Travel » Kachchh India Travel

The famed Great Rann is a whopping 25,000 sq km of this desert kingdom. "It has many moods: salt crystals dazzle like millions of diamonds under the scorching sun. Its still vastness is eerie under the bluish glow of the full moon... (its) fantastic mirages (are) different from those seen in an ordinary desert. Armies have got lost in it. One comes across half buried bones of dead animals which glow at night. At places there is not a blade of grass as far as the eye can see, and then, all of a sudden, there is a magnificent transition as the Rann marshes meet the lush grass and dark cliffs at Kala Dungar (Black Mountain)."

Contrary to the general view that Kachchh is all desert, the book showcases the varying terrain and beauty of the landscape. The region has a splendid coastline, with a long history of seafaring trade with African countries, Arabia and Persia. There were land routes to Sindh, Baluchistan, Gujarat, Kathiawar and Marwar. All of which made it an ethnic cauldron set in wide horizons. Remote settlements were inhabited by people of diverse racesand religions.

Bhuj, the biggest city, that lies in "an amphitheater of hills" was the Kachchhi capital. British Captain MacMurdo described it in 1818 as a "number of white buildings, mosques and pagodas interspersed with plantations of date trees." But in the mid-nineteenth century, when the British took Sindh, Kachchh lost its importance. At the same time, Bombay grew into a magnificent port and then "there occurred from Kachchh to Bombay what might be called in modern parlance a tremendous brain drain. Nearly half of the present populace of Kachchhi descent now resides in Bombay."

Those who stayed back in Kachchh went through a period of relative isolation. They were nomads, dependent on grazing land, also artisans, farmers and traders. The author talks about the Rabaris, honest and hardworking, proud and reluctant to seek state help even in the worst times of drought. And indeed, droughts occur often, sometimes for successive years in a row. Some Rabaris, still resplendent in traditional attire from turban to toe, operate large fleets of trucks. Other ethnic groups include the Fakirani Jaths (pronounced with a soft "th", no connection with the well-known Jats of Haryana) living in reed huts on the Lakhpat coast, an area abutting Pakistan; the Dhanetah Jaths, whose women have misshapennoses due to the enormous nose rings that they sport. There are Garasia Jaths, Ahir cowherds, potters, weavers, artisans, Patels and African Siddhis too. The latter came from Somalia centuries ago, and have distinct negroid features.

The area's antiquity goes back 4,000 years. Harappan sites found in Kachchh so far include the now well-known Dholavira, as important as Mohenjodaro, now in Pakistan. Dholavira's twin mounds include the main citadel or acropolis, middle town, lower town, gateways, water channels, stone columns and bases.

Gedi, believed to be the oldest town in Kachchh, is said to have sheltered the Pandavas. It was the capital of Raja Gadhesingh, who was forced to wear the form of an ass, but succeeded in marrying the chief's daughter. He had surrounded the city with a wall of brass.
There is wildlife too, in Kachchh. Bird life is best viewed riding on uniquely sure-footed Kachchhi camels. They carry loads but do not stumble even while trudging on wet sand that is 2 ft deep under water in the marshlands. Both camels and birds have been vividly photographed in the book. It also has the only full face picture I have seen of the wild ass of Kachchh. These animals are so fast that most photographs show only their flanks and hind quarters as they gallop away in the Little Rann.

The Kachchh landscape features low hills, mountains, dust-colored ridges and rocky cliffs which rise abruptly. Younger than the Himalayas, the ranges are sometimes flattopped, tubular or steep sided, and have quaint names. One conical one is called Vichhia (scorpion), another Dhinodhar (patience bearer). A quaint shrine there is of Rawal Pir, said to have taken birth in the fourteenth century from a blister in the palm of his mother's hand. The legends of the area are as off beat as the land!