Indus
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Indus
(Sanskrit, Sindhu ; Greek, Sinthos; Latin, Sindus).-—The great river of North- Western India, which rises in Tibet, and then flows through Kashmir, the North-west I'Vontier Province, and the I'unjab, and after a final course through Sind falls into the Arabian Sea in 23° 58' N. and 67° 30' E. The drainage basin of the Indus is esti- mated at 372,700 square miles, and its total length at a little over 1,800 miles. The towns of importance on or near its banks in British territory are, beginning from the south : Karachi, Kotri, Hyderabad, Sehwan, Sukkur, Roliri, Mithankot, Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan, Mianwali, Kalabagh, Khushalgarh, and Attock.
The first section of the course of the Indus lies outside British territory, and must be dealt with briefly here. The river rises, as above stated, in Tibet (32° N. and 81° E.) behind the great mountain wall of the Himalayas which forms the northern boundary of India, and is said to spring from the north side of the sacred Kailas mountain (22,000 feet), the Elysium of ancient Sanskrit literature. Issuing from the ring of lofty mountains about Lake Manasarowar, whence also the Sutlej, the Brahmaputra, and the Kauriala spring, it flows north-west for about 160 miles under the name of Singh-ka-bab, until it receives the Ghar river on its south-western bank. A short distance below the junction of the Ghar, the Indus, which is supposed to have an elevation of 17,000 feet at its source, enters the south-eastern corner of Kashmir at an elevation of 13,800 feet, flowing slowly over a long flat of alluvium.
Following a steady north-by-west course it skirts Leh at a height of 10,500 feet and drops to 8,000 feet in Baltistan, just before it receives the waters of the Shyok river. At Leh it is joined by the Zaskar river, and is crossed by the great trade route into Central Asia via the Kara- koram Pass. Early travellers like Dr. Thomson and Mr. Blane have described this portion of the Indus. The former found numerous hot springs, some of them with a temperature of 1 74° and exhaling a sul- phurous gas. Still flowing north, but more westerly, through Kashmir territory, it passes near Skardu in Baltistan, and reaches the Haramosh mountain (24,300 feet) in about 34"^ 50' X. and 74° 30' E.
Here it takes a turn southwards at an acute angle, and passing beneath the Hattu Pir, at an elevation of 4,000 feet, enters Kohistan in the I)Tr, Swat, and Chitral Agency near (nir. The steepness of its fall varies, now becoming greater, now less. This inequality of slope has been connected with the changes that occurred in the glacial period from the damming of the river by huge glaciers and the formation of great thicknesses of lacustrine deposit. The Indus has been the cause of serious and disastrous floods ; the rapid stream dashes down gorges and wild mountain valleys, and in its lower and more level course it is swept by terrific blasts. Even in summer, when it is said to dwindle down to a fordable depth during the night, it may in the course of the day swell into an impassable torrent from the melting of the snows on the adjoining heights. Opposite Skardu in Baltistan it is, even in the depth of winter, a grand stream, often more than 500 feet wide and 9 or 10 feet in depth. After leaving Gur, it flows for about 120 miles south-west through the wilds of Kohistan, until it enters The Xorth-AVest Frontier Province (35° 25' N. and 73° 51' E.) near Darband. at the western base of the Mahaljan mountain. The onlv point to -which special allusion can be made in the long section of its course beyond British territory is the wonderful gorge by which the river bursts through the western ranges of the Himalayas, This gorge is near Skardu, and is said to be 14,000 feet in sheer descent.
The Indus, on entering the Hazara District of the North-West Frontier Province, 812 miles from its source, is about 100 yards wide in August, navigable by rafts, but of no great depth, and studded with sandbanks and islands. It is fordable in many places during the cold season ; but floods or freshes are sudden, and Ranjit Singh is said to have lost a force, variously stated at from 1,200 to 7,000 horse- men, in crossing the river. Even the large and solid ferry-boats which ply upon it are sometimes swept away. Almost opposite Attock it receives the Kabul River, which brings down the waters of Afghanis- tan. The two rivers have about an equal volume ; both are very swift, and broken up with rocks. Their junction during floods is the scene of a wild confusion of waters.
The Kabul river is navigable for about 40 miles above the confluence, but a rapid just above it renders the Indus impracticable. Attock, the limit of the upward navigation of the Indus, forms the first important point on the river within British territory. By this time it has flowed upwards of 860 miles, or nearly one-half of its total length, its further course to the sea being about 940 miles. It has fallen from an elevation of 17,000 feet at its source in Tibet to about 2,000 feet, the height of Attock being 2,079 feet. In the hot season, opposite the fort, its velocity is 13 miles an hour; and in the cold season, 5 to 7 miles. The rise of ordinary floods is from 5 to 7 feet in twenty-four hours, and the maximum is 50 feet above cold-season level. Its width varies greatly with the season, at one time being more than 250 yards, at another less than too. The Indus is crossed at Attock by the railway bridge opened in 1883, by a bridge of boats, and by a ferry. The main trunk road to Peshawar also cro.sses the river by a subway on the railway bridge.
After leaving Attock, the Indus flows almost due south, forming the western boundary of the Punjab, parallel to the Sulaiman Hills. The great north road from Bannu to Sind runs for several hundred miles parallel with its western bank ; and from Attock to Mahmud Kot the Mari-Attock, Mari, and Sind-Sagar sections of the North-Western Railway run along its eastern bank.
Twelve miles below Attock the Indus receives the waters of the Haroh, a rapid stream which, rising in the Murree hills as the Dhand, meets the Karral coming down from the Mochpuri peak, and rushes through steep banks for a total length of 90 miles. At Makhad, the Sohan brings in all the drainage of Rawalpindi and Jheluni Districts that is not taken by the Jhclum river. The Indus forms the eastern border of the two frontier Districts of Dera Ismail Khan in the North-West Frontier Province and I )era Ghazi Khan in the Punjab with the Sind-Sagar Doab on its eastern bank, and only a narrow strip of British territory between it and the hill tribes of the Sulaiman ranges on the west. Jtist above Mithankot, in the south of Dera Ghazi Khan District, it receives the accumulated Avaters of the Punjab. Between the Indus and the Jumna flow the five great streams from which the Punjab (Panj-ab, literally * The five waters ') takes its name. These are the Jhelum, the Chexah, the Ravi, the Beas, and the Sutlej. After various junctions these unite to form the Panjnad river, literally '
The five streams,' which marks for a short space the boundary between British territory and the Bahawalpur State, and unites with the Indus near Mithankot, about 490 miles from the sea. In the cold season the breadth of the Indus above the confluence is about 6co yards, its velocity 5 miles an hour, its depth from 12 to 15 feetj and its estimated discharge 10,000 to 25,000 cubic feet per second. During flood-times the breadth sometimes increases to 5 miles, and the discharge to r, 000, 000 cubic feet per second. The dimensions of the Panjnad above the point of junction are somewhat less than those of the Indus during the cold season, but during the monsoon floods they are almost as large. The whole course of the Indus through the Punjab is broken by islands and sandbanks ; but beautiful scenery is afforded along its banks, which abound with the date, acacia, pomegranate, and other trees.
Mithankot has an elevation of only 258 feet above the level of the sea. From Mithankot the Indus forms the boundary between the Punjab and the Bahawalpur State, until, near Kashmor, it enters Sind in 28° 26' N. and 69*^ 47' E. From Bukkur (in Sind) to the sea the river is known familiarly among the people of the province as the Darya (' the river '). Pliny writes of Indus incolis Sindus appellatus. It first touches Sind in The Upper Sind Frontier District, separating it from the Bahawalpur State and Sukkur ] District. Formerly in years of high inundation its floods reached Jacobabad, finding their way thence into the Manchhar Lake, 'i'o prevent this, the Kaslmior embankment, which is the largest in Sind, was erected.
Leaving Kashmor the river crosses Sukkur, divides Larkana and Karachi from the Khairpur State and Hyderabad District, finally emptying itself by many mouths into the Arabian Sea near Karachi after a south-western course of 450 miles through Sind. It ranges in width from 480 to 1,600 yards, the average during the low season being 680 yards. During the floods it is in places more than a mile wide. Its depth varies from 4 to 24 feet. The water, derived from the snows of the Himalayas, is of a dirty brown colour, and slightly charged with saline ingredients, carbonate of soda, and nitrate of potash. Its velocity in the freshes averages 8 miles per hour; at ordinary times, 4 miles.
The discharge per second varies between a minimum of 19,000 and a maximum of 820,000 cubic feet. On an average the temperature of the water is 10"^ lower than that (jf the air. Near The station of Sukkur and again at Kotri the river is spanned by a fine raihvay bridge. The Sukkur bridge was opened in 1889, and resembles the Forth Bridge in having a central girder with a span of 200 feet, supported at the ends of two cantilever arms, each 310 feet long. The Indus begins to rise in March, attains its maximum depth and width in August, and subsides in September. The maximum rise registered at Kotri, near Hyderabad, was 22 feet 7 inches in 1894. There are many other gauges on the river.
The delta of the Indus covers an area of about 3,000 square miles, and extends along the coast-line for 125 miles. It is almost a perfect level, and nearly destitute of timber, the tamarisk and mangrove alone supplying fuel. In these respects the delta is similar to that of the Nile, but dissimilar to that of the Ganges. The marshy portions contain good pasturage, and rice grows luxuriantly wherever cultivation is possible ; but the soil generally is not fertile, being a mixture of sand and clay. In the Shahbandar taluka are immense deposits of salt. The climate of the delta is cool and bracing in the winter months, hot in the summer, and during the floods most unhealthy.
The Indus formerly flowed dcnvn the middle of the Thai,. Basira, a village in the centre of the Muzaffargarh Thai, was called Bet Basira ; and at Shahgarh, near the southern end of the Thai, a long lake still exists which once formed the Indus bed. In 1800 the river at the apex of the delta divided into two main streams, known as the Baghlar and Sita ; but in 1837 it had entirely deserted the former channel. The Khedewari Massage also, which before 1819 was the highway of water traffic tcj Shahbandar, was in that year closed by an earthfjuake. In 1837 the Kakaiwari, which had then increased from a shallow creek to a river with an average width at low water of 770 yards, was recognized as the highway : but before 1867 this also was completely blocked. In 1897 the river suddenly cut 3 miles inland, north of Rohri, destroying the cultivated fields and the Mando- 1 )ahiro road. Tando Nijabat on the right bank and Mithani on the left have been swept away four times and rebuilt fiuther off. For the present the Hajamro, which before 1845 was navigable only by the smallest boats, is the main estuary of the Indus. The shai)e of the Hajamro is that of a funnel, with the mouth to the sea ; on the east side of the entrance is a beacon 95 feet high, visible for 2 miles ; and two well-manned pilot boats lie inside the bar to point out the difficulties of navigation.
The following facts illustrate further the shifting nature of the Indus. In 1845 Ghorabari, then the chief commercial town of the delta, was on the river l)ank ; hul in 1848 the river deserted its bed. The town of Keti was built on the new bank. The new bank was over- flowed a few years later, and a second Keti had to be built farther off. At present one of the chief obstructions to navigation is a series of rocks between Tatta and Bhiman-jo-pura, which in 1846 were 8 miles inland. In 1863 a thousand acres of the Dhareja forest were swept away. The rapidity and extent of the destructive action in constant progress in the delta may be estimated from the fact that travellers have counted by the reports as many as thirteen bank slips in a minute. In some places the elephant-grass {Typha elephantina) does good service by driving its roots very deeply (often 9 feet) into the ground, and thereby holding it together.
The entire course of the Indus in British territory, from Attock to the sea, lies within the zone of deficient rainfall, the annual average being nowhere higher than 10 inches. Cultivation, therefore, is absolutely dependent upon artificial irrigation, almost to as great an extent as in the typical example of Egypt. But the Indus is a less manageable river than the Nile. Its main channel is constantly shifting ; at only three places — Sukkur, Jerruck, and Kotri — are the river banks permanent ; and during the season of flood the melted snows of the Himalayas come down in an impetuous torrent which no embankment can restrain.
From time immemorial this annual inun- dation, which is to Sind what the monsoons are to other parts of India, has been utilized as far as possible by an industrious peasantry, who lead the water over their fields by countless artificial channels. Many such channels, constructed in the days of native rule, extend 30 and even 40 miles from the river bank. Recently the systematic schemes of British engineers have added numerous perennial canals, such as the Jamkao, constructed on scientific principles. The first recorded inundation of the Indus took place in 1833 ; another occurred in 1841 on a much larger scale. This flood was said to have been caused by the bursting of a glacier which formed over an accumulation of water in the Nubra Tso, into which there was a regular and steady flow from the surrounding hills.
Eventually, the glacier was burst asunder by the pressure, and the released floods poured down the Shyok valley, carrying everything before them. There was another great flood in August, 1858, when the river rose 90 feet in a few hours, and the greater part of the private property in Naushahra cantonment was destroyed. Lower down in its course considerable damage has been caused in Dera Ghazi Khan District, where protective works were undertaken. Of recent years the Indus has been embanked from above Kashmor to the mouth of the Begari Canal, a distance of more than 50 miles. The embankment has {)r()vcd a great protection to the North-AN'cstern Railway, which here runs at right angles to the river.
A full account of irrigation in Sind will be found in the article on that province. It must suffice in this place to give a list of the principal works, following the Indus downwards from the Punjab- The country has recently been surveyed with a view to a canal being led from Kalabagh down the Sind-Sagar Doab, but the difficulties in the way are at present considerable. The waters of the river are first utilized on a large scale in the Indus Inundation Canals, which water a narrow strip between the Indus and the Sulaiman mountains. The canals in this tract have an aggregate length of 690 miles, of which 108 have been constructed under British rul€. In Muzaffargarh District the Muzafpwrgarh Canals take off from the Indus and Chenab, and in the Native State of Bahawalpur the Chenab and Sutlej, as well as the Indus, contribute to render cultivation possible. In Sind the following are the chief canal systems : on the right or west bank, the Desert, Unar ^^'ah, Begari, Sukkur, (ihar, and eastern Nara ; on the left or east, the Nara Supply Channel, Mahi Wah, Jam- rag, a branch of the Eastern Nara, and the Eastern Nara with many distributaries, the principal being the Mithrao and Pinjari. Other important canals are the Fuleli with two mouths, the Nasrat, and the Dad. The total area irrigated by canals from the Indus in 1903-4 was: in the Punjab, 714 square miles; in Sind, 4,925 square miles.
As a channel of navigation, the Indus has disappointed the expectations that were at one time formed. Before British arms had conquered Sind and the Punjab, it was hoped that the fabled wealth of Central Asia might be brought by this course down to the sea. But, even so far as local traffic is concerned, experience has proved in this case, as with most other Indian rivers, that the cheapness of water communication cannot compete with the superior speed and certainty of railways. Since the opening of the Indus Valley State Railway (now included in the North-Western system) in the autumn of 1878, navigation on the Indus, whether by steamer or by native boat, has greatly fallen off. The general character of the Indus trade may be inferred from the statistics of imports and exports into the Punjab by ' rail and river,' Avhich refer only to traffic borne in part or wholly on the Indus. The original ' Indus flotilla,' which was broken up in 1862, placed its first steamer on the river in 1835, ^^ 1859 a company established another Indus flotilla in connexion with the Sind Railway, with which it was formally amalgamated in 1870, the joint head-quarters being removed to Lahore. The railway flotilla was abolished in 1882-3. These were not the c)nly navigation experiments on the Indus. In 1856 the Oriental Inland Steam Comjiany obtained a yearly subsidy of Rs. 50,000 from Covernment ; hut, as the river current proved too powerful for its steamers, The company stopped the traffic, and eventually collap.sed.
For the conservancy of the lower part of the river, Act I of 1863 (Bombay) provides for the registration of vessels, and the levy of pilotage fees by an officer called the Conservator and Registrar of the Indus, the sum realized being expended on the improvement of navigation \ A special export board, known as the Indus Commission, was constituted in 1901.
The boats of the Indus are the diitido and zaitrak, both cargo-boats, the kaiifita/, or ferry-boats, and the diindi^ or fishing-boats. The cargo-boats are sometimes of 60 tons burden, and when laden draw 4 feet of water. The state barges or jhamptis of the Sind Mirs were built of teak, four-masted, and sometimes required crews of thirty men.
Fish abound. At the mouths, the salt-water varieties include the Cliipea iieo7vhii, a species of herring largely ccjnsumed along the coast and in the delta. The chief of the fresh-water varieties are the palla, placed by Dr. Day under the Clupeidae, and nearly allied to, if not identical with, the hilsa of the Ganges ; and the dambhro. The local consumption and also the export of dried palla are very large. Otters, turtles, porpoises, water-snakes, and crocodiles, of both the blunt-nosed and sharp-nosed species, are numerous.
[Notes on the Indus River (Karachi, 1901).]
