BharatSangraha

Dhundhar & Shekhawati · Arid Northwest

Terrain and eco-zones

Semi-arid in the basin and close to arid in the north. Jaipur takes around 550–600 mm a year and Churu nearer 300–350 mm, almost all of it in July and August. Churu records both the extremes — above 48 °C in May and below freezing in December — because a dry sandy plain with no water body to buffer it swings further than anywhere on either side of it.

Landforms

The northern tail of the Aravallis, broken into detached ridges — the Jaipur ring, Torawati, and the Khetri hillsThe Shekhawati bagar — a sandy plain of low stabilised dunes running north-west into the TharThe Sambhar depression, a shallow saline basin with no outletThe Banganga alluvial pocket east of JaipurCopper-bearing rock in the Khetri belt, worked continuously into the modern period

Rivers and waters

Banganga — rises in the Bairath hills, waters the eastern basin and dies in the sand before reaching the YamunaSahibi (Sabi) — rises in Torawati, crosses into Haryana and ends in the Najafgarh drainage at DelhiKantli — the Shekhawati river, which flows only in flood and disappears into the sand near ChuruMendha, Rupangarh, Khari and Khandela — the ephemeral streams that feed Sambhar and evaporate thereDhundh and Morel in the southern basinSambhar Salt Lake — India's largest inland salt lake, and a Ramsar site since 1990

Through the year

SeasonMonthsTypicalWhat it is like
WinterNovember–February4–25 °CThe working season for everything — weddings, fairs, the literature festival, and the flamingos on Sambhar. Churu nights go to or below zero, which is worth knowing before booking a haveli in Shekhawati.
SummerMarch–June28–46 °CHot and dry, with dust storms in May. Sambhar dries to a crust and the salt harvest runs; the frescoes, which suffer far more from direct sun than from rain, take their annual damage in these months.
MonsoonJuly–September26–36 °CBrief and unreliable. Teej and ghewar season; the Kantli runs for a few days if at all, and Jaipur's old city floods where the 1727 drainage lines have been built over.
Post-monsoonOctober18–33 °CClear and mild, and the run-up to Diwali, which Jaipur's old city marks with a lit bazaar frontage.

Best time to visitNovember to February for both halves. Shekhawati is best done in winter and on foot, because the frescoes are on street frontages and the towns are small enough to walk. Ghewar is only made from Sawan into Bhadrapada, so a July or August visit buys that and very little else.

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