Physical Environment, I-Iuman Influences and
Desertification in Pushkar - Budha Pushkar Lake
Region of Rajasthan, India
AMAL KAR*
Summary
The hazard of desertification is now threatening one of
the most celebrated and sacred lake regions in lndia, the
Pushkar-Budha Pushkar region, which is situated
within the Aravallis, in Rajasthan. While, on the basis of
known climatic records and physical potentiality of the
land, secular change of climate can be ruled out as a
possible cause for the present situation, the location of
the zone along the fringe of the desert, and its inherent
vulnerable nature due to its terrain characteristics, are
more important factors for consideration. A lack of
understanding of the type of responses of the terrain to
indiscriminate biotic activities, and a reluctance to take
any measure to stabilize the ecosystem by the alien
group of people resident in the area, have resulted in
destruction of the natural vegetation, accelerated the
movement of sand from the formerly well-stabilized
dunes and sandy plains, and deteriorated the lake
environment. However, such destructive trends could
still be reversed through well planned programmes of
afforestation, soil and water conservation, and people's
supportive participation.
Introduction
One of the richest cultural nodes in gajasthan, the
Pushkar - Budha Pushkar lake region, is now severely
threatened by desertification. Unlike any other part of
Rajasthan this region is endowed with two major
sweet water lakes, at Pushkar, and Budha Pushkar.
Neither of these are dependent on surface run-off, for
both are fed by a perennial supply of ground water
along the buried valley of a major former tributary of
the Saraswati, which, along with the Sagarmati, joins
to form the River Luni. The lake region, therefore,
forms a part of the Luni river basin and is situated
within the AravaUi mountains. The twin factors of
sweet water lakes and secluded mountainous terrain
were responsible for the development of many holy
shrines and associated edifices in the region.
*Dr Amal Kar is a germorphologistcurrentlyundertaking research
at the Central Arid Zone ResearchInstitute.
The Environmentalist, Volume 6, Number 3, 227-232 (1986)
Central A r i d Z o n e
Research Institute,
Jodhpur 342003, India
The lake region is located along the eastern fringe of
the Thar desert (Ghose, et al., 1977), and there is a sort
of 'wind gap' at both the SW and NE ends of the
region (Sen and Mann, 1977). Strong, south-westerly
summer winds of past harsher climates brought sand
particles from the plains in the west and dumped them
in the region to create dunes (Figures 1 and 2).
The Physical Environment
Analysis of the lake stratigraphy (Karanth, 1967), the
dune sand and dune stratigraphy, and the archaeolog-
ical specimens from the area (Allchin, et al., 1978),
reveal an interesting environmental history. Before the
advancement of sand dunes, the area was drained by a
major south-flowing stream that was a tributary of the
Saraswati. The river built up its own flood-plains
between Hokran, Budha Pushkar, Pushkar, and be-
yond. It is logical to surmise that the climate was
wetter during that period. Subsequently, a prolonged
arid phase set in. Because of the alignment of the
flanking hill ranges, in that they are parallel to the
path of the prevailing south-west wind rather than
astride it as elsewhere along the Aravalli-desert fringe,
the wind-blown sand began to invade the plains of the
area from the south-west. The wind-borne sand in-
vaded the Aravallis through the natural south-western
gap. Apart from the sand from the western desert
plains the sandy river beds might have also been
reworked to form dunes. This phase was followed by a
prolonged wetter climate, when the sand dunes were
mostly stabilized and dissected (Allchin, et al., 1978).
Subsequently, a further arid phase occurred and the
dune building process started again. In the process,
the river through Budha Pushkar and Pushkar was
dismembered and segmented by the dunes into local
depressions. Three such major depressions containing
water were named by the early settlers as Budha
Pushkar, Madhya Pushkar and Pushkar Raj (Pushkar
means lake). In each, a thick layer of lacustrine
deposits of silt and clay is testimony to the extent of
the lakes at their prime. It is significant to note that
although the lake at Madhya Pushkar has dried up,
due mainly to sand invasion, the other two lakes, at
Budha Pushkar and Pushkar, are perennial and fed by
227
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Fig. 1. R a j a s t h a n Desert, India; its present distribution a n d former extension. Reproduced from G h o s e , et al., 1977.

subsurface flow of water along the buried course of the !ook into the type of land-man interaction currently in
river mentioned above. practice.
The present climate is far wetter than that which
preceded it and created the dunes. This is attested by Land-Man Interaction and Desertification
the fact that all the high sand dunes are now stable.
Although dissected to some extent by the gullies they As hinted earlier high sand dunes are an integral part
have immense capability to support trees and other of the landscape, along with the hill ranges, sandy
vegetation under natural condition (Figure 3). The plains and the lakes. The sand dunes are stable and to
present mean annual rainfall in the area is more than some extent dissected by gullies. The initial creation of
500 ram. With such high rainfall and the presence of the lakes was associated with the formation of dunes
two perennial sweet water lakes it is ridiculous that across a major stream. As the area began to grow as a
the area should come under the grip of desertification. religious centre so did the pressure on the land. The
Yet, in reality, even with such non desert-like pheno- inhabitants were mainly of service class (i.e. mostly a
mena a significant part of the area is now barren and elan of priests), and the value of land and its vulnera-
largely desertified (Figure 4). To seek an explanation bility were of little concern to them. Their cattle, goats
for this apparently paradoxical situation one must and sheep roamed freely on the dunes and thrived on

228 The Environmentalist

 \ . . ,- . . . . 74=35'E . . . \

M(JTI'G/iR}-I ....... ~"

IIIIIIIII I II
74 = 35' Ell IH

LEGEND Kilometres

~]Hills ~Sond dunes

Intermontane colluviol ploins ~ Sondy unduloting ploins

~ lntermontone olluviol ploins ~ Noturoi sweet woter Iokes

Fig. 2. Generalised landforms of Pushkar - Budha Pushkar Lake region, and surroundings.

Volume 6 Number 3 (1986) 229


Fig. 3. Stableobstaclesand duneswith littledisturbedvegetatedhill
slopes. North of Kanas, Rajasthan, India,
the naturally regenerated vegetation. Bushes and trees
were cut indiscriminately to make provisions for
fodder, fuel and building material. In the process, the
structure of the sand, both along the dunes and in the
plains, became loose. Sand began to be picked up by
the winds and reworked as new low dunes or as
reactivated crests of the otherwise stable dunes
(Figure 5). This again created a retinue of hazards and
threatened more and more land to the NE of the lakes,
especially towards Hokran, as new sand dunes were
formed. Almost half the stretch of land between Budha
Pushkar lake and Hokran-Makarwali gap is now
affected by new low dunes and the dunes are advanc-
ing towards Makarawali (Figure 4).
The region is thus faced with a major problem of
shifting sand dunes created by man controlled pres-
sures, and checking the sand movement must be
given highest priority. The area around Budha Push-
kar is particularly vunerable. Significantly, much of
the area between Pushkar and Budha Pushkar is
either under Forest Department control or is barren
Government land. The areas covered by shifting dunes
should be totally fenced to prevent further cattle
grazing. Suitable trees and grasses must then be
introduced to bind the sand particles and to arrest
their movement.
Stabilizing the low dunes near Budha Pushkar
alone will not solve the problem. The reactivated sand
from the formerly stabilized high dunes of the Mot-
isar-Pushkar area is being continuously picked up by
the SW wind and redeposited in this part. Afforesta-
tion measures are also required in the Motisar-Push-
kar area to prevent new sand coming into the Budha
Pushkar- Hokran area_ The annual Pushkar cattle
fair and the influx of tourists at Pushkar, each assist in
creating more problems of dune de-stabilization.
Human activity is also degrading the environmental
condition of the lakes. The natural sweet water lakes
at Pushkar and Budha Pushkar are among the rare
gifts of the nature, but the Budha Pushkar lake is
being allowed to shrink and dry. A cause of its
deterioration and shrinkage is the over-exploitation of
its water by the railways, but the spread of reactivated
230
sand into the lake bed, and the advancing front of a
major dune along its southern margin, are also major
causes (Shankarnarayan and Kar, 1983; Kar and
Shankarnarayan, 1984). Although the lake is fed by
perennial subterraneous flow of water along a major
buried channel, the tremendous pumping of water,
with increasing demand, is gradually decreasing the
lake's surface area. According to one estimate, the
water level in the lake has fallen by about 8 m between
1935 and 1965 (Karanth, 1967). A major programme
is now required to revive this lake, by checking the
advancing slopes of the dunes, by regulating the
pumping, and by reopening, and even diverting, small
stream channels from the hills to join the lake. A large
pollution-free lake will not only sustain highly pro-
ductive agriculture along its fertile shores and in small
flat areas within the dunes where water could be taken
through lift irrigation, but it will also provide a higher
groundwater table which will assist in anchoring the
sand, and thus check its movement. Efforts should
also be made to plant trees-in the denuded hills and
dissected foot-hills of the region to check further soil
erosion.
The lake at Pushkar is now highly polluted, due to
the use and reuse of the same water for religious and
other activities without any restriction. As there is no
outlet for this lake, and since there is no proper
legislation to regulate its use, the lake is collecting all
kinds of refuse and is becoming undesirably highly
polluted.
Conclusions
This account of the environment and human activities
in the Pushkar - Budha Pushkar lake region indicates
how man can undo the beneficial work of nature in a
relatively short span of time. Blaming nature for the
present desertified state of the lake region is totally
unjustified, since it is the human activity alone that
has caused the havoc. In spite of the present high
rainfall, the region is very vulnerable to sand move-
ment because of the type of landform that it has
inherited from the past climate-related processes. The
value of the two perennial lakes in the cultural evolu-
tion of the region, their potentiality and their rele-
vance in the total environmental development of the
region cannot be underestimated; the lakes should be
saved from pollution and extinction. To arrest and
reverse the present trend of desertification, a con-
certed, well planned approach based on an under-
standing of the total environmental situation of the
region is needed.
Acknowledgement
The author is grateful to Dr. K. A. Shankarnarayan,
Director and Shri Bimal Ghose, Head, Division of
Basic Resources Studies, Central Arid Zone Research
Institute, Jodhpur, for providing the facilities to carry
out the research.
The Environmentalist
 ....... ,, ,,,,,,,11,,,111 , i , ,

74 ° 35' E

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~ ~ Z ~ ~ . : : ~\\ \ \ \ \ \ \ ~ '"0°"'°"°'
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~ \ \ \ ~ \ ~ " \\~" \\\' ,.... Sand.dunes without
: : : ~ ~ \ \\ \ ~ \ \ ~y w v veQetoiion
..... 74"1'51E
Fig. 4. Morphological map of Pushkar - Budha Pushlcar Lake region, India,

Fig. 5. The barren reactivated slope of an ancient dune contrasts
with the less disturbed vegetated hill sopes and plains. Near
Hokran, Rajasthan, India.
232
References
Altchin, B., Goudie, A. $. and Hegde, K. (1978) Theprehistory and
palaeogeography of the Great Indian Desert. Academic Press,
London; pp. 114-158.
Ghose, B., Singh, S. and Kar, A. (1977) Dcscrtification around the
Thar - a goomorphoiogicai interpretation. Annals of Arid Zone
16 (3) 290-301.
Karanth, K.R. (1967) Geohydroiogy of Budha Pushkar internal
drainage area, Ajmcr district, Rajasthan. Indian Geohydrology,
3 (1) 58-78.
Kar, A. and Shankarnarayan, K.A. (1984) Some environmental
considerations for the management of surface water in the
upper Luni basin of Rajasthan, India. Indian Journal of Geog-
raphy, 14, 33-42.
Sen, A. K. and Mann, H. S. (1977) A geographical appraisal of the
expansion and deterioration of the Indian desert. Annals of
Arid zone, 16 (3) 281-289.
Shankarnarayan, K. A. and Kar, A. (eds.) (1983) Upper Luni
Basin-an integrated analysis of natural and human resourcesfor
development planning. CAZRI, Jodhpur; 577 p.
The Environmentalist