An early reference to the city can be
traced back to the Puranas and the ancient epic tale of 'Manas Khand,' which
has an interesting anecdote on the origin of the lake. It is believed that
three sages -- Atri, Pulastya and Pulaha dug a large pit and named it as
Tri-Rishi-Sarovar, which later came to be known as Nainital Lake or Naini Lake.
The water in the lake was purportedly lugged from the sacred lake of
Manasarovar in Tibet.
The Emerald Green Eye of Kumaon known as Nainital got its name from a legendary story. King
Daksha held a great 'Yajna' but did not invite his daughter Parvati & her
consort Shiva. Parvati could not bear this insult and in great fury crashed
into the Yajna and lept into the flames of the fire and took her own life. It
is believed that when Lord Shiva retrieved her half-charred corpse, the eyes of
Sati dropped in the lake while her body was being carried to Kailash Parvat. The
word "Naini" means 'Eyes' and 'Tal' means 'Lake'. Hence, the lake was
given the name of 'Nainital' or Naini Lake. The name "Naini" is also derived
from a temple to the goddess 'Naini Devi" built on the upper edge of the lake
which was destroyed in the landslip of 1880. It was subsequently replaced by a
modern structure.
Nainital was founded in the year 1841 by Mr. P Barron, a European merchant and an enthusiastic hunter. Mr. Barron was the first European who took great fancy to this land and moved by the beauty of the sparkling lake he wrote: "It is by far the best site I have witnessed in the course of a 1,500 mile trek in the Himalayas."
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