The Saugandika Lake is a divine lake of pleasure on Mount Gandhamādana. The yakshas of Kubera look after it. It is filled with divine saugandhika lotuses, flowers of an extraordinary and otherworldly fragrance.

The lake is the place of the Saugandika quest in the Vana Parva of the Mahābhārata. Draupadī’s wish for these flowers sent Bhīmasena through the kadalī (plantain) forests of Gandhamādana. On the way he met Hanumān, and at the lake he fought the yakshas.

The lake and its lotuses

The saugandhika lotuses that fill Kubera’s lake are divine in the fullest sense. Their fragrance is beyond anything found in the ordinary world. It carries the quality of the divine region of the north, where Kubera’s city Alakā stands. Yaksha guards watch the lake. Their task is to see that no one enters or disturbs the sacred waters without leave.

One saugandhika blossom was blown by the wind to Draupadī at the Pāṇḍava āśrama on Gandhamādana. Its fragrance charmed her so much that she sent Bhīma to bring more. The lotus reached the Pāṇḍava camp at that very moment, an act of divine grace, as if the divine region were reaching out to the righteous exiles in their hardship in the forest. The Mahābhārata tells this in the Vana Parva, Chapter 146.

The battle at the lake

Bhīma reached the Saugandika Lake and sounded his conch to announce that he meant to enter. The yaksha guards attacked him. A great battle followed, Bhīma against the hosts of the yakshas, and Bhīma’s fierce strength won. The yaksha captain Maṇimanta fell in the fight. His death fulfilled the curse (śāpa) that Agastya Maharshi had long before pronounced on him.

Kubera himself then came. He explained the background of the curse and blessed the Pāṇḍavas. He allowed Bhīma to gather the saugandhika flowers freely. The Mahābhārata tells this in the Vana Parva, Chapters 158–162.

Sources

Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 146–162
Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 146 (the flower reaches Draupadī)
Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 158–162 (the battle and Kubera’s blessing)