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The largest natural lake in Himachal Pradesh, in Sirmaur district, a Ramsar site since 2005 and one of India's smallest designated wetlands.
Renuka Lake is a natural freshwater lake in the Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh, lying at about 672 metres above sea level in the lower Himalayan foothills near Nahan. It is the largest natural lake in Himachal Pradesh, with a circumference of roughly 3.2 kilometres, and the surrounding forest is protected as the Renuka Wildlife Sanctuary. The lake takes its name from Goddess Renuka, wife of the sage Jamadagni and mother of Parshuram, and its outline is popularly said to resemble the figure of a reclining woman. It was designated a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention on 8 November 2005 and, at roughly 20 hectares, is among the smallest Ramsar sites in India — the standard illustration that Ramsar status follows ecological and cultural value rather than size.
Type: PhenomenonLocation — Sirmaur district, Himachal Pradesh, in the Shivalik foothills near the town of Nahan; altitude about 672 m
Largest natural lake in Himachal Pradesh by area, with a circumference of about 3,214 metres
Ramsar site since 8 November 2005 (Ramsar site no. 1571), covering roughly 20 hectares — one of the smallest sites on India's Ramsar list
Protected surroundings — the Renuka Wildlife Sanctuary covers about 4.02 sq km and reports around 24 mammal species and over 100 bird species; the mahseer (Tor tor) is among the notable fish
Drainage — the lake lies in the catchment of the Giri river, a major tributary of the Yamuna that rises in the Kotkhai hills
Adjacent Parshuram Tal, a smaller water body, is associated in local tradition with Parshuram, the son of Renuka
Cultural anchor — the annual Renuka Fair, held in November, brings idols of Parshuram in procession to the lake in a symbolic reunion of mother and son
Pressures — siltation from the surrounding catchment, encroachment and tourist load are the recognised threats to the wetland
Frequency: Moderate — Ramsar sites are a near-annual Prelims theme, and Renuka appears regularly in match-the-following and location-based questions
Himachal Pradesh / Sirmaur
About 672 metres above sea level
About 3,214 metres
8 November 2005
1571
About 20 hectares
About 4.02 sq km
Nahan, Sirmaur district
Giri river — tributary of the Yamuna
101 — highest in Asia, third-highest globally
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands was signed at Ramsar, Iran, in 1971 and came into force in 1975; it is the oldest of the modern multilateral environmental agreements and the only one devoted to a single ecosystem type. India became a party in 1982, designating Chilika Lake in Odisha and Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan as its first two sites. Designation does not transfer any control to an international body — it commits the country to the wise use of the wetland, to maintaining its ecological character and to reporting changes. India's list has expanded sharply since 2020, reaching 101 sites by August 2026, the most in Asia and the third-most in the world after the United Kingdom and Mexico. Renuka's designation in 2005 matters for the reason small sites usually do under the Convention: it qualifies on biodiversity and cultural-ecological criteria rather than on extent, and it anchors a protected catchment far larger than the water body itself.
Renuka is a working example of a wetland whose value cannot be measured in hectares. Twenty hectares of open water sit inside a four-square-kilometre sanctuary and a much wider Giri catchment, and the lake regulates local hydrology, supports resident and migratory birds, and holds fish populations including the mahseer. It is also one of the clearest cases in India of a wetland protected as much by religious practice as by law — the Renuka temple and the November fair have kept the lake culturally central to Sirmaur for two centuries, which is the kind of community stake that wetland policy elsewhere struggles to manufacture. The threats are the ordinary ones for a Himalayan foothill lake: siltation from a steep, deforested catchment reducing depth and water spread, encroachment at the margins, and tourism pressure concentrated around the fair. For an exam answer, Renuka is the example to reach for when arguing that wetland conservation in India needs catchment-scale management rather than boundary protection of the water body alone.
Renuka Lake — Sirmaur district, Himachal Pradesh; about 672 m altitude
Largest NATURAL lake in Himachal Pradesh; circumference about 3.2 km
Ramsar site since 8 November 2005; site no. 1571; about 20 hectares — among India's smallest
Surrounded by Renuka Wildlife Sanctuary, about 4.02 sq km
Named after Goddess Renuka, mother of Parshuram; shaped like a reclining woman
Renuka Fair held in November; Parshuram Tal lies adjacent
Lies in the Giri river catchment — Giri is a tributary of the Yamuna
Himachal's Ramsar sites: Renuka (2005), Chandra Taal (2005), Pong Dam Lake (2002)
In the Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh, in the Shivalik foothills near the town of Nahan, at about 672 metres above sea level.
Yes. It was designated a Wetland of International Importance on 8 November 2005 as Ramsar site no. 1571, covering about 20 hectares.
Renuka Lake, with a circumference of roughly 3.2 kilometres. Larger water bodies in the state, such as Govind Sagar and Pong Dam Lake, are man-made reservoirs.
It is named after Goddess Renuka, wife of the sage Jamadagni and mother of Parshuram. Its outline is said to resemble a reclining woman, and the annual Renuka Fair in November enacts a symbolic reunion of mother and son.
Three — Renuka Wetland (2005), Chandra Taal (2005) in Lahaul-Spiti, and Pong Dam Lake (2002) on the Beas river.