Desert Land of Rajasthan
Rajasthan relentlessly touted as the Desert State of India, covers
some 342,000 sq km in the north-western region of India. The state isn’t
just about drifting sand, never-ending dunes and barren scrubland as
parts of it are surprisingly green, especially after a generous
monsoon. The sandiness is confined to the west and southwest, while
the Aravallis, a range of craggy hills, slash the state effectively
into two. Politically it is divided into six administrative zones:
Mewat (Alwar region), Marwar (Jodhpur region), Mewar (Udaipur region),
Dhundhar (Jaipur region), Hadoti (Kota region and Shekhawati (Sikar
region).
¤ The Unending Aravalli Ranges
Beginning from Delhi in the northeast, the Aravallis, literally, ‘a
beam lying across’, stretch down to the southwest right into
Gujarat. They peak in the southwestern corner of Rajasthan before
going downhill again. This part of the range is pretty steep and
boasts of ravines, lush sub-tropical forests and a splendid array of
wild flowering bushes. In several places, the Aravalli is over 750 m
high above sea level and the highest point in the range is known as
Guru Shikhar (1721m). The highest peak is the state’s only hill
station Mount Abu (1,200m), along a wide plateau.
Elsewhere, in Jaipur, Bharatpur, Ajmer, Bhilwara and Udaipur, the
surrounding hills are browner than green thanks to the large scale
felling and the eroding effect of rain. But with the first burst of
thunderclouds, these too turn an eye pleasing emerald. The cities of
Jaipur and Udaipur are in the well-irrigated valley of the Aravallis,
with long patches of thick forests and crop-laden fields.
What very few Indians, let alone foreigners, remember is that all the
hills you see in Rajasthan aren’t the Aravallis. Vindhyas, the
range that slices India so neatly into north and south, puts in an
appearance in southernmost regions of Rajasthan.
¤ The Vast Thar Desert
The most striking feature on the face of Rajasthan is the
mesmerising Thar that begins to unfold its beauty as you move westward
to Jodhpur, Barmer, Jaisalmer, Pokharan and Bikaner. It is here that
the desert belt of the world that kicks off from the Sahara in North
Africa and runs across Arabia finally comes to rest. After decades of
having dwelt here, the locals are still wary of wandering through the
desert, as even camels are known to have sunk completely into the
sand.
This desert tract, nicknamed Marwar or Marusthali – the Land of
Death, lives up to its name with its scorching heat, thorny cactus and
scrub, and scanty water and encompasses 68% of the state area and 61%
of the desert area of India. The wells here are dug hundreds of feet
deep, and droughts are so common that there are kids in remote
villages who’ve never seen rain. The very idea that this
blistering land was once covered by thick forests seems laughable now,
though palaeontologists have unravelled irrefutable evidence that it
was inhabited by dinosaurs about 300 million years ago. Fourteen km
from Jaisalmer is the Akal Wood Fossil Park, where fossils have been
found dating from nearly 185 million years ago. Plant fossils also
indicate that the desertification of Rajasthan is a recent and ongoing
process.
 Towards
the east of the Aravalli Range the eastern plains are divided into two
distinct regions – the Plain of Mewar, containing the Banas River
Basin to the north of Udaipur, and the Chappan Plains to the south of
Udaipur. The former contains Bhilwara and Bundi, all of Tonk district,
most of Ajmer, Jaipur, Sawai Madhopur and Dholpur districts.
The Chhapan Plains has the two districts of Banswara and Dungarpur
and is drained by the Mahi River and its tributaries.
¤ The Plateaus
Surprise, surprise, Rajasthan also has a plateau of its own which
stretches eastward to Madhya Pradesh or east and south east of the
eastern plains, from where the Chambal flows. The hill folds and
ridges, around Chittaurgarh, Bundi and Ranthambore identify it from
the rest. The region that lies between the Banas and Chambal Rivers is
a scrapland of sandstone while the areas of Jhalawar, Kota, parts of
Chittaurgarh, Bhilwara and Bundi forms a tableland. This stony
tableland, with stretches of black soil, is volcanic in origin and is
fed water by the tributaries of the Chambal.
¤ The Pristine Rivers
Rajasthan has such few rivers that you can count them on your
finger. The terrain is sundered into two by the Aravallis and a
different river, waters each part. The Chambal and its tributaries
cater to the southeast, while the Luni borne of Lake Pushkar up north
near Ajmer, flows into the Arabian Sea.
¤ Hot Climate
Very much like the Indian heartland, Rajasthan, too, knows only
three seasons: summer, monsoon and winter. During the dry, hot summer,
temperatures oscillate from 28°C to 46°C, but it is the
desert that bears the harsh brunt of the sun. If you are foolhardy
enough to venture into the Thar at this time of the year, beware of
the hot dehydrating winds that sweep across it. In the desert regions
the temperatures drop as night falls. Prevailing winds blow in from
the west and in the desert it sometimes carry dust storms (locally
known as andhis). The only plus point is that the winds usually bring
down the temperatures and sometimes allow light showers. Summer
temperatures are very high throughout the state except in the hills.
Winter, extending from December to March, finds the mercury swinging
between 8°C and 28°C in most parts except the desert, where
it’s bone-chillingly cold. Rainfall, of course, varies with the
terrain, where the hills get the lion’s share while the poor
desert make do with a measly amount.
You can happily give Rajasthan a miss in the months of April, May and
June, while October to March is the most tourist-friendly season. The
rainy months from July to September are a no-no as well.
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