Renuka Lake and Temple
A Hindu pilgrimage site in Sirmaur district, Himachal Pradesh, India, centred on a lake named for the goddess Renuka and a Ramsar-listed wetland since 2005 — this profile covers the physical lake-temple complex and its annual fair, not the goddess as a religious concept.
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- Location
- Sirmaur district, Himachal Pradesh
- Country
- India
- Location
- About 37 km from Nahan and 60 km from Paonta Sahib, Sirmaur district
- Ramsar wetland designation
- 8 November 2005
- Ramsar site area
- 20 hectares
- Ramsar site coordinates
- 31°37'N, 77°27'E
- Annual fair
- International Shri Renuka Ji Fair, held around Kartik Purnima (October/November)
Overview
Renuka Lake and its adjoining temple sit in Sirmaur district, Himachal Pradesh, India, about 37 km from Nahan and 60 km from Paonta Sahib (Sirmaur District Administration). This profile covers that physical lake-temple complex and the pilgrimage activity built around it — not Renuka as an abstract figure in Hindu mythology, who in tradition is the consort of the sage Jamadagni and mother of Parashurama.
The lake itself is horseshoe-shaped and, according to the district government’s own tourism page, is ringed by boating and fishing facilities operated by the state tourism department, a government-run mini zoo housing species such as the Himalayan black bear and barking deer, and trekking routes into the surrounding forest (Sirmaur District Administration).
Ramsar wetland status
On 8 November 2005, the wetland at Renuka Lake was formally designated a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention. The Ramsar Sites Information Service records the designated site as 20 hectares, fed by a stream flowing into the Giri river, and notes that it supports 103 recorded bird species and 19 fish species. The same record states that the lake “has high religious significance and is named after the mother of Hindu sage Parshuram,” and that it is managed under a dual designation as a Reserve Forest and Wildlife Sanctuary (Ramsar Sites Information Service).
The Shri Renuka Ji Fair
The site hosts an annual multi-day fair timed to Kartik Purnima. In 2024 the fair ran for five days, from 11 to 15 November. Ahead of it, Sirmaur Deputy Speaker Vinay Kumar chaired a planning meeting with Deputy Commissioner Sumit Khimta and Nahan Sub-Divisional Magistrate Saleem Azam (secretary of the fair committee), covering plastic-free enforcement, streetlighting, traffic and parking, healthcare deployment, a dedicated bathing ghat for women, and security (The Tribune).
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu inaugurated that year’s fair on 12 November 2024 by carrying the traditional palanquin at Jamu Koti village, a ritual The Tribune’s coverage frames around the fair’s founding narrative: that King Sahasrabahu killed the sage Jamadagni after being refused the sage’s divine cow, that a grief-stricken Renuka drowned herself in the lake, and that Jamadagni’s son Parashurama avenged his father and vowed to be reunited with his mother at the site each year — a reunion the fair is said to commemorate (The Tribune).
What this profile does not claim
No source read for this profile gives a construction date or architectural history for the temple building itself, so none is asserted here. The two government sources used here also give different figures for the site’s “area” — 2.5 km on the district tourism page versus 20 hectares in the Ramsar record — and this profile does not attempt to reconcile them, since they may describe different boundaries (a tourist zone versus a formally delimited wetland). No fair-attendance figures were located in the sources used, and no year-by-year fair history beyond 2024 is asserted.
Timeline
- 2005-11-08
- The wetland at Renuka Lake is designated a Ramsar site of international importance.
- 2024-11
- Ahead of that year's five-day fair (11–15 November), Sirmaur district officials — Deputy Speaker Vinay Kumar, Deputy Commissioner Sumit Khimta and Nahan SDM Saleem Azam — meet to plan security, sanitation, healthcare and traffic arrangements.
- 2024-11-12
- Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu inaugurates the fair at Jamu Koti village, carrying the traditional palanquin as part of the fair's rituals.
What we could not verify
These claims came up in research and could not be confirmed. They are recorded here rather than published as fact or quietly dropped. If you hold a source that settles one, please tell us.
- The Sirmaur district tourism page states the site's "area coverage" as 2.5 km, while the Ramsar Sites Information Service gives the designated wetland's area as 20 hectares; these are not obviously the same measurement (a lake/tourist-zone footprint versus a formally delimited wetland boundary), and no source read for this profile reconciles the two figures.
- No construction date, architectural history, or founding period for the temple structure itself was located in any government, heritage or news source read for this profile.
- Attendance figures for the annual fair (how many pilgrims attend in a given year) were not found in the sources used here.
Sources
4 sources (4 tier 1), each opened and read against the claim it supports. Every source is independent of the subject; no first-party material is cited. See the source policy.
Location and visitor-facility details are drawn from the Sirmaur district government's own tourism page; the wetland's protected status and ecological data come from the Ramsar Convention's own site record; the fair's mythological narrative and administrative detail come from The Tribune's independent news coverage rather than from temple or tourism promotional material.
- Renuka Ji | District Sirmaur, Government of Himachal Pradesh Supports: Location, distances from Nahan and Paonta Sahib, elevation, boating/fishing facilities, the state-run mini zoo, and access routes.
- Renuka Wetland Supports: Ramsar designation date, coordinates, wetland area, biodiversity data, and management as a Reserve Forest and Wildlife Sanctuary.
- CM inaugurates historic Shri Renuka Ji fair Supports: The Chief Minister's inauguration of the 2024 fair, the palanquin ritual at Jamu Koti village, and the Sahasrabahu–Jamadagni–Renuka–Parashurama narrative as recounted in coverage of the fair.
- Deputy Speaker, admn chalk out plan for Shri Renuka Ji fair Supports: Names and roles of the district officials planning the fair, and the specific arrangements (security, healthcare, traffic, sanitation) put in place for it.
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