Gurudongmar Lake or Gurudogmar Lake is one of the highest lakes in the world, located at an altitude of 17100 ft (5,212.1 m). It lies in the province of North Sikkim

North Sikkim

North Sikkim is a district of the Indian state of Sikkim. Its district headquarters is Mangan. It is the seventh least populous district in the country .-Geography:The district is the largest of the four districts of Sikkim....

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, only some 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) south of Chinese border. For a visit to the lake, tourists need to secure a permit in advance from the Indian Army. Most tourists who make it to the lake show slight signs of altitude sickness.

Geography

This fresh-water lake is located northeast of the Kangchenjunga

Kangchenjunga

Kangchenjunga is the third highest mountain of the world with an elevation of and located along the India-Nepal border in the Himalayas.Kangchenjunga is also the name of the section of the Himalayas and means "The Five Treasures of Snows", as it contains five peaks, four of them over...

 range in a high plateau area connected with the Tibetan Plateau

Tibetan Plateau

The Tibetan Plateau , also known as the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau is a vast, elevated plateau in Central Asia covering most of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai, in addition to smaller portions of western Sichuan, southwestern Gansu, and northern Yunnan in Western China and Ladakh in...

.

Gurudongmar lake provides one of the source streams of the Teesta River

Teesta River

River Teesta or Tista is said to be the lifeline of the Indian state of Sikkim, flowing for almost the entire length of the state and carving out verdant Himalayan temperate and tropical river valleys. The emerald-coloured river then forms the border between Sikkim and West Bengal before joining...

. The source of Teesta, the Tso Lhamo Lake

Tso Lhamo Lake

Tso Lhamo lake or Chho Lhamo or Cholamu lake or Cholamoo lake is one of the highest lakes in the world, located approximately at an altitude of...

, lies some 5 km (3.1 mi) to the east.

The lake remains completely frozen in the winter months from November to Mid-May.

Religion

The lake is named after Padmasambhava

Padmasambhava

Padmasambhava ; Mongolian ловон Бадмажунай, lovon Badmajunai, , Means The Lotus-Born, was a sage guru from Oddiyāna who is said to have transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet and neighbouring countries in the 8th century...

, the Indian tantric Buddhist who conducted rituals here. It is said that this is why, even at the height of winter, one portion of the lake never freezes.

Guru Nanak

Guru Nanak Dev

Guru Nanak was the founder of the religion of Sikhism and the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. The Sikhs believe that all subsequent Gurus possessed Guru Nanak’s divinity and religious authority, and were named "Nanak" in the line of succession.-Early life:Guru Nanak was born on 15 April 1469, now...

, founder of Sikhism religion, visited many of the places where Padmasambhava prayed at, including this lake in North Sikkim.