The Thar Desert, classically identified as Marusthali or the land of death, signifies the entire arid and semi arid stretch of land enclosed by the Sutlej basin on the north, Aravali on the east and south east, the Rann of Kutch and plains of Kathiawar on the south and the Indus basin on the west. It is the world's seventh largest desert and if plotted on a map, is part of a chain of hot and cold deserts between North Africa and Central Asia, what Jos Gommans, refers to as ‘Saharasia’. The temperature in the Thar during summer days may reach up to 50°C and fall to freezing point at night in winter. The average rainfall is about 254 mm and high rate of evaporation causes the water to disappear quickly. Sources of water are few seasonal rivers, lakes and reservoirs around which the Thari people make their settlements. The origin of the word Maru lies in the Sanskrit word mri meaning death, which evokes the vision of sandy plains devoid of water. When James Tod, the nineteenth century annalist of Rajputana wrote his Annals, the word Maru had long come to represent Marwar, the political domain of the Rathors. However, for Tod, its “ancient and appropriate appellation comprehended the entire ‘desert’ from Sutlej to Ocean”.

While the Thar is largely understood as a geographical region, a dry arid zone divided by an international boundary between India and Pakistan, its history has been explored separately through the political units that it was divided into. The Thar Desert contains in itself the older regional divisions of Marwar, Jaisalmer, Bikaner and parts of Kutch, Multan and Sindh, which further consist of smaller ethno-regions. The southern and northeastern portion of the Thar is a vast sandy tract comprising of parts of Marwar and Amber known as Bagar. Shekhawati, Bidawati, Pugal, Asigarh, and Beniwal and Bhatner are the northern parts of the desert.