A lake the goddess made
The silver gift: the goddess Shakambhari, pleased with the people, turned their forest into a plain of silver.
The softened blessing: the silver brought greed and quarrels, so she turned it into salt, which nobody would fight over and everybody needed.
Every family's version: each tells it a little differently, but in all of them the lake is a blessing softened so it could be shared.
- Goddess
- Shakambhari, a form of Durga
- Old capital
- Shakambhari, now Sambhar
- Chauhan country
- Sapadalaksha
- Akbar's wedding
- 6 February 1562
- The Chauhans' goddess: Shakambhari is the clan goddess of the Chauhan Rajputs.
- The first capital: before Ajmer existed, early Chauhan kings ruled from Shakambhari, the town we now call Sambhar. Their country was Sapadalaksha.
- The move to Ajmer: in the twelfth century the dynasty moved its seat to the new hill city of Ajmer, from where Prithviraj Chauhan would later rule.
- The goddess stayed: Chauhan families still come to her temple to give thanks.
- Two states, one lake: it sits where Jaipur and Jodhpur met, and for a long period the two held it jointly and shared the income.
- Later owners: the British leased the salt works in the nineteenth century, and after independence they passed to the Indian state.
- Districts today: the lake straddles Jaipur and Nagaur districts and touches the edge of Ajmer district.
- Akbar's wedding: on 6 February 1562, at his camp here on the way back to Agra from Ajmer's dargah, the young emperor married the daughter of Raja Bharmal of Amber.
- Why it matters: that marriage bound the Kachwahas to the Mughal court for generations and shaped the history of Jaipur. It happened beside the salt.
The shape of a lake that comes and goes
A playa: a shallow basin with no real outlet, filled by seasonal streams and emptied by the sun.
Four rivers: the Mendha, the Rupangarh, the Kharian and the Khandel drain into it, with smaller channels in very wet years.
After a good monsoon: the water spreads across roughly 230 square kilometres and can be a few metres deep.
- Type
- A playa, with no real outlet
- Area when full
- About 230 sq km
- Length
- About 35 km
- Width
- About 3 to 11 km
- Ramsar site
- Since 1990
- Through winter: it shrinks and grows saltier.
- By late spring: much of the bed is dry salt crust, with pools of thick, pink-tinged brine.
- The dam: a long stone dam divides the eastern part, where the salt works are, from the larger western expanse.
- On the dam at dusk: water on one side, salt on the other, and no visible horizon in either direction.
- Ramsar status: designated a wetland of international importance for its birds.
- Under pressure: unregulated salt pans, borewells pulling up brine faster than rain replaces it, and building on the margins.
- Why we mention it: a visit is a chance to understand how fragile desert wetlands are, and why those who work them want them protected too.
How salt is made at Sambhar
The pans: brine is drawn from the lake or from wells into rows of shallow rectangular pans.
Sun and wind: over days and weeks they evaporate the water until crystals form on the bottom.
By hand: workers rake the salt into ridges, let it drain and dry, and pile it into the gleaming heaps photographers love.
- Carrying it away: by truck now, and once by small narrow-gauge salt trains whose tracks still cross parts of the works.
- Sambhar Salts Limited: a government company jointly owned by Hindustan Salts and the state of Rajasthan.
- Private pans: a great deal more salt now comes from the lake's edges, making Sambhar Rajasthan's main source of salt.
- Hard work: fierce glare off wet salt, brine that cracks the skin, and extreme summer heat on the flats.
- Generations: many workers come from families who have raked salt here for generations.
- How we visit: with someone who knows the families, asking before photographs, never treating workers as scenery.
Flamingos, and the winter the birds died
Greater flamingo: tall and pale, with a pink bill.
Lesser flamingo: smaller and a deeper pink.
What they eat: algae and tiny crustaceans that thrive in salty water.
- Species
- Greater and lesser flamingo
- Peak
- December and January, most years
- Bird deaths
- November 2019
- Cause
- Avian botulism
- Numbers follow the rain: in a good year tens of thousands may gather. In a dry year you may need to drive along the shore to find them.
- We check first: with local birders before we bring guests out.
- Other birds: black-winged stilts, sandpipers and plovers on the margins, and larks and wheatears in the scrub.
- Bring a scope: the birds often feed far out on the flats.
- A birding route: Sambhar fits a longer birding journey with Keoladeo at Bharatpur and the grasslands of Tal Chhapar.
- November 2019: thousands of migratory birds died within weeks, with estimates from about fifteen thousand to more than twenty thousand.
- The cause: avian botulism, a toxin that can build up in warm, shallow water after unusual rains.
- The clean-up: local people, forest staff and volunteers spent weeks clearing carcasses to stop it spreading.
- Since then: smaller outbreaks have occurred, and the authorities now watch the water more closely.
Temples, a sacred tank and an ancient mound
The temple of Shakambhari Mata
Where: in low hills near the lake, about half an hour's drive from Sambhar town.
- A living pilgrim temple: busiest at the spring and autumn Navratri, when Chauhan families and devotees bring offerings.
- Age: the shrine is said to be very ancient, though the buildings have been rebuilt many times.
- Visiting: dress modestly, remove your shoes, and let our guide explain the rituals as they happen.
Devyani, the sacred tank
The name: a stepped tank ringed by small temples, named after Devayani, daughter of the sage Shukracharya.
- The wedding: in the Mahabharata and the Puranas she married King Yayati, and local tradition places their wedding here.
- Pilgrims: they bathe on auspicious days.
- Before sunset: the evening light on the water and domes is lovely, a calm stop before the salt.
Naliasar, the buried town
A mound with a past: a few kilometres from Sambhar, it looks like nothing until you know what lies beneath.
The digs: first by Colonel T. H. Hendley in 1884, and again by the archaeologist Daya Ram Sahni in the 1930s.
- The finds: terracotta figurines, beads, pottery and coins, including silver punch-marked coins and later Indo-Greek and Indo-Sassanian pieces.
- The dates: Sahni concluded it was lived in from around the third century BCE to about the tenth century CE.
- Go with a guide: there is little on the surface, but the right story turns it into a two-thousand-year-old trading town.
Sambhar town and its saint
An old market town: narrow lanes, temples and salt merchants' houses.
- Dadu Dayal: the saint-poet whose followers became the Dadupanth lived here for some years in the sixteenth century. Naraina, where he died, is not far away.
- A slow walk: with a stop for tea, it shows a side of Rajasthan that has little to do with tourism.
The dam at sunset
Our favourite hour: we drive out along the dividing dam, set up chairs and a flask of chai.
- The mirror: when the brine is still, the sky reflects so perfectly it is hard to tell where the ground ends.
- After the sun: pink drains to violet and the first stars appear over a silence rare this close to a city.
Light, reflections and film crews
On film: Hindi crews have used Sambhar again and again, for films including PK and Highway, because it can stand in for almost anywhere empty and luminous.
Three subjects in one place: the graphic patterns of the salt pans, the reflections on shallow brine, and the colour of flamingos and evening sky.
- Best light: the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset.
- Midday: the salt bleaches every picture and hurts the eyes.
- Kit: sunglasses, a polarising filter if you have one, and a cloth for salt spray on the lens.
- Clothes: shoes and trouser hems turn white, so wear things you don't mind washing.
- Drones: permissions change often, so check with us before you pack one.
- More: our photography tips and Rajasthan for photographers.
Where to stay for Sambhar
From Jaipur: most guests visit and return in time for dinner.
Rambagh Palace: with its gardens and polo ground.
- Samode Haveli: inside the walled city.
- Sunset and back: the drive after dark takes under two hours, with blankets and water in the car.
- Heading west: Sambhar sits naturally between Jaipur and Ajmer or Pushkar.
- Onward nights: Kishangarh or Pushkar, where our guide to luxury stays in Pushkar has the best rooms by the lake and in the dunes.
What to eat on a salt lake day
In town: sweet shops and tea stalls for hot kachori, samosa and milky chai in the morning.
Village food: bajra rotis, kadhi, ker sangri of desert beans and berries, and buttermilk to cool down.
- An invitation: if the timing is right, you may be asked to share tea in a salt worker's home. Accept graciously and drink slowly.
- The sunset hamper: from your Jaipur hotel or our family kitchen.
- Mathri: crisp spiced crackers every Rajasthani grandmother keeps in a tin.
- The rest: pakoras wrapped in newspaper, fruit and a flask of masala chai. Simple, and exactly right on the edge of the salt.
When to come to Sambhar
- Bird months
- November to March
- White months
- April to June
- Water months
- July to October
- Summer heat
- Often above 40°C
November to March, the bird months
The season we recommend: water lingers after a good monsoon, the flamingos arrive as it cools, and days are mild.
- Peak numbers: December and January in most years, depending on the rains.
- Pack a jacket: mornings and evenings are cold on the open flats. See January in Rajasthan.
April to June, the white months
- The salt harvest peaks: the water shrinks to scattered pools and the lake looks most like a white desert.
- Very hot: come only at sunrise or in the last hour of light.
July to October, the water months
The basin refills: the salt works pause and the lake becomes a shallow inland sea under big skies.
- Tracks: some become impassable.
- October: as the water settles, reflections can be extraordinary.
Getting to Sambhar Lake
Traffic: the drive time depends mostly on getting out of Jaipur.
By train: Phulera is a junction on the lines west of Jaipur.
- From Jaipur
- About 70 to 80 km
- Drive time
- An hour and a half to two hours
- Rail junction
- Phulera, a few km away
- Allow
- A long half day, or a full day
- On the lake: some tracks are unpaved and soft after rain. Our drivers know which are safe each season.
- Combine it: with Kishangarh, Ajmer and Pushkar to the south-west.
- Plan for the light: our guide to getting around Rajasthan.
A day at Sambhar, the way we plan it
Late morning, leaving Jaipur
- Around eleven: after a leisurely breakfast, out through farmland and low hills, reaching Sambhar for lunch.
Afternoon, the town and its temples
After lunch: Devyani and a little of the old town.
- If the season's right: the Shakambhari temple, or the mound at Naliasar with our guide.
- The pans: while the workers are still raking.
Sunset on the dam
- Flamingos and chai: drive along the dam as the light softens and settle in for sunset.
- Home late: leave after the last colour and be back at your palace hotel for a late dinner.
Fitting Sambhar into a longer journey
From Jaipur, as a day out
- With three or four Jaipur nights: give one afternoon to the lake. After bazaars, forts and traffic, it feels like a long breath out.
- The perfect contrast: pair it with a morning at the City Palace or in the old city.
On the road to Ajmer, Kishangarh and Pushkar
The slower road: take it via Sambhar instead of the highway.
- Evening: Kishangarh, the old Rathore capital of the Bani Thani paintings, or Pushkar for the evening aarti on the ghats.
- Next morning: Ajmer and its dargah. It is the first leg of our sacred Rajasthan journey.
For birders, with Bharatpur and Tal Chhapar
- A wetland route: Sambhar for flamingos and waders, Keoladeo for storks, cranes and ducks, Tal Chhapar for blackbuck and raptors.
- Naturalists at each stop: see our birding experiences.
What most visitors to Sambhar miss
The bride's name: the Amber princess Akbar married here is remembered by her title, Mariam-uz-Zamani. The popular name 'Jodha' is a later usage.
Her son: she became the mother of the emperor Jahangir, born in 1569.
A state company: Sambhar Salts Limited was formed in 1964, sixty per cent owned by Hindustan Salts and forty by Rajasthan.
- Sambhar Salts Ltd
- Formed 1964
- Ownership
- Hindustan Salts 60%, Rajasthan 40%
- Rajasthan's rank
- Third in India for salt
- Lesser flamingo
- Near Threatened
- Third in India: Rajasthan produces more salt than any state except Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, and Sambhar is its heart.
- Why flamingos are pink: the colour comes from carotenoid pigments in the algae and tiny creatures they eat.
- A bird at risk: the lesser flamingo is listed as Near Threatened worldwide, which makes Sambhar's winter flocks matter.
- Where flamingos breed: greater flamingos nest in large colonies in the Great Rann of Kutch, across the border in Gujarat.
- Dadu Dayal's dates: the saint lived from 1544 to 1603 and died at Naraina, where his followers still gather.
- Both films in one year: PK and Highway were both released in 2014.
Before you go to Sambhar
Ask us about the birds: we check recent flamingo numbers with local birders, and if they are far out we plan the drive around the shore.
- Leave Jaipur
- Around eleven
- Bring
- Sunglasses, hat, old shoes, jacket
- Good for
- Birders, photographers, couples
- Check first
- Flamingo numbers and track conditions
- Choose sunset or sunrise: sunset fits a day from Jaipur, while sunrise means an early start or a night nearby.
- Pack the hamper the day before: your hotel kitchen needs notice.
- Bring binoculars or a scope: the birds often feed far out on the flats.
Who will love Sambhar, and who may not
Lovers of open space: birds, photography, or simply being where few visitors go.
Couples: many tell us sunset on the dam was the most romantic evening of their trip, because nobody else was there.
- Children: the white salt mountains and the crunch of the crust underfoot.
- Not polished: no visitor centre worth the name, basic facilities and rough roads into the works.
- Dry years: the flamingos may be distant specks.
- Two days in Jaipur? Stay in the city.
- Four or more, or driving west anyway? Sambhar is one of the most unusual afternoons Rajasthan can give you.
What we tell our own cousins
Sunglasses and a hat: the glare off the salt is far stronger than you expect, even in winter.
Old shoes: salt and brine get into everything, and the crust can be sharp.
- Never walk far out alone: the crust can hide soft mud and brine, and distances are hard to judge with no horizon.
- Salt workers: ask before photographing, and accept a no. It is their workplace.
- Flamingos: keep well back. If they start walking away, you are too close.
- Temples: dress modestly at Shakambhari and Devyani, and remove your shoes where others do.
- Carry water: there is almost no shade on the flats, and the dry wind off the salt dehydrates you faster than you notice.
- Leave nothing: plastic blown onto the lake bed stays there.
