Punjab

The Indus River rises in the heights of the Himalayas in a spring near the Manasarover Lake in Tibet, the source also of the Sutlej River, which becomes a tributary of the Indus far downstream. Flowing west and then south, fed by spring snowmelt and summer monsoon rain, its waters swelled by mountain streams and tributaries, including the Kabul River, the Indus descends steeply and passes through the dissected terrain of the Potwar plateau and the low hills of the Salt Range. To their south it enters the plains and becomes navigable. It skirts the western edge of the alluvial plain; between it and the mountains of the Sulaiman Range runs the Derajat, a low treeless plain, through which run routes that link the Indus plain with passes into the mountains. The alluvial plain extends eastward from the Indus, eventually running into that of the Ganges. A number of rivers cross the northern part of the plain: today five, the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej, gradually converge with each other and eventually join with the Indus at the Panjnad east of the Marri-Bugti Hills. Whereas the rivers are well entrenched in the north, farther into the plains they have broader, shallower beds and are apt to change their course. Within the areas flooded by the rivers, which vary in width from a few hundred meters to 10 kilometers or more, deposits of alluvium provide rich fertile soils that are extensively cultivated and that supply the agricultural needs of the region. The natural vegetation of the alluvial valleys includes grasses and some trees, such as acacia and sissoo, now much reduced by clearance but probably forming a dense forest in antiquity. Apart from the Thal Desert (the central part of the Sindh Sagar doab between the Indus and the Jhelum Rivers), the slightly higher ground of the interfluve areas is mainly grassland, providing abundant pasture for large numbers of cattle and other animals. The foothills and lower slopes of the Himalayas to the north are densely forested, including many species useful for timber, and in antiquity the forest cover was far greater. The mountains were also the source of minerals, including bitumen from the Mianwali district, steatite from various areas, salt from the Salt Range, and various gems and other stones from Kashmir. Small amounts of gold can be panned from the Indus sediments, and gold and a little silver and lead are also available in Kashmir and in some other parts of the Himalayas.

The Punjab receives some winter rainfall and some rain in the summer from the southwest monsoon, with winter rainfall highest in the west, decreasing eastward as the monsoon rainfall increases. The principal crop is wheat, grown in the winter through the spring, while large numbers of cattle and smaller numbers of sheep and goats are raised on the rich pastures of the interfluve savannah. The region abounds in wildlife today, and a wider range of species lived here in the past, including perennial and migratory birds (such as grouse, partridge, jungle fowl, peafowl, and cranes), deer, gazelle, onager, boar, rhino, elephant, and predators such as tigers and bears, while the rivers are home not only to fish but also to crocodiles and the bulhan, or blind Indian dolphin. In the adjacent hills live wild sheep and goats (urial and markhor).