Surajkund

[2] Surajkund (literally 'Lake of the Sun') is an artificial Kund ('Kund' means "lake" or reservoir) built in the backdrop of the Aravalli hills with an amphitheatre shaped embankment constructed in semicircular form.

[9] There are 43 paleolithic sites (100,000 BC), with rock art and microlithic stone tools, scattered surround the Surajkund from Mangar Bani in the west to Tuglaqabad in the northeast.

[10][11] It is an important biodiversity area within the Northern Aravalli leopard wildlife corridor stretching from Sariska Tiger Reserve to Delhi.

[12] It is contiguous to the seasonal waterfalls in Pali-Dhuaj-Kot villages of Faridabad,[13] the sacred Mangar Bani and the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary.

[14] Another 'kund' by the same name as 'Suraj Kund' existed in Sunam in Punjab, which was sacked by Mahmood Ghaznvi or Taimur Lane, consequently now lies in ruins.

These were found at 43 sites from Ankhir (a village 17 km east of Mangar Bani) in south to north along Anangpur-Angnpur Dam-Surajkund-Tughlaqabad axis.

[11] According to Hindu hagiography, the Dilli Mahatam, the Surajkund was earlier known as the Prabhashkund where sage Vishwamitra used to live, pray and worship.

On the western bank of the reservoir, a garhi (cave like structure) was built close to the ancient site of the Sun temple.

It attracted the attention of the Haryana Government to develop the area as a tourist spot by introducing an annual crafts 'Mela' or "fair" titled "Surajkund Crafts Mela" in the precincts of the lake, which over the years has attracted wide publicity and become an iconic event.

Rain fall was intercepted here to create a reservoir of 130 m (427 ft) diameter to meet the water shortage in Delhi.

[21][23][25] Anagpur Dam, constructed in 8th century, is 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) upstream of Surajkund in the north west.

In the backdrop of the lake, during the spring season, every year from 1–15 February, (in 2018, it is from 2-18 February) a colourful traditional craft festival of India is held on 40 acres of land in the precincts of Surajkund which is attended by all states of India along with several dozen other nations and over 1.2 million visitors including 200,000 foreigners.

[8] During 2009, with Madhya Pradesh as the theme state, 50 crafts' persons from SAARC countries, Thailand and Egypt also participated in the Mela.

Sanchi Stupa, (a world heritage site in Madhya Pradesh) formed the backdrop for the festival.

"[35] The storage in the upstream Anangpur Dam, downstream Surajkund and Peacock lake has been seriously affected The catchment area which contributes water flows into the Surajkund (lake) from villages, such as Anangpur, Lakkarpur, Ankhir and Meola Maharajpur, has been used for extensive mining and for large habitations.

This has disturbed the drainage system and thus obstructed the gravity flow of rain water from the basin into the reservoir.

[16][17] Surajkund falls inside the leopard habitat of Delhi and Haryana which often get killed due to being hit by the vehicles on the Gurugram-Faridabad Road as there is no wildlife crossing underpass or overpass.

[37] As of 31 July 2021, Head of HAD, Ashok Khemka, informed that the whole area will be extensively surveyed to find any additional sites, entire area of Delhi South Ridge of Aravali in Haryana between Gurugram and Faridabad will be mapped and each site will be GPS tagged.

A panoramic view of the entire Surjakund lake during the dry season.
In this image you can see the paintings which is for sale in Suraj Kund mela.
In this image you can see the crockery which is for sale in Suraj Kund mela.