BharatSangraha

Mewar · Arid Northwest

Terrain and eco-zones

Semi-arid, but decisively less arid than the country north-west of the range. Udaipur takes around 600–650 mm a year and the Kotra and Jhadol hills nearer 800–900 mm, almost all of it between late June and mid-September. Winter nights fall to 4–8 °C in the hill basins and May afternoons reach 40–43 °C, which is three to five degrees off what the desert districts do at the same latitude — the hills and the standing water both take the edge off.

Landforms

The highest and most continuous stretch of the Aravallis, running to 1,000–1,300 m around Kumbhalgarh and GogundaGirwa — the enclosed hill basin Udaipur sits inside, which is why the city floods rather than drainsThe Chittor plateau, a set of flat-topped sandstone mesas standing 150–180 m above the plainBhomat and the Chappan hills on the southern scarp, dry deciduous forest with mahua, teak and salarThe Banas–Berach agricultural plain, the region's grain floorMarble, zinc, lead and cement-grade limestone country through Rajsamand, Zawar and Chittorgarh

Rivers and waters

Banas — rises in the Khamnor hills near Kumbhalgarh and is the longest river running entirely inside RajasthanBerach and Gambhiri — the Chittor plateau's drainage, meeting the Banas below BhilwaraKothari, Wagli Wagon and JakhamSom and Mahi — the southern slope's drainage, running away from the Ganga system towards the Arabian SeaAhar — the small stream Udaipur grew on, and the type site of the Ahar-Banas chalcolithic culturePichola, Fateh Sagar, Udai Sagar, Rajsamand and Jaisamand — every one of them a dam, not a lake

Through the year

SeasonMonthsTypicalWhat it is like
WinterNovember–February6–27 °CClear, dry and the wedding and pilgrimage season. Nathdwara's kitchen turns to ginger and dry-fruit paks, and the pichwai behind Shrinathji goes to winter colours and quilted cloth.
SummerMarch–June25–43 °CHot but survivable. The lakes drop, raab and chaach replace cooked breakfasts, and the temple switches to cooling bhog and thin white cloth.
MonsoonJuly–September24–33 °CThe season Mewar is worth seeing and the rest of Rajasthan is not. The Aravallis green over, the dams fill and overflow at Pichola's gates, Hariyali Amavasya and Jal Jhulni Ekadashi fall here, and Gavri runs its forty days on the hill slope.
Post-monsoonOctober18–32 °CFull lakes, clean light and the Annakut and Diwali cycle at Nathdwara.

Best time to visitOctober to March for the forts and the town. But late August and September are the one window when the Aravallis are green, the lakes are full and the region looks like the thing it was actually built around; accept humidity and closed forest tracks in exchange.

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