It was completed in 1451 during the reign of Sultan Qutb-ud-Din Ahmad Shah II though its origin is placed in the Chaulukya period sometimes.

Another story narrates that the Sultan Qutb-ud-Din asked the saint Shah Alam to select the site for the tank and the garden.

According to the 14th-century chronicler Merutunga, Chaulukya ruler Karna built a temple dedicated to the goddess Kochharba at Ashapalli after defeating the Bhil chief Asha.

The inscription at the lake mentions that it was completed during the reign of Sultan Qutb-ud-Din Ahmad Shah II in 1451.

[2][5] Throughout the period of the Gujarat Sultanate and of Mughal rule, the Kankaria lake with its Nagina Bagh were the favourite leisure place of rulers and the people and it were among the tourist sights of Ahmedabad ever since.

Mandelslo who visited Gujarat during the reign of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan wrote in 1638:[2] I went thence along a Sone Bridge, which is four hundred paces in length, to another Garden called Niccinabag (Nagina Baug), that is to say, the Jewel, and they say it was planted by a beautiful and rich young lady.

The garden is not very great, no more than the house within it; but both are very advantageously seated in a place high enough to discover all the adjacent champion, and, upon the avenues of the Bridge, to make the noblest prospect that ever I saw.

But in summer they make use of certain engines wherewith many oxen put together draw up the water out of wells which are so deep that they are never dry.

A man can seldom go to this garden, but he shall find some young women bathing themselves; they will not permit the Indians should see them, but suffered us to come in and speak to them.British artist James Forbes visited Ahmadabad in 1781 after the fall of Mughal Empire when Ahmedabad was under Maratha rule.

He found the gardens at lake neglected, the summer-palace in ruins and the bridge with 48 stone arches connecting Nagina Baug island to the bank in dilapidated condition.

Of the original arched bridge, a small portion was restored and the rest of length is made with earthen bank.

[9][10] The reservoir is a 34-sided regular polygon covering an area of 76 acres and having a shore length of approximately one and a quarter mile, or 2 km.

[2][5] Kankaria Zoo, officially Kamla Nehru Zoological Garden, was established by Rueben David in 1951 spread over 21 acres.

It houses wild animals like tigers, lions, python, anaconda, snakes, elephants, albino (white) animals like the rhesus monkey, spotted deer, white blackbuck, chinkara, elephant, emu, jungle babbler, bush-quail and common palm civet.

It includes the Boomerang Roller Coaster, the Flipping Arm, the Torching Tower, Disk 'O' pendulum and the merry-go-round.

In 2009, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and Amrapali Group built a musical fountain with multicolored laser lights which are displayed during the night.

India's biggest Stone Mural Park named Gurjar Gaurav Gatha[28] on the side walls of the circular lake in which sculptors are depicting, in pink sandstone, the history and rise of Gujarat is under construction.

[29] The following subjects are being included in murals: folklores and history of Ahmedabad, great rulers of Gujarat, ports, commerce and good practices (ethical business-trade traditions), education, freedom fight, cultural heritage, art and literature, expression of culture, today's Gujarat, global Gujaratis, selected stories of common Gujaratis in past centuries.

[28] It will also includes stories about ancient sage Dadhichi, Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Jhaverchand Meghani and Indulal Yagnik.

A mini golf course; Aqua Kart and other water sports; Vertical Swing, Paint Ball Shooting, Black Flash and rides, Sky Fly and other joyrides were introduced.

The festival include art, dance and music performances, social awareness programmes, games and activities for children.