Anasagar Lake is located in which one of the following States?

Correct — C, Rajasthan. Anasagar is the large artificial lake at Ajmer, made in the twelfth century by Arnoraja, called Anaji, the grandfather of Prithviraj Chauhan — the lake takes its name from him. Jahangir later laid out the Daulat Bagh beside it and Shah Jahan added a line of marble pavilions along the embankment.

• (a)Gujarat — Gujarat's comparable water body is the Sahastralinga Talav at Patan, a Solanki-period tank; Anasagar is not there.
• (b)Uttarakhand — Uttarakhand's well-known lakes are the Kumaon group — Nainital, Bhimtal, Sattal, Naukuchiatal — all natural, not a dammed reservoir of the Chauhan period.
• (d)Karnataka — Karnataka's historic tanks belong to Vijayanagara and to Mysore; Anasagar has no connection with the Deccan.

Anasagar is a reservoir, not a natural lake. Arnoraja Chauhan had a bund thrown across a stream on the north side of Ajmer between about 1135 and 1150, and the sheet of water that formed behind it has defined the town ever since. Ajmer's other famous water body, Pushkar Lake, lies a short distance away and is a separate, sacred lake.

Rajasthan's man-made lakes are a recurring examination set because so many of them are royal engineering. Anasagar at Ajmer, Jaisamand and Pichola at Udaipur, Rajsamand near Kankroli and Sambhar, the great inland salt lake — knowing which town each belongs to disposes of most lake-location questions from the state.

• Anasagar lies at Ajmer, Rajasthan, and was built by Arnoraja alias Anaji, about 1135-1150.
• Jahangir laid out the Daulat Bagh garden on its bank; Shah Jahan added the marble pavilions known as the Baradari.
• Pushkar Lake, near Ajmer, is a different water body and a Hindu pilgrimage site.
• Sambhar, also in Rajasthan, is India's largest inland saline lake.

• Confusing Anasagar with Pushkar, both at Ajmer but quite different in kind and purpose.
• Treating every named Indian lake as natural; much of Rajasthan's water is impounded behind medieval bunds.

As a lake-to-state or lake-to-city pairing, sometimes inside a four-pair matching block.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Ana Sagar Lake was created by damming a stream during the reign of which dynasty?

  • (a)The Chauhans of Ajmer
  • (b)The Solankis of Gujarat
  • (c)The Sisodias of Mewar
  • (d)The Rathores of Marwar

  Answer(a) The Chauhans of Ajmer — Arnoraja, grandfather of Prithviraj Chauhan, built it in the twelfth century.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  India's largest inland saline lake is located in which State?

  • (a)Gujarat
  • (b)Rajasthan
  • (c)Andhra Pradesh
  • (d)Odisha

  Answer(b) Rajasthan — Sambhar Salt Lake, west of Jaipur.