the Nanda Devi National Park- Hari Kishan Madhwai found himself walking under the canopy of Roopkund. He stumbles across a pile of bones and skulls that didn’t just shock the official but made him think about this bizarre activity. He reported this activity to his office and this led to a whole investigation to figure out what exactly happened for these bones to become the identity of the lake.

Through archaeological studies and various testings, it was believed that the bones belong to the 9th century period. The bones were of Japanese or Tibetan soldiers who were travelling on the Silk Route and met their demise due to exposure to certain elements they were not immune to. While this theory continued for years, there was something peculiar about this belief since no weapons were found on the site.