Bakhira Tal
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, units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts.Many units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Bakhira Tal
(also called Badanch Tal or Moti Jhil). — A lake on the eastern border of BastI District, in the United Provinces. Buchanan described it as the finest piece of fresh water he had seen in India. It covers a space of about 5 miles by 2, but is merely a shallow depression filled with water, the depth of which rarely exceeds 4 or 5 feet. On the west and south the fringe of marsh is small ; but on the north a tract, which is regularly flooded in the rains, extends for 3 miles. To the east a low fen stretches for about 2 miles to the edge of the Rapti. The water in the lake is largely supplied by floods from this river, and would escape again but for an embankment along the eastern side. Fish are plentiful, and are caught in screens at the outlets of the dam or speared with a thin piece of bamboo tipped with iron. In the cold season the surface of the water is covered with wild- fowl. Boro or summer rice is largely planted in February or March round the edges of the lake.
