CHAPTER 17

The Thar Desert

If you have water, you have everything else. And if The Luni is the only big river to flow in the western
you don’t have water, what do you do? part of Rajasthan. And even in the Luni, water does
not flow throughout the year. However, in the large
Let’s look at one of the driest parts of our country. region northwest of the Luni there is not a single
This is the Thar Desert in western Rajasthan. river to be seen.
Throughout the whole year it gets very little
rainfall.
If an area has no rivers, what does this imply? Why
doesn’t it have rivers? What kind of place must it be?
Find the Thar Desert (shaded grey) in this map.
IsthecapitalofRajasthanlocatedintheTharDesert?
In which countries and states is the Thar Desert
located? In the part of Rajasthan to the east of the Aravalli
Hills, there are many small rivers. What are their
From which hills does the Luni River begin? names?

Chandigarh
R.
tl e
j P u n j a b
S u
Ganganagar
H a r y a n a

T Delhi
R. R
s E
du S
In E
Ya
D Bikaner
mu

R
A
na

H R a j a s t h a n
T
Jaisalmer
R.

Jaipur
PAKISTA N Jodhpur Ajmer
Barmer R.
R.
ni as
Lu n
s

Ba
ll

R.
Hi

al
li

b
am
al

Ch
av
Ar

Udaipur
R.
i

G u j a r a t
at

. M . P .
rm

R
ba

i
h
a Bhopal
Sa

M
Rainfall and 250
Rainfall in Jaipur

Temperature

Total Rainfall (mm)

200

Look at the map showing annual rainfall in India. 150

You will find that as you go from the east to the

west in Rajasthan, the rainfall decreases. This is 100

also shown in the two rainfall graphs here.

50
Look at the annual rainfall map and tell how
much it rains in each of the following areas:
0
The area to the east of the Aravalli hills J F M A M J J A S O N D
Month
The Aravalli Hills and the area to their west

Total Rainfall (mm)

The extreme west of Rajasthan Rainfall in Jaisalmer
100
For comparison, tell how much it rains where
you live.
50
Using the graphs on the right, estimate how
muchistheannualrainfallinJaipurandJaisalmer
0
and see if this agrees with what is given on the J F M A M J J A S O N D
annual rainfall map. Month

When is the monsoon in Jaipur and Jaisalmer? Average Maximum and Minimum
Temperatures in Jaisalmer
Not only does it rain very little in the Thar Desert,
40
but it also happens that sometimes many years
pass without a single drop of rain. After many
35
Average Temperature (C)

years, it may suddenly rain very heavily, leading

to flash floods in dry rivers and nallahs. But this
water dries up before long. There is never enough 30

water to enable rivers and nallahs to flow for a

long distance. 25

Look at the graph on the right. Which are the 20

hottest and coldest months in Jaisalmer and how
hot and cold do they usually get? 15
Are the hottest and rainiest periods in Jaisalmer
at the same time of the year? 10

Doesitgetmuchcoolerduringthemonsoonthan
during the summer in Jaisalmer? 5

Why is it usually cooler in August than in May? 0

J F M A M J J A S O N D

Vegetation Month

Because of the absence of water, one can go for many kilometres

without seeing a single tree in the desert. But in most areas
there are many kinds of small thorny bushes and grasses. And
here and there you might be able to spot a khejdi (KojaDI) tree.
Living Come, let’s find
out how people live
Sheep and Goat Rearing
Villagers in the Thar rear a large number of sheep
in the in such a dry place. and goats and sell them for their meat. Their wool
is also collected and sold. During the monsoon,
Desert even with a little bit of rain, quite a bit of grass
springs up in the desert. Especially sevan grass,
In many Indian languages, the word for which is very good fodder for the animals. During
desert is marusthal – literally meaning, a the times when water is scarce they also eat thorny
place of death. This is because the lack of bushes and leafy branches from khejdi trees.
water can kill people, animals and plants. In big cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, and Jaipur,
During times of severe drought, people and the demand for meat is always increasing. The
animals may have to face death if they do animal-hides are also used for leather, which is
not migrate. one of our country’s most important exports. India
has the highest total number of cattle, buffaloes,
Look at a map to find out whether the population sheep, goats, and pigs of all the countries in the
is denser in the eastern or western part of
world. Rajasthan and West Bengal produce the
Rajasthan. Explain why the density differs.
most sheep and goats in India. Animal rearing thus
remains an important occupation for the people
In Jaisalmer Tehsil, half the villages are very small, of the desert.
with less than 500 people living in each one. The
villages are also sparsely scattered across dry
regions.

Grazing sheep in Rajasthan

Crops After bajra is harvested,
the fields lie fallow till the
Due to the shortage of water very few crops are
next rains. With just one
grown in the Thar Desert. If people somehow or
small bajra crop, it is
other manage to get a single crop in a year, they
certainly not possible for
consider themselves lucky. In some parts of the
a family to manage for the
Thar, bajra can be sown in the rainy season. It is
whole year! Hence,
one crop that can grow in sandy soil without too
people depend a lot on
much water.
sheep and goat rearing.
Bajra is ready to harvest three months after it is
planted. Look at the graph on page 195 and tell
when bajra would be harvested in the area
aroundJaisalmer.

Rainwater Harvesting
During the monsoon people have to make special These arrangements for collecting and storing
arrangements to collect rainwater. There will be rainwater are very important because normally in
no other source of water for the rest of the year. the desert, ground water is found only very deep
underground. Thus, it is difficult to get water from
In many houses there are pucca tanks in the middle wells. Even very deep wells may dry up at times.
of the courtyard, to collect rainwater. The rain Also, in some areas well water is saline.
that falls on the roof of the house is drained straight
into the tank. Then, for months this water is used Many villagers have to go many kilometres to get
with great care and economy for both the water. In some places women and children have
household and the animals. In many places people to walk for miles with pots on their heads. In other
sit on a charpai to have a bath and the bath water places water is carried on donkeys or camels.
is collected in a vessel placed directly below the
charpai. It is used in cleaning the house, and given
to the animals to drink. People scrub their utensils What is meant by‘rainwater harvesting’? Can
with dry sand to clean them - not just to clean rainwaterbe‘harvested’likecropsareharvested?
them, but to make them shine! You read about the arrangements made for
saving water in the desert. How do people save
Rainwater also collects in ditches and ponds in water in your area?
the desert. From these small ponds, water
seeps into the sand. In order that this seeping
water may not be lost, people dig small wells
(called kuian or berian) that are 25-30 feet
deep, all around the pond. Water seeping from
the pond collects in these small wells. Months
later, after the water in the ponds has vanished,
people can get water from these wells.
Where there are no natural ponds or ditches,
people may dig pucca tanks on the lower end
of slopes so that the rainwater from all around
will collect there.
Getting water from a well
THE THAR DESERT 197
Camels
Camels are very well suited to live in deserts. They
can go for many days without drinking water,
especially if they get some fresh grass or other green
leaves to eat. They are also good at resisting heat.
People need to keep their bodies at a constant Experiment: Why don’t camels’
hooves sink deep into sand?
temperature all the time. When people get hot, they Make two models of camels – one with small
sweat in order to cool their bodies by evaporation. pointed feet, and the other with large, flat feet.
Thus in hot weather you need to drink more water The models don’t have to look exactly like
camels – they could look like the ones shown
in order to replenish what you loose through sweat. here. Put them on soft, dry sand and see which
one sinks in further. (Make sure both models are
But camels can function at a wide range of body the same weight.) Then write down what you
temperatures. Their bodies can go below normal at did, what happened, and why you you think it
night and then rise by 6 or 7°C during the day. Thus, happened the way it did.
they don’t need to sweat so much. They also don’t
loose too much water through urination (their urine
is highly concentrated). They can survive even when Migrating
a lack of water causes them to loose as much as 30%
of their body weight. (A person would be on the verge Shepherds
of death after loosing only 10% of their weight due
to water loss.) After the bajra is cut, its stalks are left standing
in the fields so that sheep can graze on them.
When camels find water, they can drink as much as By the end of November the sheep have gotten
100 litres – and they can drink all that in as little as 7 fat on sevan grass and bajra stalks. They have
or 8 minutes! also grown a lot of wool, especially in years when
the monsoon is good.
What do they do with so much water? It gets
combined with other substances from their fodder So everyone gathers their sheep together and
to make fat. Much of this fat is stored in their humps. gets them sheared. The sheep are washed before
That way the fat also serves as a good insulation from shearing and if any thorns are stuck to their wool
the heat of the sun. As needed, the fat gets broken they are carefully removed. What a lot of work!
down to supply the camels with energy and water. Still, it is worth the trouble because well-cleaned
wool fetches a better price from the traders who
Another thing that makes camels well suited to the
go from village to village buying up the wool.
desert is their feet. Have you ever tried to run in soft
sand? It’s difficult because your feet sink deep into Soon the fodder around the village begins to
the sand at every step. Camels have wide, padded get scarce. There is not enough vegetation to
hooves that do not sink too deep in the sand. This, allow many sheep and goats to graze all year
combined with their long legs allows them to move round. What will the animals eat during the
quite fast across the sand. Good camels can walk upto winter and the summer? The shepherds get
16 kilometres in an hour on sand. ready to migrate in search of fodder. Migration
is an old tradition and the shepherds have fixed
routes where they know they will be able to
find fodder as they travel from place to place.
The map on the next page shows the states that
surround Rajasthan. The arrows show the usual
migration routes used by the shepherds of
Jaisalmer and Bikaner.
Sevan grass
 Firozpur Ludhiana
Which areas of different states do sheep herders Ganganagar Chandigarh
visit? Look at the map on the right and tell.
Sirsa Rohtak
Why is sheep fodder available for the sheep in
these places? How are these areas different from Delhi
theThar? Bikaner Gurgaon
Mathura
Jaisalmer Agra
of about 50
Come, let’s join a group
lages in Jaisalmer Tonk
shepherds from two vil
ens as they migrate
Tehsil, and see what happ
ing sheep. Pali
from place to place, herd Barmer Bundi

A Journey with Kandla

Palanpur

Some Shepherds Ujjain

Dabhoi
In some parts of Rajasthan people only take their
animals out if there is a severe drought. But in
our villages, we go every year. One or two persons
from almost all the households of both villages
are leaving with their sheep and goats. Most of sheep are not going out this year. They will roam
us are men, but a few women and children are over nearby places to graze their sheep.
also coming. Most of the women, children and After many days of preparation, everything has
elderly people are staying at home. been loaded onto camels and we are ready to
We are leaving with 6,000 sheep and 22 camels. begin our long journey. We set off on foot, herding
Some families might have 70-80 sheep, others the sheep along as we go. Although the sheep
may have 100-200 sheep and some even have are healthy, they are looking thin only because
300 sheep. Those families who have only 40-50 they were just sheared. They are quite a sight
to see - moving along in a huge herd spread
across the land.
Winter Days mixture of these things and feed it
to the sheep every day. We’ll also get
The areas to the east get whatever medicines they need from
more rain, so that’s where the market.
we’re going. As we go along,
we start seeing more grass If we don’t improve the sheep’s diet
and more trees of khejdi and and give them the medicines in time,
babool. We cut small they might start dying. It is also very
branches from these trees difficult to herd along sick animals
to feed the sheep. over long routes. So we might have
to sell off the sick animals along the
After each day’s walk, when way. Naturally, we won’t get a good
evening descends, we pitch price for a sick animal, but at least
camp on a field or anywhere we’ll get some cash. This will help us
in the open. It’s getting cold buy more food and medicine for the
now. We unload everything other sheep.
from the camels and
prepare our food. After a long day’s walk, we’re
all hungry. We light the cooking fires, using some The Aravalli Hills
wood we have collected along the way. We make
dal and rotis of bajra, and eat them with chillies Two months have passed and still our long walk
and onions. Then we settle down in our quilts continues. Now the Aravalli hills can be seen to
for a night’s sleep. the east.

On getting up in the morning we have tea made In this area many farmers irrigate their fields
with sheep’s milk, and then again we have rotis from tube wells. They grow crops of wheat and
of bajra. After finishing our morning meal, we gram in winters. Of course we can’t graze the
pack up and set out again on the day’s journey. sheep in these fields. The animals can be grazed
only in those fields that the farmers have left
There is more land under cultivation here in the fallow. But the owners do let our animals eat
eastern part of Rajasthan. We graze the sheep the leaves of the trees growing on the fields.
on the stalks that are left standing in the bajra Sometimes, they even pay us to let our sheep
fields after the harvest. They provide plentiful graze and roam over unplanted fields. This is
fodder. because the sheep fertilise their fields with their
droppings.

The Sheep Have Problems Inyourarea,dofarmershavetheanimalsmanure

their fields like this? If yes, then how do they repay
There are many problems that we have to face
the shepherds for this service?
on our journey. After having been travelling for
almost a month now, the sheep are beginning
to tire. In some of the places we passed through,
we were not able to get good fodder. Even finding
drinking water can be difficult at times. Now it’s
getting very cold, and the sheep are beginning
to fall ill. Our money and supplies are also
getting low. Many people are thinking of
borrowing money. There’s a small town not far
from here where there’s a wool merchant whom
we know. Some people are planning to go to him
and borrow some money. Then we’ll buy bajra
flour, gur and oil from the market. We’ll make a
200 THE THAR DESERT
Through all such difficulties, the winter months In Haryana, ‘desi babool’ also grows aplenty all
pass. After 4 or 5 months, the sheep are again around. Its leaves and fruits are very good for
thickly covered with wool. Since we are now in the sheep. However, we have to take care that
mid-journey, far from home, we don’t have the the sheep do not end up eating ‘vilayati babool’
time or the equipment to clean the sheep and by mistake - this kind is poisonous for sheep.
shear the wool ourselves. So we call some
shearers from the town near our camp and pay Throughout April, May and June we continue
them to do it. herding the sheep from place to place in
Haryana.
Wool merchants have shops in every ‘kasba’ and
town along our route. The merchants themselves
come to our camp to buy the wool. The Return Journey
The wool sheared at the end of the winter is not Summer is passing. Now the rains are about to
much in quantity, nor is it very clean. Therefore come. In Haryana, the fields will soon be
it doesn’t fetch much of an income. However, we ploughed. Preparations will be made for sowing.
get enough money to repay what we had It won’t be possible to graze sheep over here
borrowed for the sheep’s food and medicines. any longer. Anyway, now it’s time to return to
We send the remaining money back to our our desert villages.
villages since by now our families back home
must be running out of grain and must be finding During June and July we travel back. This long
it difficult to manage. return journey in hot weather is full of hardships.
On all the fields along the way preparations are
on for the monsoon sowing. The sheep have to
Why would the family members in the village
have to face shortages of grain as winter ends? make do with whatever grass and leaves of trees
Explain. they can find by the roadside. By the time we
reach our villages in the desert, it will have rained
Why do the shepherds get more income from and they will get fodder - it is with this hope
monsoon wool than from winter wool? that we keep walking along. If this hope gets
dashed and the rains don’t come by the time we
return, we’ll really be in a very dangerous situation
The Summer - our very survival will be threatened.
The months of March
and April arrive. Now Women cleaning wool
we have started
heading out of
Rajasthan for
Haryana. In Haryana
irrigation takes place
through canals. The
rabi crop of wheat is
being harvested now.
Therefore we are able
to find many fields full
of stubble (the stalks
that remain af ter
harvest), on which the
sheep graze to their
heart’s content.
Drought decided not to go back home at all for the
An example of such a crisis occurred in 1987. The monsoons. Instead they decided to use the forests
shepherds returned home and there was not a drop of M.P to graze their sheep in the monsoon
of rain. Neither grass nor bajra could grow. The months. Hundreds of sheep-rearers of the Thar
few leaves left on the shrubs were eaten within a with 15-20 lakh sheep have left their villages
few days. Where could they go? The whole of forever. They keep moving between eastern
western Rajasthan was under a drought. The Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and the jungles and the
shepherds couldn’t go back to Haryana - there fields of Madhya Pradesh. They have gone to court
would be crops standing in the fields there. If they against the restrictions and taxes that the forest
stayed in their villages how would they save the department imposes upon them.
animals from dying? And if the animals died, how
would the people survive? Farming was already List the options the shepherds have during the
out of the question. monsoon months and write the pros and cons of
each option.
Do you know what the hundreds of sheep-rearers
Do the shepherds have the right to use the forest?
of the desert did? They borrowed money and hired
trucks, loaded their sheep on to the trucks, and What harm might the shepherds bring on the
headed for the jungles of Madhya Pradesh. That forest-:
was the only place they could find where their • Would large numbers of trees be cut by them?
sheep could graze. They had to use trucks to get • Would small saplings planted by the forest
there because there wasn’t enough fodder for the department be eaten up by the grazing sheep?
animals to eat along the way.
What benefits can the sheep bring to the forest?
Thousands and thousands of sheep came to graze Can a balanced policy be made to protect the
in the jungles of M.P. The forest department tried forests and the needs of the shepherds? In your
to stop this and they made the sheep-rearers pay opinion, what will it contain?
heavy fines. As the drought-like situation in
Rajasthan continued year after year, the shepherds

Sand Dunes
In some parts of the Thar Desert there are vast dunes of shifting sand everywhere. Blown by the swift
desert breeze the sand of one dune moves ahead and forms a new dune in a new place. In the absolutely
dry summer months there are sand storms as well. Then it becomes difficult to go outside. Sometimes the
winds blow the sand great distances, darkening the sky for days even in places as far away as Delhi.
Sand dunes can be seen all
around in Jaisalmer, Bikaner, and
Ganganagar. The sand dunes and
sand storms create great
problems for the irrigated
agriculture of Ganganagar. The
channels that carry water keep
getting choked by sand. Sand
settles over crops sown in the
fields, crushing the smaller
plants. Fields may have to be
202 THE THAR DESERT
reploughed and resown a number of times. Sand so that the sand is not blown away. Shrubs could
has to be removed from canals and from the fields also provide fuel wood and fodder for animals.
many times.
Shifting sand dunes and sand storms are among
Neither grass nor shrubs can grow on these shifting the many hardships that the people of this dry
dunes. Hence they are of no use for grazing. region have to endure. There are no easy solutions
Attempts are being made to plant shrubs on them, for such problems.

Attempts to Make the Desert Green

There are no rivers in western Rajasthan, but Too Much Water
just to the north lies Punjab. In Punjab the
Then, after a number of years of irrigation, the
Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi, carry plenty of water
farmers also had to face a new and serious problem.
throughout the year. Much of this water comes
Irrigating the sandy land resulted in raising the level
from the melting of the Himalayan snow.
of ground water. This happened because just 1.5 to
In 1958 the Rajasthan Canal Project was taken 6 metres beneath the surface was a hard layer of
up in order to build a 649 km long canal to limestone. The water from the canals and irrigated
bring water from the Sutlej to the desert of fields seeped down and collected on top of this layer
Rajasthan. As a result of this, the northern areas of limestone. As the water level rose an area of about
of Rajasthan are now being irrigated, especially 8000 sq km became almost waterlogged and marshy.
in the Ganganagar district. Some areas
bordering the canal that had been absolutely
dry and sandy are now completely transformed Salination of the Soil
into farmland. Since the water table rose up the salts found under
the ground also dissolved in the water and came close
Here, instead of one crop of bajra a year, two to the surface of the soil. Thus, each year the soil
crops are taken. Wheat, gram, cotton, jowar, gradually got more and more saline. After a number
sugar cane, groundnuts, jeera, dhania, chillies of years the fields got so saline that crops could no
and other crops are now being grown in the longer be grown. Cultivation had to be abandoned
desert, thanks to the canal waters. in such fields for many years.
Earlier there were few people living in As a result of the problems created by the canal
Ganganagar District. After the canal was built waters, efforts are now being made to grow more of
the government resettled many farmers of such crops that require less irrigation. Efforts are
Punjab and Haryana there. These farmers were also being made to adopt irrigation techniques that
experienced in intensive farming. Many farmers do not waste as much water as happens when water
of Rajasthan also adopted intensive irrigated flows through long channels to reach the crops.
agriculture. Attempts have been made to lay pipelines in fields
and use sprinklers that enable water to reach the
roots of the crops directly.
Problems for the Shepherds
With irrigated farming taking place, the Many people suggest that instead of increasing
shepherds ran into problems. Sevan grass irrigated farming in the desert, raising animals should
disappeared. Now crops are standing in the fields be encouraged. Irrigation water could be used to grow
year round, and it has become difficult to graze grasses, and shrubs rather than crops. Since less water
animals. As a result, many people sold off their would be required, water logging and salinity would
animals. be reduced.
THE THAR DESERT 203
Exercises
1. Use your Atlas to answer the following questions:
a) Find three cities or towns that are in the Thar Desert.
b) Is the Thar Desert at the same elevation as most of the Ganga River Basin?
c) Is the Thar Desert at a higher or lower elevation compared to Ajmer and Udaipur?
d) According to the map in your Atlas, what is the average temperature in January in Bikaner?
2. How does water scarcity affect the lives of people in the desert? Explain.
3. Compare the eastern and western regions of Rajasthan. Mention differences and similarities in
land, water, vegetation, agriculture and the life of people.
4. The people of the desert depend more on rainwater than on ground water. Why?
5. What kind of fodder do the sheep get in the monsoon, in the summer and in the winter?
6. When is the wool of the sheep sheared? How is the wool sold?
7. Why do the shepherds have to take loans?
8. If you were a shepherd in the Thar, what would you think if you heard the government was planning
to build a canal near your village? Explain in detail.
9. What are three advantages and three disadvantages of introducing irrigated farming in the desert?
10. Look at the Table below and tell which kinds of animals are the second most important source of
meat in India.
Meat and Poultry Produced in India (1995)
S our
ourcce Per
erccent of ttotal
otal meat pr prooduc ts
ducts
Cattle and buffaloes 40%
Sheep and goats 26%
Pigs 16%
Poultry (mainly chicken) 16%
Others 2%
(Source of data: National School Atlas, Department of Science and
Technology, Government of India, 1999)

A man weaving with goat hair