About Sambhar
Sambhar is 190 sq. km in extent at full capacity, and lies some 60 km
west of Jaipur, just outside prosaically named Salt Lake City. This vast
body of glacial saline is on average just 0.6 cm deep and never more
than 3 m even just after the monsoon. It stretches in length for 22.5
km, its width varying between around 3 and 11 km. It is fed by several
seasonal fresh water streams, two of the major ones being the rivers
Mendha and Rupangarh.
Sambhar quite literally means salt, and salt has been extracted from
here for over a thousand years by the various administrators of the area
. Over time, these have included the Scindhias, Rajputs, Marathas,
Moghuls and the rulers of Jaipur and Jodhpur who jointly owned the lake,
and who in 1870 leased it to the British who built the solid square
Circuit House where we were fortunate enough to stay.
After independence, the lake was taken over by the government and is
now managed by Sambhar Salts Limited, a joint venture of Hindustan Salts
and the Government of Rajasthan.
The vast, roughly elliptically shaped lake has been divided into two
sections by a 5 km long stone dam. The eastern section contains the
reservoirs for salt extraction, canals and salt pans. Water from the
vast shimmering western section is pumped to the other side via sluice
gates when it reaches a degree of salinity considered optimal for salt
extraction.
The waters here are glacially still, edged with a glittering frost of
salt. Files abound, drawn by the blue-green algae in the water and queue
up in order to crawl into your mouth and ears. There is a sharp briny
tang in the air taking you straight back to coastal fishmarkets. The
only thing missing being the hushing lisp of the sea as it fans out on
the beach.
Pictures of Sambhar
