General Studies-Indian Geography Indian Rivers

Indian Geography- Details About Indian Rivers

A river is a natural watercourse, usually of fresh water, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. Rivers form part of the hydrological cycle. This is a list of rivers in India. Rivers that flow into the sea are sorted geographically, along the coast starting from the Bay of Bengal in the east, moving along the Indian coast southward to Kanyakumari, then northward along the Arabian Sea. Tributary rivers are listed hierarchically in upstream order: the lower in the list, the more upstream.

The biggest major rivers of India are:

Flowing into the Bay of Bengal: Brahmaputra, Ganges (with its main tributaries Ramganga, Kali or Sharda, Gomti, Yamuna, Chambal, Betwa, Ken, Sindh, Tons, Ghaghara, Gandaki, Burhi Gandak, Koshi, Mahananda, Tamsa,Son, Punpun), Meghna, Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri (and their main tributaries)
Flowing into the Arabian Sea: Indus, Narmada, Tapti (and their main tributaries)

Rivers of India play an important role in the lives of the Indian people. The river systems provide irrigation, potable water, cheap transportation, electricity, and the livelihoods for a large number of people all over the country and to rural areas. This easily explains why nearly all the major cities of India are located by the banks of rivers. The rivers also have an important role in Hindu Dharma and are considered holy by all Hindus in the country.

Seven major rivers along with their numerous tributaries make up the river system of India. Most of the rivers pour their waters into the Bay of Bengal; however, some of the rivers whose courses take them through the western part of the country and towards the east of the state of Himachal Pradesh empty into the Arabian Sea. Parts of Ladakh, northern parts of the Aravalli range and the arid parts of the Thar Desert have inland drainage. Dr.Francis Buchanan surveyed the courses of the rivers of India along with their tributaries and branches in 1810-11 AD and presented a minute account of it. The shifting of the courses and bed over the centuries is very remarkable. Many of the channels mentioned in that survey have now become dead, dried or even extinct.

All major rivers of India originate from one of the three main watersheds:

The Himalaya and the Karakoram ranges
Vindhya and Satpura ranges and Chotanagpur plateau in central India
Sahyadri or Western Ghats in western India

The Details About Indian Rivers As follows:

India Rivers’ Origin and Merger
S.No	Name	Origin	Fall into	Length (km)
1	Beas	Near Rohtang Pass	Satluj	470
2	Betwa	Vindhyanchal	Yamuna	480
3	Brahmaputra	Near Manasarovar Lake	Bay of Bengal	2900
4	Cauvery	Brahmagir Range of Western Ghats	Bay of Bengal	805
5	Chambal	Madhya Pradesh	Yamuna	1050
6	Ganges	Combined Sources	Bay of Bengal	2525
7	Ghaggar	Himalayas	Near Fatehabad	494
8	Ghagra	Matsatung Glacier	Ganga	1080
9	Godavari	Nasik dist. In Maharashtra	Bay of Bengal	1465
10	Indus	Near Manasarovar Lake	Arabian Sea	2880
11	Jhelum	Verinag in Kashmir	Chenab	725
12	Kosi	Near Gosain Dham Park	Ganga	730
13	Krishna	Western Ghats	Bay of Bengal	1327
14	Luni	Aravallis	Rann of Kuchch	450
15	Mahanadi	Raipur Dist. In Chattisgarh	Bay of Bengal	858
16	Narmada	Amarkantak	Gulf of Khambat	1057
17	Ravi	Kullu Hills near Rohtang Pass	Chenab	720
18	Sabarmati	Aravallis	Gulf of Khambat	416
19	Satluj	Manasarovar Rakas Lakes	Chenab	1050
20	Son	Amarkantak	Ganga	780
21	Tapti	Betul Dist of Madhya Pradesh	Gulf of Khambat	724
22	Tungabhadra	Western Ghats	Krishna River	640
23	Yamuna	Yamunotri	Ganga	1375