User:3 kids in a trenchcoat/sandbox

~ For integration into Indus River

Upper course

The Indus near Skardu

The Indus near Skardu

The Indus originates with the confluence of the Sênggê Zangbo and the Gar Tsangpo in the Gangdise Shan, also called the Kaliash range, on the Tibetan plateau. The ultimate source of the Gar Tsangpo is a small lake called Cuo Ma'erdeng in Chinese, some 4,682 m above sea level. This river then flows in a relatively steep gradient for about 100 km before becoming gentler for the last 70 km of its course. It then joins the westward-flowing Sênggê and then flows through 30 km more of Chinese territory before entering India-administered Ladakh.

The Indus flows northwest through the high plateau of Ladakh, between the Ladakh and Zanskar ranges. The Ladakh range, which is connected with the Kaliash range, rises to the northeast of the Indus and separates it from the Shyok. About 330 km from the confluence of the Sênggê and Gar, in what is currently part of Leh district, the Indus's gradient steepens sharply (attributed to deformation from the tectonically active Karakoram Fault). The slope flattens out again in the Leh valley, and the river becomes slightly wider.

At Nimo, about 40 km downstream from Leh, and approximately 400 km from the confluence of the Sênggê and Gar, the Indus receives its first major tributary: the Zanskar River, coming from the southwest. At Marol, 150 km downstream from Nimo in Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan, the Indus receives another tributary, the Suru River (which flows past Kargil).

The Indus channel widens significantly in the Skardu Valley as it receives the waters of two tributaries: the Shyok and the Shigar. The Shyok joins the Indus at Keris, just east of Skardu, and the Shigar joins the Indus from the north.

Past Skardu, the Indus gains momentum and cuts through the Nanga Parbat massif, forming a major gorge known as the Rondu canyon. This stretch is characterised by intense rapids, huge whirlpools, waterfalls. The river channel narrows sharply in this area.

At this point, the Indus makes a distinct U-shaped bend to the north, around the northern flank of Nanga Parbat. It then bends west and finally southwest, where it is then joined by the Gilgit River. Some 30 km downstream, the Astore River joins the Indus from the east. After this point, the Indus flows westward and its slope becomes much gentler.

About 1000 km downstream from its Tibetan headwaters, the Indus passes into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The first significant tributary in this region is the Kandia River, which originates in the Hindu Kush mountains to the northwest. The stretch between Dasu and Pattan forms the world's steepest gorge — 6,500 m between the Indus riverbed and the ridge crests on either side. After this, the rugged Upper Himalayas give way to the gentler Lower Himalayas, and the river slope becomes more gradual.

The Indus near Shatial

Near the town of Thakot, the Indus juts sharply to the east in what appears to be a prehistoric meander that became entrenched.

The Tarbela Dam, near Tarbela, is a major dam on the Indus. The Siran, a small and seasonal stream, joins the Indus around this point. Downstream of Tarbela, the Indus changes to flow in a broad valley for 50 km before reaching the Attock Gorge. Also near Attock, the Kabul River, the Indus's largest western tributary, joins it.

The Soan River joins the Indus about 8 km upstream from the Jinnah Barrage.

Near Kalabagh, about 160 km downstream from the Attock Gorge, the Indus turns west at an almost right angle. It passes through the Salt Range and across the Kalabagh Fault before turning south again. At this southward bend, the river leaves the mountains for good and its valley opens up into a wide plain. From here to the sea, 1150 km away, the Indus is a braided stream surrounded by an active floodplain. During the rainy season, or whenever there is significant snowmelt in the mountains, the floodplains are inundated. The surrounding plain is "almost featureless", except for isolated hills where the bedrock crops up above the ground. The river's slope is very gentle throughout this portion; only 4.8 cm per kilometer.

The Indus's confluence with the Panjnad is just above the town of Mithankot.

Lower course

The lower Indus is situated on a vast alluvial plain of 50,000 square kilometers, between the mountains of Baluchistan on the west and the sands of the Thar Desert on the east.

The area around Ghotki on the left (south) bank of the Indus consists of a floodplain ranging from 15-25 km in width. This floodplain is cut up by a series of crescent-shaped scars running parallel to the Indus, with the open sides all pointing northwest. These scars represent the former course of the Indus, from the same general phase of activity as today. Further southeast, a series of bluffs around Khangarh mark the ancient watershed between the Indus and the Nara — the Nara used to have a whole separate system of rivers that were its tributaries, but they dried up at some unknown date.

The area on the right (west) bank of the Indus below Larkana is a densely populated rice-growing area, sometimes called the "Garden of Sindh". Its continued prosperity — a rarity in Sindh because of the Indus's constant shifting — is because of two waterways, the Ghar Branch and the Western Nara. They both originated as natural spillways, but human activity has essentially turned them into canals by maintaining their courses and scouring them to keep them from silting up. This likely began around the 13th century.

In central Sindh, the Indus cuts through the northern tip of the Kot Diji hills — a limestone cuesta extending to the south — through a rocky gap at Sukkur. Here, the river is now dammed by the Sukkur Barrage, which was built from 1923 to 1932 under the British Raj. Seven canals are drawn off from the Indus here, which together provide irrigation to 8 million acres of farmland — 75% of all agricultural land in Sindh. One of these, the Nara Canal, is to supply the old natural course of the Nara river.

Just to the south of Sukkur there is a small gap in the Kot Diji hills, the Aror gap, which the modern Nara Canal passes through. The great city of Aror, the medieval capital of Sindh, once stood on both sides of this gap. It has been proposed that the main course of the Indus once flowed through the Aror gap, but this is unlikely because the gap itself is too narrow. Floodwaters from the Indus have occasionally flowed through the Aror gap in the past, though, and there must have been some sort of water flow at least seasonally if not year-round during Aror's heyday.

From Sehwan south to Thatta, the Indus flows right up against the high ground at the western end of the alluvial plain. This keeps the river from shifting its course further west. In the first part of this section, between Sehwan and Unarpur, the river makes a big curve to the southeast. At Unarpur, it bends sharply to the southwest. There are no major bends from Unarpur to the sea — there is still a lot of meandering, but the river's general direction is consistent throughout this whole stretch.

A second unexpected gap through limestone hills occurs at Hyderabad, where the Indus skirts the western outcrop of Ganjo Takar.

Delta

Main article: Indus River Delta

Historically, the Indus had some 16 major mouths, but since the construction of the Kotri Barrage, the downstream water flow has been significantly reduced, and only the area between Hajamro and Kharak Creeks receives water from the Indus. The main outlet is the Khobar Creek.

Since the construction of the Kotri Barrage, the water flow further downstream has been reduced dramatically — for most of the year, no flow reaches the mouth at Khobar Creek. Freshwater from the Indus only reaches the Arabian Sea during August and September, when the river reaches peak flow during the southwest monsoon. Meanwhile, saltwater from the ocean actually flows backwards, going upstream along the course of the lower Indus as far as 75 km inland.

When the delta distributaries of the Indus shift, they tend to do so suddenly rather than gradually.

Former river courses

• The "Jacobabad course" is very old, but later floods have scoured its bed so that its channel is well preserved. It first becomes detectable near Kandhkot and then goes west toward Jacobabad before becoming untraceable again, obscured by later alluvial deposits.

• The "Shahdadkot course" is now marked by a system of bars and channels which first emerges southwest of Jacobabad and then travels southwest to Shahdadkot. It then becomes untraceable.

• Another system of bars and channels emerges northwest of Warah and then goes south for some 30 km through the depression now occupied by Hamal Lake. Its crescent-shaped meanders are typical of the region. It probably represents a downstream continuation of either the Jacobabad course or the Shahdadkot course, indicating that the river once flowed up along the northwestern edge of the modern alluvial plain down towards Lake Manchar.

• The "Warah course"

• The "Kandhkot course"

• The "Khairpur course", aka the Lohano Dhoro, is "almost certainly a continuation of the Kandhkot course" — the two are very similar in form. It begins at the bluff just southwest of Khairpur

• The Sanghar course is not detectable on the ground, but can be seen as a series of flow lines in aerial photographs. These are first visible about 20 km northeast of Nawabshah, and then they continue southeast along the edge of the desert. At Sanghar, this watercourse was joined by a small western tributary and then bent due east before joining the Eastern Nara.
  The Sanghar course appears to be very old, possibly the oldest in the region. Like many of the Indus delta distributaries, it has a narrow channel and seems to have been fairly stable. Just before its confluence with the Nara, its channel becomes deeper and especially well-defined, probably because of erosion caused by floodwaters.
• The Samaro course also first appears in the area around Nawabshah. The old city of Brahmanabad, aka Mansura, was located on the west bank of its clearly-defined channel. It may represent the river called Jalwali in accounts of the Muslim conquest of Sindh, since that river is described as lying east of Brahmanabad, but it may be the Manjhal instead. Not far downstream from Brahmanabad, a separate right-hand branch splits off and heads south, but it soon becomes untraceable because later alluvial deposits have covered up its own. The well-defined left-hand branch, meanwhile, goes almost directly southeast past the town of Samaro and then bends to the west, finally joining the Nara via the Dhoro Badahri. The Samaro course probably declined gradually at some point between the 9th and 16th centuries.

Delta mouths

• At the northwestern extremity of the Indus delta is the Gharo, which runs east-to-west for about 64 km along the southern border of the Kohistan region. The Gharo is just a tidal creek unconnected to the river, but it used to form the mouth of the Kalri branch.
• The Kalri, which by the late 1800s was just a flood channel of the Indus, was once a major branch of the river. It branches off a bit northeast from Thatta, then flows westward. Historically, the Kalri flowed out to the sea through what is now known as the Gharo, but at some point it shifted at a point about 11 km west of Thatta so that it flowed south and joined the Baghar instead. The 16-19 km west of this point then silted up, leaving a gap where some traces of the old channel can still be seen. The lowest reaches of the channel, though, were kept in water by tidal action from the Indian Ocean, becoming the Gharo.
• The Baghar splits off from about 10 km south of Thatta and then flows west. It joins the sea through several mouths: the Rishul, the Shisha, the Piti-ani, the Khudi, and the Piti. Technically, the name "Baghar" only applies to the channel until the Shisha mouth; beyond this, the western reaches are known by other names, such as the Khara and the Raho. The westernmost point of the Baghar is the Piti mouth, about 19 km southeast of Karachi. Although now just a flood channel of the Indus, the Baghar was historically a major branch of the Indus, and as late as the early 1800s was still a perennial stream.
• The Gungro is now an irrigation canal whose water supply is now artificial, but it historically would have branched off somewhere downstream from the Ren branch. It flows south and eventually joins the ocean through the long Sir Creek; their combined length is about 193 km.

Water properties

Seasonal variation in water level

The water level in the Indus begins to rise in April, at the same time as snowmelt begins in the mountains. Water levels reach their peak around August, during the summer monsoon, and return to the low level by October.

Residence time

The Indus is a relatively fast-flowing water system, with a residence time of about 1 year.

Derivation of water sources

Water in the Indus mainly originates as meltwater from snow and ice in the Karakoram and Himalaya mountains. Around 72% of the Indus discharge (during the year 1994-95) is estimated to originate as meltwater. Monsoon rains account for a much smaller proportion of the Indus's water.

The Panjnad accounts for about a third of all tributary water volume joining the Indus. The second largest source is the Kabul river, which varies from season to season between 1/8 and 1/3 of the total tributary discharge. The rest comes from other tributaries, of which the most important are the Swat, Gilgit, Shyok, Hunza, and Shigar.

Pollution

Water pollution in the Indus comes from various sources, including return flow from agriculture, which adds sodium nitrates, phosphates, and pesticides to the water; untreated or incompletely treated sewage is dumped into the river; industrial waste, including organic waste/ions including sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, carbonates, bicarbonates, and chlorates, as well as inorganic waste such as fluoride, silica, and cyanide. Thermal power plants along the Indus can also cause spikes in surface water temperature, which can harm marine life. Water pollution has reduced species diversity among fish in the Indus and also caused much of the mangrove forests in the delta to disappear.

The Indus is the world's second-most-polluted river in terms of plastic concentration, with only the Yangtze being more polluted in this regard. An estimated 10,000 tonnes of plastic reaches the ocean from the Indus every year. However, a large majority of plastic waste in the Indus does not reach the ocean; instead, most of it ends up discharged into canals Plastics account for 40% of all solid waste found in the Indus. 43% of this consists of low-density polyethylene; 17% consists of sanitary items; and 15% consists of multi-layered packaging. It is estimated that over 90% of all plastic waste generated in the Upper Indus basin ends up in the Indus river. In the lower part of the basin, a significant source of plastic waste input is at Hyderabad, where 27% of all generated plastic waste is estimated to end up in the river.

Geological history

The Indus has existed for at least 45 million years, making it one of the oldest known rivers. It is thought to have formed shortly after the collision of the Indian and Eurasian Plates (which had already happened by 45 million years ago), and it was already in existence by the Early-Middle Miocene, when the Himalayas were formed (20-25 million years ago). According to Qayyum et al. (2002), the palaeo-Indus existed in the early Eocene as a river flowing westward north of the Himalayas. It then met with the Katawaz Ocean, a bay of the larger Tethys Ocean, at a place called the Katawaz Delta. Sediments from this delta were then fed westward and are now exposed in the mountains of Makran in Pakistan and southeastern Iran. The formation of the Sulaiman Mountains later shifted the course of the palaeo-Indus to the southeast by 200-300 km, but other than that this course has remained following the Indus-Tsangpo Suture Zone ever since this early period.

Qayyum's version: the collision of the Indian subcontinent with Eurasia caused the uplift of the early Himalayan highlands sometime between 66 and 55 million years ago. The Katawaz remnant ocean still existed to the southwest of these highlands. The palaeo-Indus was the northern of two streams that flowed westward from the early Himalayan highlands, along the Indus-Tsangpo Suture Zone for 2,000 km. This river system began eroding the early Himalayan highlands and depositing the sediments in the Katawaz remnant ocean, forming the Katawaz delta and the Khojak submarine fan complex. The Katawaz remnant ocean was the main depocenter for Himalayan sediments during the early/middle Eocene; by this point, the main Tethys north of the subcontinent had almost closed. As the subcontinent continued to drift northward, it pushed the Himalayas up higher, which in turn caused an increased amount of sediment to be carried by the palaeo-Indus, and over the course of the late Eocene/early Oligocene, the Katawaz delta gradually expanded toward the southwest. The Katawaz ocean remnant remained the main depocenter of Himalayan sediments in the late Oligocene.

In the early Miocene, around 21-19 million years ago, there was a sudden southward shift in the course of the Palaeo-Indus. It now came to follow its present southward course, bypassing the Katawaz delta entirely. According to Qayyum, this was because of "rapid uplift of the Baluchistan Ranges from north of the Khyber Pass southwards during continued Himalayan suturing". In particular, there was "acute transpression and major uplift" in the region from Waziristan to north of Kabul, which left the Palaeo-Indus unable to erode through it. Thus, a more easterly course was easier and stream capture happened. Before this, the present-day lower Indus course was probably occupied by "a minor, possibly intermittent desert stream carrying very little sediment to the Indian Ocean". The final closure of the Katawaz remnant ocean probably happened at the beginning of the middle Miocene, sometime around 13-18 million years ago.

Another shift happened around 12 million years ago, when the drainage divide between the Indus and Ganges-Brahmaputra river systems appears to have gradually shifted to the west, causing the Ganges-Brahmaputra system to grow at the expense of the Indus. This may have been because of counter-clockwise rotation of the Indian subcontinent. As a result of this change, the Indus delta no longer became the main depocenter for Himalayan sediments — that instead went to the Bay of Bengal.

According to Najman et al. (2003), the palaeo-Indus first followed its modern course, cutting south through the Himalayas and into the foreland basin, about 18 million years ago. This course's relative stability is because the suture zone keeps its upper course pinned, and then in the foreland basin it is flowing along a strike-slip fault. Some other major rivers, such as the Nile and Amazon, have experienced much more significant course changes in the meantime.

A major change happened around 15 million years ago when the river's Punjabi tributaries – which, up to this point, had been flowing to the Ganges instead – shifted course to join the Indus. The reason for this is unknown, but it was likely linked to the Pliocene uplift of the Salt Range.

History of the upper course

In Punjab, the tributaries of the Indus began to incise sometime after 8,000 BCE. The presence of Harappan sites within the incised valleys of the rivers indicate that they had already become entrenched by 3,200 BCE.

History of the lower course

In upper Sindh, there are well-preserved Harappan sites on the alluvial plain, including Mohenjo-Daro, which indicates that the Indus mega-ridge has been stable in that region since then. "In contrast, in lower Sindh, just a few Harappan sites have been discovered on the eastern delta plain, supporting the idea of a switch of the fluvio-deltaic depocenter to the west. Any settlement on the alluvial plain that may have existed in the southwestern part of Sindh is probably buried under later fluvial sediments."

The earliest surviving historical sources documenting the course of the Indus are the accounts left by the ancient Greeks, around 300 BCE. These accounts describe two islands formed by the Indus: the larger Prasiane in the north and the smaller Patale in the south. No unexpected rocky gaps through the Kot Diji hills were mentioned, and the main course of the Indus probably flowed northwest of Sukkur. From there, it must have flowed south towards Nawabshah, but the precise course is untraceable.

This main course formed the eastern boundary of Prasiane. The western boundary was formed by a branch of the river that split off at some point and then roughly followed the later Jacobabad course along the western edge of the alluvial plain. This western branch then flowed south into Lake Manchar, and then rejoined the main Indus trunk somewhere around Nawabshah. The "island" of Prasiane in northwestern Sindh continued to exist for at least a thousand years, gradually getting smaller as the western branch shifted eastward.

Further south, the "island" of Patale was formed by two major branches. There are two candidates for the eastern branch: the Samaro and Sanghar courses. The Samaro course, which was definitely flowing about 1,000 years later at the time of Brahmanabad, may not have remained active for that long. That may make the Sanghar course a more likely candidate for the eastern branch in ancient times, but ancient Greek sources say nothing about this branch joining another river (i.e. the Nara, which the Sanghar course eventually joined further southeast). As for the western branch, its path can only be guessed at because there has been so much river activity in the area since then. The main city in the region, Patala, was located somewhere near the place where the two branches split. Its ruins have not been found, but if the Sanghar course does represent the eastern branch of the Indus from that time, then Patala may still be undisturbed and discoverable by archaeologists, somewhere northeast of Nawabshah on the edge of the desert, because this area has not experienced later river activity and sedimentation.

By the time of the Muslim conquest of Sindh in the early 8th century, the Indus was most likely following the Kandhkot, Khairpur, and then Shahdadpur courses from north to south. The present-day village of Dehat, on the Kandhkot course near Kandiaro, is probably the "Dahiayat" where the Muslim army crossed the Indus.

Around the early 1200s, there seems to have been a major shift in the course of the Indus. The reasons for this are uncertain. It could be because the Sutlej, previously an independent river flowing all the way to the sea, joined the Indus at this point, or it may have been because the two branches of the lower Indus converged at this point. In any case, the Indus now became wider, with bigger meanders and a more frequently shifting course. The river's course at this point was close to the Khangar and East Khairpur bluffs. It also now passed through the Sukkur gap, while whatever water channel flowed through the Aror gap ceased to be. Aror itself went into decline, while the island of Bukkur increased in importance. The shift to the Sukkur gap was complete by 1333 at the latest, when the river is described as flowing around both sides of Bukkur island.

Further south, the changes may have been more gradual. The Indus shifted to the Nasarpur Course, abandoning the Shahdadpur Course. Southeastern Sindh, previously watered by the Shahdadpur Course, became more arid and barren without its main water supply. Some water did still flow to the southeast from the Nasarpur Course via several spillways, most prominently the Western Puran and the Ren river. Around this period, the Soomra dynasty shifted its capital from Tharri, on the Shahdadpur Course, to Muhammad Tur, on the Gungro Branch of the Nasarpur Course. Finally, the area around Larkana became more fertile, and the Ghar Branch and Western Nara probably originated around this time.

In the following centuries, changes were more gradual. The river gradually shifted westward, away from the Khangar and Khairpur bluffs. This would have interrupted the offtakes to the Ghar and Western Nara, and human intervention must have taken place to maintain their courses. Further south, the river followed the Dadu course (west of the present course) to Sehwan. Accounts from the 1500s mention a branch of the Indus called the Sangra in Central Sindh, which is preserved as today's Sangra Wah canal. This would have formed the upper reaches of the West Puran and eventually flowing out to the sea. In Lower Sindh, Thatta became the main city in the 1300s; it was then an island between the Kalri and Baghar branches. The Gungro branch probably declined slowly, and was replaced as the main outlet stream by the Kalri by 1519 at the latest. The Kalri was itself later replaced by the Baghar.

The last major change in the Indus course was in 1758-9, when it shifted from the Nasarpur course to its present route flowing west of Hyderabad and Ganjo Takar. This, combined with dwindling flow from the Eastern Nara, caused southeastern Sindh to become even drier. In the delta, the main flow went through the Baghar branch until 1819, when it began to silt up. It then made its main course along the former Sattah branch for a ways, but at Chuharjamali it bent sharply to the west before reaching the sea at Keti Bandor on the Ochito branch.

Human history

The lower Indus valley was first populated by modern humans about 80,000 years ago. The Indus was then the route people took to first populate Tibet and Central Asia. (BETTER SOURCE?)

Ecology

On either side of the Indus there is a floodplain of varying width, between 5 and 160 km, known as the kacha area. This area extends from Mithankot down to the coast. Kacha lands are very fertile due to silt deposition during flooding. The situation changed significantly during the British Raj, when massive embankments up to 10 m high were constructed as part of an irrigation system. This now effectively channels floodwaters into this area, which mitigates flooding in the pucca areas outside the embankments but made humans and wildlife within the kacha area more vulnerable and requires them to migrate frequently.

Pollution and climate change

A threat from climate change is melting glaciers, which would significantly reduce the water flow in the Indus. One suspected reason for glacial melting in the region is from the Asian brown cloud, which is caused by burning of fossil fuels and biomass throughout the subcontinent and which causes the ice to absorb heat rather than reflect it.

References

--Sanskrit terms for towns and cities, article to be created--

Sources

Various Sanskrit texts concerning architecture and town planning (vāstu śāstras: the Mānasāra is possibly from c. 500-700 or the early 11th century, and later works seem to be partly based on it; the Mayamata is from the early 11th century (possibly contemporary with the Mānasāra, and two later South Indianvāstu śāstras borrow heavily from it: the Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati and the Śilparatna. The unfinished Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra is attributed to the 11th-century Pāramāra king Bhoja; the Aparājitapṛcchā, written by someone named Bhuvanadeva sometime between 1100 and 1250, uses the Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra as one of its sources.

Hierarchy

The Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra described the pura as the largest type of settlement, followed by the kheṭāka in the middle, and then the grāma as the smallest. The Aparājitapṛcchā has a different list: in descending order, pura, grāma, kheṭāka, kūṭa, and finally karvaṭa, with each one said to be half the size of the next one up (which Renu Thakur calls "a medieval version of the rank-size rule").

Pura

In ancient times, the word pura referred strictly to a fort. Over time, however, the word came to mean any town regardless of its particular functions.

The Mānasāra defined a pura as "a town furnished with orchards and gardens, with the dwellings of a varied population, frequented by buyers and sellers, and having the noise of trading-folk and the temples of seven gods".

The Aparājitapṛcchā uses the word pura in a specialized sense, to refer specifically to the king's largest town, in contrast with the nagara which was a feudal residence and headquarters of the nrpa.

Nagara

In early medieval South India, the term nagaram referred not just to the town but also to the town's merchants, merchant guilds, and town assembly.

Pattana

Erivirapattanam

In South India, the term erivirapattanam was used to denote a fortified market town defended by merchant troops. Primarily located in remote and/or frontier areas, these towns functioned as entrepots and warehouses, and also as distribution centers for the surrounding rural and urban populations. The name erivirapattanam is evidently related to the word erivira, meaning "warriors who throw".

Bananujvattana

Primarily in Karnataka, the term bananjuvattana was used to refer to a large market town where merchants and merchant guilds formed a distinct governing body as part of the local administration. They shared administrative duties with other local bodies like the mahājana and were responsible for overseeing commercial matters and distribution of goods. This is in contrast to places like northern India, where the merchants participated in town councils as individuals, just like the other city residents, but did not form an official governing body.

Nigama

A nigama was a market center somewhere between a village and a full-fledged town.

Rajadhani

The word rajadhani generally referred to a capital city: the Mayamata distinguishes a rajadhani from a regular town by the presence of a royal palace, while the Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra describes it as a capital. The Mānasāra described the rajadhani as a riverside settlement with the king's palace in the middle, surrounded by the houses of the wealthy elite.

References

~ Katawaz Basin, article to be created

The Katawaz Basin is located in northwestern Pakistan, north of Quetta and near the Afghanistan border. It runs NE-SW and is filled with Tertiary sedimentary rocks. It is bordered by the Indian platform sequence in the east (as exposed in the Sulaiman, Brahui, and Kirthar Ranges) and the Kandahar Range of the Afghan block to the west.

The three main units exposed in the Katawaz Basin are the Nisai, Khojak, and Sharankar formations. The Nisai formation is mainly carbonate, while the Khojak and Sharankar formations are mainly siliciclastic.

References

~ Shihab al-Din Tughrul, article to be created? Shihab al-Din Tughrul, also called Shihab al-Din al-Azizi, was atabeg of Aleppo from 1216 until 1232. He was a mamluk of az-Zahir Ghazi, the Ayyubid emir of Aleppo. Shortly before az-Zahir's death in 1216, he appointed Shihab al-Din Tughrul as the atabeg for his 2- or 3-year-old son al-Aziz Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad. Tughrul then ruled over Aleppo for 15 years before peacefully transferring power over to al-Aziz Muhammad in 1232.

In his al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh, Ibn al-Athir described Tughrul as a key player in regional politics at the time. He credited Tughrul with "maintain[ing] Aleppo's neutrality and independence in the face of the competition between Saladin's sons and brothers, as well as the various warring Zangid principalities". Both Ibn al-Athir and Ibn Wasil compared Tughrul to his contemporary Badr al-Din Lu'lu', who played a similar role for the Zangids of Mosul. Shihab al-Din Tughrul and Badr al-Din Lu'lu' were allies, on friendly terms with each other. They were also both allied to al-Afdal ibn Salah ad-Din, the Ayyubid emir of Damascus.

Contemporary chroniclers praised Shihab al-Din Tughrul for his personal piety, justice, and charitability. He completed several building projects in Aleppo that az-Zahir had started, such as the Sultaniyyah madrasa and renovations to the Citadel of Aleppo. He also personally funded the construction of the Atabakiyyah madrasa in 1223, where he retired to after handing over power in 1232. He also used his own money to give aid during drought and famine.

References

~ Chhinda dynasty, article to be created? The Chhinda dynasty was a minor feudatory dynasty that ruled the area around Dewal in present-day Pilibhit district, Uttar Pradesh, during the 10th century.

According to the Dewal inscription, the Chhindas claimed descent from the sage Chyavana, which Georg Bühler interpreted to mean that they claimed descent from the Solar dynasty of Kshatriyas. The first historical member of the Chhinda dynasty mentioned in the Dewal inscription was Vairavarman. The inscription mentions that he had two sons: Bhūshaṇa, the older, and Malhaṇa. At some point, according to the inscription, Malhaṇa "took over the burden [of the empire] from his brother". The inscription indicates that Malhaṇa was a Shaivite, and that he married a woman named Aṇahilā who came from a royal family known as "Chulukīśvara", which may be identical with the Chaulukya dynasty. Malhaṇa appears to have been marrying up, and his marriage to a royal woman seems to have been a source of pride for his family. Malhaṇa and Aṇahilā had a son named Lalla, who married a woman named Lakshmī; together, Lalla and Lakshmī were the donors of the Dewal inscription, which records their construction of two temples: one to Shiva and one to Parvati. They donated some land "connected with the Mayūtā of Bhūshaṇa" to the temple for its upkeep, and the granted land was given the name Devapallī — present-day Dewal. The "Mayūtā of Bhūshaṇa" has not been identified, but this may be a reference to Bhūshaṇa's unnamed capital mentioned earlier in the grant. The inscription also says that Lalla "brought the pleasant, holy river Kaṭha" to his unnamed capital, which Alexander Cunningham identified with the Katnī-nadī canal that still exists in the area. According to Bühler, Lalla's unnamed capital was likely at the ruined site of Gaṛh Kherā, which is almost completely surrounded by the canal.

The nearby site of Gaṛh Gajāna, or "the bastioned castle", is where the Dewal inscription was originally found and is immediately adjacent to Dewal, and according to Alois Anton Führer it was likely "the country residence" of Lalla. Gaṛh Kherā, "the castle mound", is located on the village lands of Deoriyā, and has been heavily used for building material there.

Despite the "extravagant" praise lavished upon the Chhindas by the Dewal prashasti, they were in reality just "ordinary feudatories". They may have been vassals of the rulers of Kannauj.

The inscription is dated to Samvat 1049, corresponding to 992 or 993 CE.

The name of the Chhinda dynasty appears to be identical with the name "Chhindaka" mentioned in the Ratnakosha]] and in the Kumārapālacharita of Jinamaṇḍana.

Another inscription, this one found at Bodh Gaya and undated (but possibly from the 10th or 11th century), contains a list of rulers of a Chhinda dynasty: "Vallabharāja, his son Deśarāja, his son Āchiyya [i.e. Āditya], his son ...[name missing], his son Sangha, his son ...siddha(?), Dharma, Sāmanta, Purṇabhadra." According to Bhagwanlal Indraji, these rulers were likely feudatories of the Pala dynasty who ruled from Uddaṇḍapura, since the city's name is mentioned in the record. The connection between the Chhindas of Uddaṇḍapura and the Chhindas of Dewal, if any, is not known.

References

Murat Dağı, article to be created

Murat Dağı
Spring-fed pond on Murat Dağı
Highest point
Elevation	2,309 m (7,575 ft)
Coordinates	38°56′14″N 29°40′25″E
Geography
Murat Dağı Location in Turkey
Country	Turkey
Province	Border between Kütahya and Uşak Provinces
District(s)	Gediz, Altıntaş, and Banaz

Murat Dağı (or "Murat Mountain") is a mountain in western Anatolia, Turkey.

It was known as Dindymos (Ancient Greek: Δίνδυμος) in ancient times.

Geography

Murat Dağı is located in the border zone between the Aegean and inner Anatolian regions. It forms the border between present-day Kütahya and Uşak provinces, with Kütahya province to the north and Uşak province to the south. Its general direction is northwest-southeast, and its highest point is the peak of Kartaltepe, at 2,309 m. Other peaks include Kırkpınar Tepe (2218 m), Tınaz Tepe (2097 m), Çatmalı Mezar Tepe (1990 m), and Kazık Batmaz Tepe (1857  m). The mountain's terrain is generally rugged, but there are also some plateau areas on it. The Gediz River has its sources on the mountain.

There are two small wetlands in the area: Gölyeri, which dries up in summer, and Kuzugöl, a glacial lake.

Geology

Murat Dağı is predominantly composed of Paleozoic schist, limestone, and serpentinite.

Mineral resources

The mountain has rich mercury deposits at its lower levels, especially concentrated in the southern areas around Banaz. Traces of tin were also found here in a geological survey in the 1930s, but it was determined to not be a significant amount.

Climate

The whole area gets at least 500 mm of rain per year on average. The north side is relatively humid, while the south side is semi-humid. The dry season is between June and August.

Foliage

Murat Dağı features extensive forest cover, with a wide variety of species present due to its location at the convergence of three different climactic zones (Black Sea, Mediterranean, and continental). The different climates result in different plant species growing on the north vs. south sides of the mountain. In general, since the northern slopes of Murat Dağı are more humid, plants from the Black Sea Biogeographic Region grow here. The north side is dominated by beech forests (Fagus orientalis), which is particularly abundant between 1450-2000 m, because it thrives in environments that get fog and diffuse sky radiation. On the drier south side, beech is absent and the predominant cover is oak forests (Quercus sp.).

Extensive coppicing has been done in many parts of the mountain forests. On the south side, these areas now consist of shrubbery and oak coppices.

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), which has a high demand for light, grows on both north and south sides between 1500-1900 m. Like beech, aspen (Populus tremula) loves fog and diffuse radiation, and it grows on the north side between 1300-1700 m.

Some tree species are not particularly dense on the north face, but grow scattered in some drier places. These are hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), field maple (Acer campestre), Caucasian linden (Tilia rubra, subspecies caucasica), Balkan maple (Acer hyrcanum), tall juniper (Juniperus excelsa), and stinking juniper (Juniperus foetidissima).

On the east and west sides of the mountain, beech begins slightly lower, at 1400 m, and it continues up to the subalpine zone, where it grows in mixed forests along with black pine (Pinus nigra), hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), Turkey oak (Quercus cerris), aspen, linden (Tilia rubra, subspecies caucasica), and rowan (Sorbus torminalis).

On the south side, the tall juniper and stinking juniper grow along with Turkey oak in places where black pine and Scots pine have been destroyed.

The yew (Taxus baccata) does not grow in clusters like the abovementioned trees, but it occurs singly on both the north and south slopes at heights between 1000-1700 m.

The kasnak oak (Quercus vulcanica) is found around 1700 m on the north side, on the upper reaches of the Murat river.

In deforested areas between 1400-1500 m, particularly around the Kizce and Söbealan plateaus, some herbaceous species such as clover (Trifolium), foxglove (Digitalis), mullein (Verbascum), and spurge (Euphorbia) have become widespread. The presence of clover alongside more bitter species like mullein and spurge, which animals do not eat at lower elevations, indicates that the effects of grazing on these high plateaus has been minimal.

The red pine (Pinus brutia), which is characteristic of the Mediterranean biome, grows on the south-facing side of Murat Dağı at altitudes up to 1000 m, especially in some of the east-west valleys on the south side. In areas where this has been cut down, smaller shrubby species predominate. These include the prickly juniper (Juniperus oxycedrus), kermes oak (Quercus coccifera), mock privet (Phillyrea latifolia), and Jerusalem thorn (Paliurus spina-christi).

As for the underbrush in beech and oak forests, the most common species are cornel (Cornus mas), dwarf elderberry (Sambucus ebulus, supspecies nigra), broad-leaved spindle (Euonymus latifolius), blackberry (Rubus canescens), and hazel (Corylus avellana).

The laurel-leaf rock rose (Cistus laurifolius) starts from the upper limit of red pine growth, around 1100 m, and grows as high up as around 1600 m. It commonly grows in places where oak and black pine have been cut down, as well as in the undergrowth below black pine. On the northwestern side of Murat Dağı, the laurel-leaf rock rose also grows in the undergrowth below red pine.

In some places (especially on the south side of the mountain), where both red pine and larger shrubs have been cut down, an even shorter garrigue-like vegetation is found, characterized by short herbaceous plants, no taller than knee height. These include prickly thrift (Acantholimon sp.), pink rock rose (Cistus creticus), and prickly burnet (Sarcopoterium spinosum). According to Recep Efe, these are primarily steppe plants, and their presence here is because of anthropogenic effects — the area gets plenty of rainfall and is sufficiently humid to support thirstier plants, but the steppe plants must have colonized this area after the usual forest and shrub plants were cut down.

Four plant species are found only on this mountain: Alyssum davisianum, Prometheum muratdaghense, Pyrus anatolica, and Verbascum coronopifolium.

Subalpine zone

On the southwest of Murat Dağı, the forest zone goes up to 1800 m; on the northwest side, it goes up to 1900 m. Above this is a narrow band of subalpine habitat, where short, cold-resistant trees grow. These mostly consist of dwarf juniper (Juniperus communis, subspecies nana) and olive-leafed laurel (Daphne oleoides). The olive-leafed laurel grows only up to 2000 m; above that, only the dwarf juniper is found. Dwarf juniper is mainly concentrated on the mountain's northern and western sides; elsewhere, a more meadow-like foliage predominates. These include species like Marrubium astracanicum, Alyssum virgatum, Festuca pinifolia, Alyssum mouradicum, Verbascum phrygium, and Campanula phrygia.

In higher-altitude deforested areas, the prickly thrift (Acantholimon puberulum) and mullein (Verbascum phrygium) are common, especially in the areas around Çukurören, Sığırkuyru, and Kesiksöğüt.

Wildlife

Murat Dağı is a breeding ground for several large birds, including the bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus; 2-4 known breeding pairs), black vulture (Aegypius monachus; 1 known breeding pair), and golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). Its status as a breeding ground for the black vulture is threatened by ongoing logging activity.

Other breeding birds include the red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio), the ortolan bunting (Emberiza hortulana), the middle spotted woodpecker (Dendrocoptes medius), the European nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus), and the long-legged buzzard (Buteo rufinus).

Two species of regionally endangered butterflies are found on the mountain: Archon apollinus (the false Apollo) and Euphydryas orientalis.

References

---

Mattamayura, article to be created

The Mattamayūras were a Shaivite sub-sect in medieval India. The name "Mattamayūra" was because its members supposedly behaved like intoxicated peacocks (matta, "intoxicated", + mayūra, "peacock"). This is a reference to their flamboyant rituals, which had strong erotic elements and included music and dancing, mimicry, and physical torture in honour of Shiva. Their main centre was the maṭha at Kadwāhā. Other secondary maṭhas included Surwāyā and Ranod. In general, Mattamayūra āchāryas took names ending in Śiva or Śambhu. The Mattamayūras "formed close alliances with their kings and became institutionalized within the larger structures of state as Rājagurus (royal religious preceptors). By the tenth and eleventh centuries the Mattamayūras had become the dominant religious order within the outlying area, and their maṭhas functioned as the hub of state-sponsored religious, political, and economic activities". According to R. N. Mishra, the Mattamayūra sages "may have been more powerful overlords than the kings who patronized them, and that patronizing them allowed the kings access to the social and economic resources that they controlled". Mishra also suggests that the Mattamayūras may have been practiced in martial arts: an inscription at Kadwāhā depicts the head of the monastery apparently fighting off unnamed enemies with a bow and arrow. Other examples of military-trained ascetics are known from medieval India, the best-known of whom were the Virashaivas.