Rann of Kachchh
Rann of Kachchh, large area of saline mudflats located in west-central India and southern Pakistan. It is made up of the Great Rann and the Little Rann. The Hindi word Rann means “desert.” The word Kachchh derives from a local fable that the region’s map, if turned upside down, resembles kachchh, the Sanskrit word for “tortoise.”
The Rann extends about 190 miles (300 km) from east to west and 90 miles (150 km) from north to south. Its two parts—the Great Rann, in the north, and the Little Rann, in the southeast—are separated by the highland of Kachchh. The Great Rann covers an area of about 7,000 square miles (18,000 square km) and lies almost entirely within the Indian state of Gujarat, along the border with Pakistan. The Little Rann of Kachchh extends northeast from the Gulf of Kachchh and occupies about 2,000 square miles (5,100 square km) in Gujarat state.
The Rann was a once a shallow part of the Arabian Sea, until a geological shift closed off the connection with the sea. The region became a seasonal marshy salt desert over the years. During monsoons the region fills up with water and forms a wetland. In the summer the water dries to create a bed of white salty land. The Great Rann is a bowl-shaped depression, its eastern edge merging into the drainage area of the Luni River. A detailed description of the Rann of Kachchh can be found in the Periplus Maris Erythraei, an ancient Greek travel book, which characterizes it as a non-navigable gulf with a small part and a great part, with shallow water and shifting sandbanks; it also notes that this is a region where ships ran aground. The Rann features many rivers that originate in Gujarat and the Indian state of Rajasthan.
The region has a subtropical climate, with very hot summers; temperatures reach up to 120 °F (50 °C) during the day. During the monsoon from June to September, the area is waterlogged. Winters are usually cool and dry. The water evaporates during the long dry season. Because of the highly seasonal weather, the vegetation in the region is mostly made up of grass and thorn scrubs. The region is home to several wildlife sanctuaries. The Kutch Desert Wildlife Sanctuary is the largest and is known for “Flamingo City,” where thousands of flamingos nest and breed. Spiny-tailed lizards, hyenas, and antelope species such as the nilgai and chinkara are also found there. The Indian Wild Ass Sanctuary, in the Little Rann, is one of the last places where the endangered Indian wild ass can be found. In 2008 the Indian government established the Kutch Biosphere Reserve to protect the Great Rann and Little Rann. Pakistan’s Rann of Kutch Wildlife Sanctuary protects the northern portion of the Great Rann.
The Rann has been populated since the Bronze Age. The Indus valley civilization had many settlements in the Rann of Kachchh. Dholavira, more than 245 acres (100 hectares) in area, is the largest Indus valley site in the region. Excavations at Dholavira have revealed three distinct sections of the township—a citadel, a middle town, and a lower town. Evidence of hydro-engineering and water harvesting has been found, with check dams, reservoirs, and stormwater channels allowing the town to harness two rain-fed streams. Water management structures took up 10 percent of the total area. A gradient of about 43 feet (13 metres) between high and low areas helped set up cascading reservoirs. Dholavira is believed to have been a port, and two circular structures that have been found there are hypothesized to have been used for solar astronomy. Another key site is Khirasara, where gold beads were found in 2011. Khirasara is believed to have been an industrial hub from the middle Harappan period (2600–2200 bce). Other sites include Surkotada and Juni Kuran. The now sparsely populated Rann was moderately populated during the Indus valley period, which has led several historians to hypothesize that the Rann was navigable during the period.
During the time of Alexander the Great, the Rann is believed to have been a navigable lake, though Alexander may have mistaken an estuary for a lake. The region was also a part of the Mauryan and Gupta empires. Multiple dynasties ruled the region until the 14th century, when it came under the control of the Jadeja dynasty, which held it for some 500 years. In 1819 the British East India Company defeated the Jadejas in battle and took over. After Indian independence in 1947, the Rann continued to be part of Kachchh state until its merger into Bombay state in 1956. In 1960 the new linguistic states of Gujarat and Maharashtra were formed, and the Rann became part of Gujarat.
In 1965 a dispute arose over the India-Pakistan boundary line toward the western end of the Great Rann. Fighting broke out in April and ended when Great Britain intervened to secure a cease-fire. On the report of the United Nations secretary-general to the Security Council, the dispute was referred to an international tribunal, which in 1968 awarded about 10 percent of the border area to Pakistan and about 90 percent to India; the partition was effected in 1969.