Sukhdevji ka Jhalra, Jodhpur: A Reservoir That Took a Hundred Years to Build, and One Summer to Bury

Work opened and closed on Sukhdevji ka Jhalra, in Marwar, Rajasthan, in 2026. Two shramdaan visits took between 1,500 and 2,000 kg of waste out of the tank, with more than 160 volunteers on site. The work is complete.

The monument

Trivadi Sukhdevji was a scholar of Marwar and a recognised authority on Shalihotra Vidya, the classical Indian discipline of equine medicine. The Bhim Prabandh Mahakavya names him as one of the four principal members of the state’s Punyarth Department, the office responsible for public works.

Faced with the water scarcity of Marwar, he set out to build a large reservoir for public use, siting it on the route running from Jodhpur Fort down to Sursagar.

Construction began in Vikram Samvat 1775. The scale of the undertaking was such that it ran for close to a hundred years, across four generations of the family that started it. It was finally consecrated in Vikram Samvat 1885, on Magha Shukla Trayodashi, a Monday under Pushya Nakshatra, by Sukhdevji’s great-grandson Motiram.

Three hundred years on, the jhalra is unlisted and unmaintained.

What we found

The tank surface was sealed under a mat of algae and floating waste. Along the far side, a bank of rubble and refuse had been tipped over the step runs, and dumped rubble and plastic ran the length of the steps on the right-hand side.

The clearing

Volunteers spread along the step runs and worked the tank edge inward. Everything lifted out passed up the same steps and was sorted on the terrace above: hand clearing, bucket lines, and waste sorted at the terrace.

By the end of the first day, the algae mat and the rubble bank were gone, the water surface was open, and the step runs on both sides were walkable again.

A hundred and sixty people, and the city noticed

Residents, students and local organisations joined the two shramdaan visits. Eighty-odd volunteers assembled on the tank steps before the first day’s work, and more than 160 came across both visits. Neighbourhood families worked alongside the crew, and several have stayed on as site custodians.

Six Rajasthan dailies carried the work. The coverage carried the site’s history alongside the clean-up, which is how the second round of volunteers, and the first offers of local material support, reached us.