The Rann of Kachchh (Cutch, or Kutch) is the name of a great low-lying salt marsh on the coast of the western Indian state of Gujarat, lying between the Gulf of Kachchh and the India/Pakistan border. Flanked by the Arabian Sea on the west, the higher part of the District of Kachchh on the south, and merging imperceptibly with the Thar Desert to the north and east, the Rann has long served as a corridor between Gujarat and Sind (now in Pakistan). It covers an area of about 20,700 square kilometers, stretching over 400 kilometers from east to west, and perhaps 200 kilometers from north to south. From May to October it is flooded with salt water that enters from both the Gulf of Kachchh and the Gulf of Cambay (or Khambhat), the two gulfs actually uniting during the monsoon, when the Rann becomes nearly impassable except perhaps on foot. In July the temperature averages over 30° C. By December the Rann becomes quite dry, and the ground hard. To the southeast of the Rann, and immediately east of the Kachchh District, is a smaller area called the Little Rann, also a salt marsh. Because of its peculiar geography the Rann is quite unsuited to agriculture but is an important source of salt. Aside from camel trains that may often be seen here, the distinctive local animal is the wild ass, found only in this part of India (Equus hemionus khur; there is a Wild Ass Sanctuary in the Little Rann). The chief town of the district, Bhuj, which lies just to the south of the Rann, was largely destroyed by a devastating earthquake in 2001. Previous earthquakes, for example in 1819, have altered the geography of the Rann significantly.
Further Reading
Spate, O. H. K. (1972) India and Pakistan: A General and Regional Geography. 3d ed. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.
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