The Sangestar Tso, formerly called Shonga-tser Lake and popularly known as the Madhuri Lake, is located on the way from

Tawang Tawang is a town and administrative headquarter of Tawang district in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. It lies on NH-13 section of Trans-Arunachal Highway. The town was once the headquarter of the Tawang Tract, which is now divided into ...

Bum La Pass The Bum La Pass is a border pass between China's Tsona County in Tibet and India's Tawang district in Arunachal Pradesh. It is 37 km away from the town of Tawang in India's Tawang district and 43 km from the town of Tsona Dzong in ...

Tawang district Tawang district (Pron:/tɑ:ˈwæŋ or təˈwæŋ/) is the smallest of the 26 Districts of Arunachal Pradesh, administrative districts of Arunachal Pradesh state in northeastern India. With a population of 49,977, it is the eighth least populous ...

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...

, near Indo-China border above above sea level.Sangetsar Lake, a beautiful paradise near Tawang, named after Madhuri Dixit
The Times of India, 29 January 2019.Sangestar Tso
Government of Arunachal Pradesh, retrieved 10 July 2020.Lake created by an earthquake: Sangestar Tso, Tawang
thelandofwanderlustcom, retrieved 14 November 2021.

Geography

Sangestar Tso is located about north of

and west of

, which is a border trading point between India and China. The Taktsang Chu river that originates below the Takpo Shiri glacier to the north, flows through this region. It flows west and then southwest to join the

Nyamjang Chu The Nyamjang Chu, or Nyashang Chu () is a cross-border perennial river that originates in the Shannan Prefecture of Tibet and flows into the Arunachal Pradesh state of India, joining the Tawang Chu river just before it enters Bhutan. The Nyamja ...

river downstream. The Taktsang Gompa is within the area, to the west. The Sangesstar Tso was created by falling rocks, boulders and trees in an earthquake.

Tourism

Visit by civilian tourist of India is permissible with permission from the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

. The track is very treacherous, only

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definition ...

s advisable, and that too only on clear weather day with no snowfall or rainfall.

Permit

A special permit is required to visit the

. Permits are requested at the Office of the Deputy Commissioner in

Tawang District Tawang district (Pron:/tɑ:ˈwæŋ or təˈwæŋ/) is the smallest of the 26 Districts of Arunachal Pradesh, administrative districts of Arunachal Pradesh state in northeastern India. With a population of 49,977, it is the eighth least populous ...

, and they are in the Indian army cantonment at the

town. Without the army stamp, visitors are not allowed through the numerous check posts along the way.

Popular culture

The lake was featured in a

Madhuri Dixit Madhuri Dixit Nene (Maiden and married names, née Dixit, ; born 15 May 1967) is an Indian actress and television personality. She has appeared in Madhuri Dixit filmography, over 70 Hindi films. Praised by critics for her performances and danc ...

(

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

actress) dance sequence in the movie

Koyla ''Koyla'' ( Coal) is a 1997 Indian Hindi-language action film, action thriller film directed, co-written and produced by Rakesh Roshan starring Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Amrish Puri in lead roles with Johnny Lever, Ashok Saraf, Salim Gh ...

, as a result of which it has come to be called the ''Madhuri lake''.

Gallery

File:Sangetsar Lake.jpg File:Madhuri lake.jpg File:Lake Shungtser at Tawang-3.jpg

References