Myths and legends

Lake Phoksundo is considered as the deepest lake in Nepal. They say that it appeared only 800 years ago, during the time of the great Guru Padmasambhava, who killed many demons in the valleys of the Himalayas.

Earlier, an spiteful demoness lived in this place. When she found out that Padmasambhava was heading to her place of residence, the demoness hid and bribed the local residents with pieces of turquoise so that they would not tell anyone about her refuge.

Padmasambhava immediately suspected that something was wrong and dispelled the demoness's spell. The pieces of turquoise actually turned out to be pieces of dung. The angry peasants told the great guru about the place where she hid.

Seeing Padmasambhava, the demoness ran away along a narrow rocky path (now this path on the shore of the lake is called the "demoness's path"), but in retaliation for the fact that the peasants gave her away, she flooded the entire valley with water. This is how Lake Phoksundo appeared with water of amazing turquoise color. It is said that sometimes the remains of a flooded village are visible in the water of the lake.