Luni
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Luni
(salt river,' the Lonavari or Lavanavari of Sanskrit writers). — River of Rajputana, which rises in the hills south-west of Ajmer city in 26° 25' N. and 74° 34 E., and is first known as the Sagarmati.
After passing Govindgarh it is joined by the Sarsuti, which has its source in the sacred lake of Pushkar, and from this point the river is called the Luni. It at once enters Jodhpur territory, and, after a course of about 200 miles generally west-by-south-west, is finally lost in the marshy ground at the head of the Rann of Cutch (24° 40' N. and 71^ 15' E.). It receives the drainage brought by the mountain torrents down the western slopes of the Aravalli Hills between Ajmer and Abu, and is a veritable blessing to the southern districts of Jodh- pur. There is a saying in Marwar that half the produce of the country, so far as cereals are concerned, is the gift of the Luni. It is for the most part merely a rainy-season river, and in the hot months melons and the sitighdra nut {Trapa bispinosd) are grown in great quantities in its dry bed. The banks range from 5 to 20 feet in height, and are in parts covered with bushes oi jhao {Tamarix dioica).
In heavy floods, which, however, are rare, the river overflows its banks in the districts of Mallani and Sanchor; the local name of the overflow is rel, and on the soil thus saturated fine crops of wheat and barley are grown. The Luni is, however, most capricious and erratic : on one bank it may be a blessing, on the other a curse. As far as Balotra the water is generally sweet ; but lower down it becomes more and more saline in character, till, on the edge of the Rann of Cutch, the three branches of the river are described as reservoirs of concentrated brine. By means of a dam thrown across the Luni near the town of Bilara, one of the largest artificial lakes in India has been formed.
It is called Jaswant Sagar, after the late chief of Jodhpur, and can, when full, irrigate more than 12,000 acres. Its catchment area is 1,300 square miles; surface area (when full), 22 square miles; capacity, 3,800 million cubic feet ; greatest depth, 40 feet ; length of canals and distributaries, 40 miles. The total expenditure to March 31, 1905, has been nearly 9^ lakhs, and the annual revenue since the work was completed in 1895-6 has averaged about Rs, 50,000.
