Editing Lake Rakshastal (section)

==Etymology==
The name of the lake literally means "lake of the [[rakshasa]]" in Sanskrit. It is also known as '''Ravan Tal''', as it is considered to be the site of the penance performed by [[Ravana]], the rakshasa king of [[Lanka]].<ref name="Pradeep1996">{{cite book | author=Pradeep Chamaria | title=Kailash Manasarovar on the Rugged Road to Revelation | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ftuRYXyX9S4C&pg=PA67 | accessdate=2012-07-24 | year = 1996 | publisher=Abhinav Publications | isbn=978-81-7017-336-6 | pages=67}}</ref>

In [[Buddhism]], Lake Manasarovar, which is round like the sun, and Rakshastal, shaped as a [[crescent]], are respectively regarded as "brightness" and "darkness". Rakshastal is a saline lake. A short, natural river named [[Ganga Chhu]], which connects Lake Manasarovar with Rakshastal, is traditionally believed to be created by [[rishis]] to add pure water from Manasarovar.

There are four islands in Rakshastal, named Topserma (Dose), Dola (the two biggest), Lachato (Nadzhado), and Dosharba.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mt-kailash.ru/en/node/10016 |title=Kailash 2010 &#124; Kailash |accessdate=2010-10-11 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101105114030/http://www.mt-kailash.ru/en/node/10016 |archivedate=2010-11-05 }}</ref> The islands are used by local people as winter pastures for their yaks.

In the Tibetan language, the lake is known as Lagngar Cho or Lhanag Tso, which means "the dark lake of poison".