
The Banganga Tank during the Banganga Festival.
'Banganga Tank' is part of the
Walkeshwar Temple Complex in the
city of
Bombay,
India. It was built by the
Silhara dynasty in the
12th century. The tank was rebuilt in
1715 out of a donation for the temple by
Rama Kamath. The main
temple, has been reconstructed since then and is at present a reinforced concrete structure of recent construction.
The tank is fed by a spring and, every February, cleaned and spruced up for the annual Banganga Hindustani classical music festival, a major cultural event in the city. Despite being located only a few dozen meters from the sea, the tank contains
fresh water.
According to local legend, it sprang forth when the
Hindu god
Ram, the exiled hero of the epic
Ramayana, stopped at the spot five thousand years ago in search of his kidnapped wife
Sita. Overcome with fatigue and thirst, he asked his brother
Laxman to bring him some water. Laxman instantly shot an arrow into the ground, and water gushed forth from a tributary of the
Ganges, which flows over a thousand miles away.
The tank today is a rectangular pool structure surrounded by steps on all four sides. At the entrance are two pillars in which oil lamps called ''diyas'' were lit in ancient times. On the western flank of the tank is an ancient temple built by the
Silhara kings.