Divinity of the Mahi River
This mighty river of Western India is known for its divinity. The locals of the regions close to the shores of the river, worship the river religiously. All the spiritually high people can find solace in the temples built along the shores of this river. The river has its origination point in Madhya Pradesh. From here, it rises higher and higher until it reaches the Vagad Region of Rajasthan, entering Gujarat and thereby amalgamating in the mightiness of the Arabian Sea. The twists and turns of the river across the states acknowledge its worth as one of the major interstate rivers of India. The total length of the river accounts for around 583 km. The vastness of the river assigns it the name of ‘Mahi Sagar’ in India.
Ancient Indian mythology has a lot in store about this river. The Vayu Purana honours the Mahi Bajar Sagar Dam as ‘Mahiti.’ It seems that in historical times, the river attributed its name to the lake where it springs. The lake is referred to as ‘Mahu’ or ‘Mau’ or ‘Menda.’ One legend described Mahi River to be the daughter of mother earth and the sweat of Ujjain’s (ancient Avanti kingdom) then king, Indradyumna.
As the river flows from the state of Madhya Pradesh, it bifurcates into several tributaries. Chap, Erav, Anas, Nori, and Jakham are a few of them. Leaving Erav aside, remaining all tributaries eventually converge into the mainstream of Mahi Dam along its downstream.
Glorifying history of Mahi Dam
The thoughts of the Mahi Bajaj Sagar Project started seeding in the late half of the sixties. The project is accounted both as an ambitious and a multipurpose inter-state project. It was rather an initiative of the then Honourable Finance Minister of the Government of India – Shri Morarji Desai. The inauguration of the project was finally done in 1972 and was named after the renowned industrialist and a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, Shri Jamnalal Kaniram Bajaj.
When the original project proposal was accepted, it envisaged a whopping total of 46, 500 ha. The project was a joint initiative by the Planning Commission and Power Commission. The proposal eventually received acceptance from the CCA in the year 1971.
The first foundational brick of the dam was cemented in the year 1972 and the then Honourable Prime Minister of India, Smt. Indira Gandhi dedicated it to the glory of the nation on 1st of November 1983.
From the point of view of its water potential, the Mahi River Basin takes pride in ranking itself as the third largest amongst fifteen well-structured and discriminated river basins in the state of Rajasthan.
