Saiful Muluk () is a mountainous lake in

northern Pakistan Northern Pakistan ( ) is a tourism region in northern and north-western parts of Pakistan, comprising the administrative units of Gilgit-Baltistan (formerly known as '' Northern Areas''), Azad Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad Capita ...

, located at the northern end of the

Kaghan Valley The Kaghan Valley (Hindko, ) is an Alpine climate, alpine valley in Mansehra District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The valley stretches across the northern Pakistan, rising from its lowest elevation of to its highest point at the Babusar P ...

, near the town of Naran in the

Saiful Muluk National Park Saiful Muluk National Park () is situated in the Kaghan Valley within the Mansehra District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The park was officially declared in 2003,

. At an elevation of 3,224 m (10,578 feet) above sea level, the lake is located above the

tree line The tree line is the edge of a habitat at which trees are capable of growing and beyond which they are not. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually low ...

, and is one of the highest lakes in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Location

Saiful Muluk is located in the

Mansehra district Mansehra District (Urdu, ) is a district in the Hazara Division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northern Pakistan. Mansehra city serves as the headquarters of the district. The district has a Hindkowan majority, with a significant Pashtun and Kohista ...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

, about north of Naran, in the northern part of

Malika Parbat Malika Parbat (; ''Queen of the Mountains'') (el. ) is the highest peak in Kaghan Valley and also the highest in the Hazara region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It lies about south of Lake Saiful Muluk, near Ansoo Lake. The mountain is clear ...

, the highest peak in the valley is near the lake. The lake is accessible from the nearby town of Naran during the summer season but access during winter is limited, as heavy snowfall and landslides threaten to cutoff the lake from other regions.

Physical features

Saiful Muluk was formed by glacial moraines that blocked the water of the stream passing through the valley. The

was formed in the greater Pleistocene Period dating back almost 300,000 years when the area was covered with ice. Rising temperatures and receding glaciers left a large depression where glaciers once stood. Melting water collected into the lake. Saif-ul-Muluk Complete Panorama in Spring

Saif-ul-Muluk Complete Panorama in Spring

Ecology

The lake has rich eco-diversity and holds many species of blue-green algae. Large

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...

are found in the lake, up to about seven kilograms. About 26 species of

vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes (, ) or collectively tracheophyta (; ), are plants that have lignin, lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They also have a specialized non-lignified Ti ...

exist in the area, with

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

the most commonly found species. Other species commonly found in the region are:

Ranunculaceae Ranunculaceae (, buttercup or crowfoot family; Latin "little frog", from "frog") is a family (biology), family of over 2,000 known species of flowering plants in 43 genera, distributed worldwide. The largest genera are ''Ranunculus'' (600 spec ...

Compositae Asteraceae () is a large family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchidaceae, and which is the larger fa ...

Cruciferae Brassicaceae () or (the older but equally valid) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some a ...

Gramineae Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated i ...

Apiaceae Apiaceae () or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium,'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot, or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering p ...

Leguminosae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

Scrophulariaceae The Scrophulariaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the figwort family. The plants are annual and perennial herbs, as well as shrubs. Flowers have bilateral (zygomorphic) or rarely radial (actinomorphic) symmetry. The Scr ...

and

Polygonaceae The Polygonaceae are a Family (biology), family of flowering plants known Common name, informally as the knotweed family or smartweed—buckwheat family in the United States. The Botanical name, name is Basionym, based on the genus ''Polygonum'', ...

Folklore

The Lake Saiful Muluk is named after a legendary prince from the tale titled ''Saiful Muluk'', later on put into poem form by the

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

poet

Mian Muhammad Bakhsh Mīān Muhammad Bakhsh (, ; – 22 January 1907) was a Punjabi Muslim poet from Khari Sharif, in present-day Azad Jammu and Kashmir. He wrote 18 books during his lifetime of 77 years, especially remembered for his romantic epic poem, "'' S ...

. It tells the story of the Egyptian Prince Saiful Malook who fell in love with a fairy princess named Princess Badri-ul-Jamala at the lake. The ''Story of Prince Saiful Maluk'' () is an Arabic fable, a story of love between a prince and a fairy. It is considered a later addition to the ''

One Thousand and One Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition ( ...

'' collection of

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

fable Fable is a literary genre defined as a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a parti ...

s, and manuscripts of the story are dated to the 17th century. In South Asia, the story was put into Punjabi verse by 19th-century poet and mystic

. It has also been retold in numerous languages such as Balochi,

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, English,

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

and Punjabi. According to the folklore, Saiful Maluk (whose name means 'Sword of the Kings') was a prince of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. He had significant wealth which he had inherited from his forefathers. Inscribed on the treasure were two seals; one bearing the image of Saiful Muluk and the other one being that of Badi-ul-Jamala. One night, Prince Saiful Maluk saw in a dream, a lake and a fairy. He got up and went to tell his dream to his father, asking him about the place and the fairy. His father told him that he can't meet the fairy as she isn't human, unlike him. However, the longer the prince recollected his dream, the more he was overwhelmed with love for the fairy.Marzolph, Ulrich; van Leewen, Richard. ''The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia''. Vol. I. California: ABC-Clio. 2004. pp. 362-364. (e-book)

Gallery

Hover the mouse click or tap on the following images to see their captions. File:Lake Saiful Malook naran 05.jpg, Lake Saiful Muluk under clouds File:Saif ul Malook, House of Fairies.jpg, A view of lake in Wortez File:Saif ul malook lake-01.jpg, Lake Saiful Muluk in a sunny day File:Lake-Saiful-Malook.jpg, A full view of Lake Saif-ul-Muluk File:Saif-ul-malook naran valley.jpg, Lake Saif ul Malook in May 2017 File:The Frozen Saif Ul Malook Lake.jpg, The lake freezes over in winter File:Saif Ul Muluk.jpg, alt=Saif Ul Muluk, Lake Saif ul Muluk in December 2012 File:Lake Saif ul Malook, Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa.jpg, Tourist point with Lake File:Boat in Saif ul Maluk Lake.jpg, A boat in Saiful Maluk Lake File:Lake Saif-Ul-Mulook.jpg, Lake Saif-Ul-Mulook, Kaghan Valley, Pakistan File:Saif_ul_Maluk_Lake_Pakistan_(Night_view)_Abdul_Majid.jpg, Lake Saif-Ul-Mulook at night File:Lake Saiful Malook on rainy morning.jpg, Lake Saiful Malook Pakistan

References

External links

About Saiful Malook LakePTDC Official website
{{Authority control Saiful Muluk Pakistani folklore