{{Short description|Mountainous lake in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan}} {{Infobox body of water | image = Lake SaifulMalook.jpeg | caption = The lake is notable for its picturesque setting in the mountains of northern Pakistan | image_bathymetry = | caption_bathymetry = Location of Lake Saiful Muluk within Pakistan | location = Saiful Muluk National Park, Kaghan Valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan | coords = {{coord|34.876957|N|73.694485|E|type:waterbody_region:PK|display=inline,title}} | lake_type = Alpine, glacial lake | inflow = Glacial water | outflow =Stream (a tributary of Kunhar River) | catchment = |pushpin_map=Khyber Pakhtunkhwa#Pakistan | basin_countries = Pakistan | length = | width = | area = {{convert|2.75|km2|abbr=on}} | max-depth = {{convert|113|ft|abbr=on}} | volume = | residence_time = | shore = | elevation = {{convert|3224|m|ft}}<ref name="Sana" /> | islands = | cities = Naran }} '''Saiful Muluk''' ({{langx|ur|{{Nastaliq|جھیل سیف الملوک}}}}) is a mountainous lake in northern Pakistan, located at the northern end of the Kaghan Valley, near the town of Naran in the Saiful Muluk National Park. The lake is named after a legendary prince from the folk tale ''Saiful Muluk'', later put into poem form by the Sufi poet Mian Muhammad Bakhsh.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=149995|title=The News International: Latest News Breaking, Pakistan News|website=www.thenews.com.pk}}</ref> At an elevation of 3,224 m (10,578 feet) above sea level, the lake is located above the tree line, and is one of the highest lakes in Pakistan.
== Location == [[File:Saif ul Malook Lake road.JPG|thumb|The road to the lake traverses the mountains of the Kaghan Valley]] Saiful Muluk is located in the Mansehra District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, about {{Convert|9|km}} north of Naran,<ref>{{cite web |title=Distance from Naran |url=https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Naran/Saiful+Maluk+National+Park,+Saiful+Muluk+Road,+Mansehra,+Khyber+Pakhtunkhwa,+Pakistan/ |website=Google Maps |access-date=10 June 2018}}</ref><ref name="Ihsan Ali">{{cite report |last=Ali |first=Ihsan |title=Mapping and Documentation of the Cultural Assets of Kaghan Valley, Mansehra |chapter=Natural Heritage of Kaghan Valley |publisher=UNESCO |location=Islamabad |page=46 |chapter-url=http://unesco.org.pk/culture/documents/publications/Mapping%20and%20Documentation%20of%20the%20Cultural%20Assets%20of%20Kaghan%20Valley,%20Mansehra.pdf |access-date=20 September 2012 |archive-date=12 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712230436/http://unesco.org.pk/culture/documents/publications/Mapping%20and%20Documentation%20of%20the%20Cultural%20Assets%20of%20Kaghan%20Valley,%20Mansehra.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> in the northern part of the Kaghan Valley. Malika Parbat, the highest peak in the valley is near the lake.<ref name="Manzoor Hussain">{{cite journal |last1=Hussain |first1=Manzoor |last2=Khan |first2=Mir Ajab |last3=Shah |first3=Ghulam Mujtaba |date=5 March 2006 |title=Traditional Medicinal and Economic uses of Gymnosperms of Kaghan Valley, Pakistan |journal=Ethnobotanical Leaflets |issn=1948-3570 |volume=10 |page=72 |url=https://www.ethnoleaflets.com/leaflets/manzoor.htm |access-date=20 September 2012}}</ref>
The lake is accessible from the nearby town of Naran during the summer season but access during winter is limited, as heavy snowfall and landslides threaten to cutoff the lake from other regions.{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}
== Physical features == Saiful Muluk was formed by glacial moraines that blocked the water of the stream passing through the valley.<ref name="J. Ehlers">{{cite book |last1=Ehlers |first1=J. |last2=Gibbard |first2=P. L. |date=29 July 2004 |title=Quaternary Glaciations - Extent and Chronology |edition=2 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0444515933 |pages=305–306 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2xpIEPH7RW4C&pg=PA305 |access-date=16 September 2012}}</ref> The Kaghan Valley was formed in the greater Pleistocene Period dating back almost 300,000 years when the area was covered with ice. Rising temperatures and receding glaciers left a large depression where glaciers once stood. Melting water collected into the lake.{{citation needed|date= October 2022}} 600px|thumbnail|center|Saiful Muluk panorama in spring
== Ecology == The lake has rich eco-diversity and holds many species of blue-green algae. Large brown trout are found in the lake, up to about seven kilograms.<ref name="Muhammad Yaqoob">{{cite book |author=Muhammad Yaqoob |editor1-last=Peter |editor1-first=T. |editor2-last=Swar |editor2-first=S. B. |date=14 March 2003 |title=Cold water fisheries in the trans-Himalayan countries |chapter=Production and culture of trout in the Northwest Frontier Province and Northern Areas of Pakistan, A review |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization |location=Rome |isbn=978-9251048078 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_GFw3SK6xzvIC/page/n326 327] |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_GFw3SK6xzvIC |access-date=16 September 2012}}</ref> About 26 species of vascular plant exist in the area, with Asteraceae the most commonly found species. Other species commonly found in the region are: Ranunculaceae, Compositae, Cruciferae, Gramineae, Apiaceae, Leguminosae, Scrophulariaceae and Polygonaceae.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}
== Folklore == {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}} The Lake Saiful Muluk is named after a legendary prince from the tale titled ''Saiful Muluk'', later on put into poem form by the Sufi poet Mian Muhammad Bakhsh.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=149995|title=The News International: Latest News Breaking, Pakistan News|website=www.thenews.com.pk}}</ref> It tells the story of the Egyptian Prince Saiful Malook who fell in love with a fairy princess named Princess Badi ul-Jamal at the lake.<ref name="Asghar Javed">{{cite news|last=Javed |first=Asghar |date=23 June 2002 |title=Pristine lakes of the north |newspaper=Dawn |url=http://www.dawn.com/weekly/dmag/archive/020623/dmag9.htm |access-date=10 September 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713113826/http://www.dawn.com/weekly/dmag/archive/020623/dmag9.htm |archive-date=13 July 2007 }}</ref><ref name="Sana" />
The '''''Story of Prince Saiful Maluk''''' ({{langx|ar|قِصَّة سَيْف الْمُلُوْك وَبَدِيْع الْجَمَال|translit=Qiṣat Saif al-Mulūk wa Badīʿ al-Jamāl}}) is an Arabic fable, a story of love between a prince and a fairy. It is considered a later addition to the ''One Thousand and One Nights'' collection of Arabic fables,<ref>{{cite book |last=Cejpek |first=Jiri |author-link=:cs:Jiří Cejpek |chapter=Iranian Folk-Literature |editor=Jan Rypka |title=History of Iranian Literature |location=Dordrecht |publisher=Reiden |date=1968 |page=664 |quote=Finally there are in the ''Book of a Thousand and One Nights'' a number of formerly independent epic cycles, many of which are of Iranian derivation. ... Other stories which used to be independent are the one about ... ''Saifu'l-mulūk'', ... }}</ref> and manuscripts of the story are dated to the 17th century.<ref>{{cite book |title=A history of Urdu literature |last=Bailey |first=Thomas Grahame |date=1932 |location=Calcutta; London, New York |publisher=Association press (Y.M.C.A.); Oxford University Press |page=24}}</ref> In South Asia, the story was put into Punjabi verse by 19th-century poet and mystic Mian Muhammad Bakhsh. It has also been retold in numerous languages such as Balochi, Bengali,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mannan |first=Qazi Abdul |title=The Emergence and Development of Dhobasi Literature in Bengal (Upto 1855 A. D.) |location=Dacca |publisher=Department of Bengali and Sanskrit, University of Dacca |date=1966 |page=30 |quote=This story [of Saifulmuluk-badiujjamal] was derived from the ''Arabian Nights''. It was first introduced into Bengali by Donadgaji in the middle of the 16th century and many poets other than Alaol made use of it.}}</ref> English, Urdu and Punjabi.<ref>Shackle, Christopher. “The Story of Sayf Al-Mulūk in South Asia.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 17, no. 2 (2007): 115–29. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25188702.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ram Babu Saksena |title=A history of Urdu literature: with a foreword |publisher=R. N. Lal, 1940}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Amaresh Datta |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.124515 |title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature |publisher=Sahitya Akademi, 1987}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Janet Parker |title=Mythology: Myths, Legends and Fantasies |author2=Alice Mills |author3=Julie Stanton |publisher=Struik, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Thomas Grahame Bailey |title=A history of Urdu literature |publisher=Oxford University Press, 2008}}</ref> Similarly, according to Turkish scholarship, the narrative is "widely known" in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Tatarstan, Turkmenistan,<ref>{{cite book |last=Sahatova |first=Gülschen |chapter=Turkmenen |trans-chapter=Turkmen Narrative Tradition |title=Enzyklopädie des Märchens Online |editor1=Rolf Wilhelm Brednich |editor2=Heidrun Alzheimer |editor3=Hermann Bausinger |editor4=Wolfgang Brückner |editor5=Daniel Drascek |editor6=Helge Gerndt |editor7=Ines Köhler-Zülch |editor8=Klaus Roth |editor9=Hans-Jörg Uther |location=Berlin, Boston |publisher=De Gruyter |date=2016 |orig-year=2010 |page=1051 |quote=Volksepen mit romantischen Stoffen sind die nach den Protagonisten benannten Epen ... ''Seypelmelek-Medhalǧemal'' ... |trans-quote=[Turkmen] Folk epics with romantic themes are the epics named after its protagonists [like] ... ''Seypelmelek-Medhalǧemal'' ... |doi=10.1515/emo.13.231}}</ref> Kazakhstan, Taranchi, and Bashkortostan.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Türk Dünyası destanları ve halk hikayeleri ansiklopedisi |editor1=Doğan Kaya |editor2=Taha Tuna Kaya |location=Ankara |publisher=Atatürk Kültür Merkezi Başkanlığı |date=2025 |volume=8 (P-Ş) |chapter=SEYFÜLMÜLÜK |pages=161-177 [161] |isbn=9789751762719 |lang=TR}}</ref><ref>Savur, Hilmi. 2020. “SEYFÜ’L-MÜLÜK İLE BEDİÜ’L-CEMÂL HİKÂYESİ’NİN MOTİFLERİ ÜZERİNE”. Bayterek Uluslararası Akademik Araştırmalar Dergisi 3 (2): 113-25. https://doi.org/10.48174/buaad.825662.</ref>
According to the folklore, Saiful Maluk (whose name means 'Sword of the Kings')<ref>Marzolph, Ulrich; van Leewen, Richard. ''The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia''. Vol. I. California: ABC-Clio. 2004. p. 658. {{ISBN|1-85109-640-X}} (e-book)</ref> was a prince of Egypt. He had significant wealth which he had inherited from his forefathers. The treasure bore two seals: one depicting Saiful Maluk and the other depicting Badi-ul-Jamala<ref name="Sana">{{cite news |last1=Sana Zehra (22 April, 2016) |title=Saiful Muluk-Prince of Egypt |url=https://dailytimes.com.pk/87662/saif-ul-malook-the-lake-of-fairies/ |work=Daily Times |accessdate=1 June 2018}}</ref> (also rendered as Bediülcemal). One night, Prince Saiful Maluk saw in a dream a lake and a fairy. He got up and went to tell his dream to his father, asking him about the place and the fairy. His father told him that he can't meet the fairy as she isn't human, unlike him. However, the longer the prince recollected his dream, the more he was overwhelmed with love for the fairy.<ref>{{cite book |title=The thousand and one nights, commonly called, in England, The Arabian nights' entertainments |last=Lane |first=Edward Williams |volume=III |date=1877 |location=London |publisher=Bickers |pages=283-342 |chapter=Story of Seyf-el-Mulook and Bedeeạ-el-Jemál |url=https://archive.org/details/thousandonenight03laneiala/page/283/mode/1up}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Tales of old Sind |last=Kincaid |first=C.A. |date=1922 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=London |pages=37-50}}</ref><ref>Marzolph, Ulrich; van Leewen, Richard. ''The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia''. Vol. I. California: ABC-Clio. 2004. pp. 362-364. {{ISBN|1-85109-640-X}} (e-book)</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mannan |first=Qazi Abdul |title=The Emergence and Development of Dhobasi Literature in Bengal (Upto 1855 A. D.) |location=Dacca |publisher=Department of Bengali and Sanskrit, University of Dacca |date=1966 |pages=29-30}}</ref>
==Gallery== Hover the mouse click or tap on the following images to see their captions. <gallery mode="packed-hover" heights="120"> File:Lake Saiful Malook naran 05.jpg|Lake Saiful Muluk under clouds File:Saif ul Malook, House of Fairies.jpg|A view of lake in Wortez File:Saif ul malook lake-01.jpg|Lake Saiful Muluk in a sunny day File:Lake-Saiful-Malook.jpg|A full view of Lake Saif-ul-Muluk File:Saif-ul-malook naran valley.jpg|Lake Saif ul Malook in May 2017 File:The Frozen Saif Ul Malook Lake.jpg|The lake freezes over in winter File:Saif Ul Muluk.jpg|alt=Saif Ul Muluk|Lake Saif ul Muluk in December 2012 File:Lake Saif ul Malook, Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa.jpg|Tourist point with Lake File:Boat in Saif ul Maluk Lake.jpg|A boat in Saiful Maluk Lake File:Lake Saif-Ul-Mulook.jpg|Lake Saif-Ul-Mulook, Kaghan Valley, Pakistan File:Saif_ul_Maluk_Lake_Pakistan_(Night_view)_Abdul_Majid.jpg|Lake Saif-Ul-Mulook at night File:Lake Saiful Malook on rainy morning.jpg|Lake Saiful Malook Pakistan </gallery>
==See also== *Lulusar Lake *Katora Lake *Dudipatsar Lake *Mahodand Lake *Ratti Gali Lake
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Saiful Muluk Lake}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20190423040944/http://kaghannaran.com/jheel-saif-ul-malook/ About Saiful Malook Lake] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060717134113/http://www.tourism.gov.pk/index.asp PTDC Official website]
{{Waters of Pakistan}} {{Authority control}}
Saiful Muluk Category:Pakistani folklore