It was built by Arnoraja (alias Ana), the grandfather of Prithviraj Chauhan, in 1135 -1150 AD and is named after him.

Mughal Emperor Jahangir constructed Daulat Bagh garden beside the lake.

The Rajasthan High Court has banned construction in the catchment areas of the lake basins.

Dayananda Saraswati, who breathed his last at Bhinai Kothi near Ajmer, his ashes were scattered at Ajmer in Rishi Udyan as per his wishes,[4] which is located on the bank of the Ana Sagar Lake and makes an excellent sunset point.

Rishi Udyan has a functional Arya Samaj temple with daily morning and evening yajna homa, where an annual 3 day Aruasamaj melā is held every year on Rishi Dayanand's death anniversary at the end of October, which also entails vedic seminars, vedas memorisation competition, yajna, and Dhavaja Rohan flag march.