Geographically, slightly separated from the rest of Gujarat, it is the biggest district of the state, though not in terms of population. Most of its area is occupied by desert sands, where naturally population is sparse. However, the land, history, people and their culture of Kutch provide a fascinating story. Although a part of Gujarat in all these fields, Kutch has its own special personality. Situated on the borders of Gujarat and Sindh, the two areas and their cultures, lifestyles, dress and often language too, get intertwined quite visibly in life of Kutch.

In Sanskrit the term Kutch denotes 'island'. In prehistoric times it is likely that Kutch area was indeed an island. We get this feeling even today as soon as we cross the creek of the ocean to enter it. During high tides the base of Kutch and Gujarat is filled with sea water and gives out an impression of a vast ocean there, though it does not last long any more. The references to Kutch have been as old as the Puranas. Today the region has acquired importance also in terms of strategic region in our military and also diplomatic relations with Pakistan.

The history of Kutch is colorful - it has legendary rulers of valor and nobles of intrigues; the Barbhaya experiment of autocratic rule, brave and philanthropic people like the Fakir Mamad Arab, the famous artist Ramsinh Malam and other stories of people doing wonderful jobs at sea voyages and so on. The works of Dulerai Km'ani and Ramsingh Rathod have brought these within reach of everyone by their collection and editions of books on these topics. These books must be read to enjoy the flavor of the culture.

But today we are going to make an acquaintance with the Kutch in present times. On its west coast, at the last edge of the land of India, is the famous, sacred and beautiful lake called Narayan Sarovar. This place has been mentioned even in the Purana literature. The main city of Kutch is Bhuj, and this lake is about 125 km away from Bhuj, near Naransar village. It is a vast, but is not very deep, lake. Pilgrims take a holy dip here and then offer their worship to the seven temples in the center of the village. A surrounding wall protects these temples. The temples of Laksminarayan, Trikamji, Adinarayan and Govardhannath are found here besides those of Dwarkanath and Lakshmiji. A later temple is of Kalyanrai. Another site at the coast is the temple of Koteshwar that is built on a small hill. Another temple of note is that of Nilkanth.

While we are on the topics of sacred places of visits, we must also remember Bhadreshwar temple at the southern coast of Kutch. It used to be an ancient Jain temple. In course of time it was destroyed and in 1325, one of the best-known businessman of Kutch, Jagdusha, had a new temple built here. After this philanthropic man's name, these temples are now called Jadgusha na deran (vasahi). After this new construction also some changes have taken place over time in this temple, and this has led to the diminishing imp0l1ance of its antiquity. However, due to the still beautiful temple, sacred place and pleasant surroundings makes Bhadreshwar an attractive place and a large number of people are still to be found here.

NARAYAN SAROVAR : The Earth was all covered by the Ocean. There was no Land on the surface. To begin life on Earth at such an ancient time, Lord Vishnu took the Avatar of Matsya and descended in the Ocean of the Earth. As the Saptarshi - the Seven Rishis - had come to know of His intentions, they prayed to Him, "0 Lord! Let us kindly have a 'Darshan' of your birth as a Matsya (Fish)." Lord Vishnu agreed. Then the Rishis asked Him, "There is no land on Earth, so where shall we sit to observe you? Besides, before we take your 'darshan' we must take a bath, and for eating snacks also we must have drinking water there. But there is no drinking water on Earth. So what shall we do?" Upon hearing their prayers, the Lord created a lake of sweet water on Earth. The Rishis bathed in it and sat on its edges to observe the Lord in his new Form. From Vaikunth Lok the Lord came to the Earth as Matsya, the Fish. The Rishis were very happy to observe Him and they named the lake after the Lord as Narayan Sarovar to commemorate this momentous event.