1st Edition

Pastoral Cultures of the Thar Desert Resilience, Adaptations and Innovations in Western Rajasthan

By Rahul Ghai Copyright 2026
208 Pages 18 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

208 Pages 18 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

The book brings together narratives of earth-stolid pastoral nomads and experiences of their mobility across different terrains as they negotiate the harsh terrain in interiors of the Thar. Synthesising learnings from lived experience of development practice with pastoralists for two and a half decades and an ethnographic study of selected villages in Bikaner and Jaisalmer, the volume transcends... Read more

1. Introduction  2. Understanding Pastoralism  3. Pastoralism in Thar, Western Rajasthan  4. Pre IGNP Canal Pastoral Cultures  5. IGNP Canal and Pastoralism  6. Post IGNP Canal Cultures of Pastoralism  7. Transformations in Pastoral Cultures of Thar  8. Pastoralists and Pastoralism: Emergent Realities 

Biography

Rahul Ghai studied History at Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. Since 1994 Rahul has lived for two and half decades in the interiors of Thar, Rajasthan working with pastoral communities for development entitlements of food, fodder, water security and with Sufi musicians to reinvigorate musical traditions of pastoral communities. For more than a decade and half now he has designed and taught postgraduate courses in Rural Management / Rural Development at the IIHMR University, Entrepreneurial Development Institute, and Shiv Nadar University. Rahul continues to be associated with pastoral communities, learning and co creating solutions for a sustainable Thar.