BharatSangraha

Bundelkhand · Central Highlands & Forest Belt

Terrain and eco-zones

Semi-arid to dry sub-humid, with 800–1,000 mm of rain falling almost entirely between late June and September. The number is respectable; the retention is not, because Archaean granite underlies most of the region and lets very little through. Summers are among the hottest in central India — 45–47 °C is normal in May at Jhansi and Banda — and winter nights on the open upland drop to 4–6 °C. Rainfall is also unusually erratic year to year, which is why the region's agricultural distress reads as chronic rather than episodic.

Landforms

Bundelkhand craton — Archaean granite and gneiss, among the oldest exposed rock in the subcontinent, breaking the surface as bare domes and torsQuartz reefs running for kilometres across the granite as low white walls, which act as underground barriers and were used as tank sitesVindhyan sandstone scarp along the southern and eastern edge, carrying the Panna and Kalinjar plateausDiamondiferous kimberlite pipes at Majhgawan near Panna, and alluvial gravels along the KenRavine (beehad) badlands where the Betwa, Ken and Chambal tributaries cut down to the YamunaDry deciduous teak, dhak, khair and anjan scrub, with sal appearing only in the wetter south-east

Rivers and waters

Betwa — rises in the Raisen uplands, runs the length of the region past Orchha and joins the Yamuna at HamirpurKen — the Panna river, gorge-cut through sandstone, holding gharial and mahseer, and the donor river in the Ken–Betwa interlinking schemeDhasan — the Betwa's largest tributary and a long-standing boundary between Bundeli sub-dialectsYamuna — the northern limit of the regionPahuj, Sindh, Baghain, Baghein and Paisuni (Mandakini) at Chitrakoot

Through the year

SeasonMonthsTypicalWhat it is like
WinterNovember–February5–27 °CThe wheat and gram season on residual soil moisture, and the fair season — Diwari dancing, weddings, and the Khajuraho dance festival in February. It is also when labour contractors recruit for the cities.
SummerMarch–June25–47 °CTanks draw down to cracked mud, hand pumps in the granite villages fail one after another, and tanker supply begins. Mahua flowers drop through March and April and are collected off the forest floor at dawn.
MonsoonLate June–September25–35 °CThe Alha season. The ballad is sung through Savan and Bhadon, the tanks fill in a few weeks, and the Kajli fair at Mahoba falls the day after Raksha Bandhan.
Post-monsoonOctober18–33 °CClear and dry, sugarcane crushing begins, and Diwali brings the Mauniya and Diwari dances.

Best time to visitOctober to March. February for the Khajuraho dance festival, and August if the point is to hear Alha sung the way it is meant to be heard. Avoid May and June — this is one of the hottest and driest inhabited landscapes in the country.

The climate, landforms, rivers and seasons of Bundelkhand, and the best time of year to visit. (4)