One of the seven great lakes of the Himālaya. Their names are given at J.v.415; A.iv.101; SNA.ii.407; DA.i.164; UdA.300; AA.ii.759. At Vsm.416, the name Tiyaggalā is substituted for Mandākinī.
It is in the Chaddantavana and is fifty leagues in extent, of which twenty-five leagues is of crystal water, free from moss or weeds. For the next twenty five leagues, the water is but waist deep and is covered with white lotus, spreading for half a league around the lake; beyond that are red lotus, red lilies, etc., rice fields, fruit trees, a grove of sugar cane - each cane being as big as a palm tree banana, jak, mango, rose apple, etc.
On the bank of the lake is a spot where Pacceka Buddha's generally live; but Aññā-Kondañña lived there for twelve years attended by Chaddanta, the elephant and Nāgadatta, a devaputta. They ministered to all his needs, and he only left there to take leave of the Buddha before his death. He then returned to Mandākinī, where he died and was cremated, his relics being later deposited at the gateway of Veluvana, where a cetiya was erected over them. SA.i.217ff.; but see ThagA.ii.3, where he is said to have lived on the bank of the Chaddantadaha; Mandākinī may have been another name for the same lake.
The Mandākinī Lake never grows hot and dries up only at the end of the kappa. SNA.ii.407.