Forty-eight km from Udaipur is Jaisamand, the largest artificial lake in Asia, 14 km long and 9.6 km broad framed by mountains. The wide stretch of water is studded with rocky islands. Overlooking the lake, standing on a cliff, is a white marble palace.
In 1691, on the day marking the inauguration of the dam, Maharana Jai Singh went round distributing gold equal to his own weight. Nearby is a 65-sq km forest area, once a royal game reserve and now a protected sanctuary for wildlife. It has watch-towers to view the wild animals.