India / थार रेगिस्तान में पार ट्रेन
Train Crossing in the Thar Desert
Just outside of the town of Deshoke where the temple of Karni Mata is, we stopped, seemingly in the middle of the desert, for a train to cross.The only other people around were the two men talking in the shade of the tree nearby. It came out of the dust and left in the dust...an apparition.
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Thar Desert (Rajasthani: थार मरुधर), also known as the Great Indian Desert, is a large, arid region in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent and forms a natural boundary running along the border between India and Pakistan. With an area of more than 200,000 km2 (77,000 sq mi), it is the world's 9th largest subtropical desert.
It lies mostly in the Indian State of Rajasthan, and extends into the southern portion of Haryana and Punjab states and into northern Gujarat state. In Pakistan, the desert covers eastern Sindh province and the southeastern portion of Pakistan's Punjab province. The Cholistan Desert adjoins the Thar desert spreading into Pakistani Punjab province.
The Indian epics describe this region as Lavanasagara (Salt-ocean).
Ramayana mentions about Lavanasagara (Salt-ocean) when Rama goes to attack Lanka with the army of vanaras. Rama uses his agneyashtra-amogha to dry up the sea named drumakulya situated on north of Lavanasagara. A fresh water source named Pushkar surrounded by Marukantara was created.
According to Jain cosmology, Jambūdvīpa is at the centre of Madhyaloka, or the middle part of the universe, where the humans reside. Jambūdvīpaprajñapti or the treatise on the island of Roseapple tree contains a description of Jambūdvīpa and life biographies of Ṛṣabha and King Bharata. Jambūdvīpa continent is surrounded by ocean Lavanoda (Salt-ocean).
Stretches of sand in the desert are interspersed by hillocks and sandy and gravel plains. Due to the diversified habitat and ecosystem, the vegetation, human culture and animal life in this arid region is very rich in contrast to the other deserts of the world.
Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thar_desert
By Christopher Casilli
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