List of major rivers of India

The rivers in India play an important role in the lives of the people. They provide potable water, cheap transportation, electricity, and the livelihood for many people nationwide. 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 Religion and are considered holy by all Hindus in the country.[1]

Seven major rivers along with their numerous tributaries make up the river system of India. The largest basin system 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.

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

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

Himalayan glaciers in the Indian subcontinent are broadly divided into the three river basins, namely the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra. The Indus basin has the largest number of glaciers (3500), whereas the Ganga and Brahmaputra basins contain about 1000 and 660 glaciers, respectively.[2] Ganga is the largest river system in India. However these rivers are just three among many. Other examples are Narmada, Tapathi, and Godavari.

The Indo-Gangetic plains

The Indo gangetic plains are known as Ganga-Satluj Ka Maidaan (गँगा सतलुज का मैदान), this area is drained by 16 major rivers. The major Himalayan Rivers are the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra. These rivers are long, and are joined by many large and important tributaries. Himalayan rivers have long courses from their source to sea (in India Arabian sea and Bay of Bengal).

Laxman Jhoola in Rishikesh

Aravalli Range River System

Following rivers flow from the Aravalli range, both northwards to Yamuna as well as southwards to Arabian Sea.

North-to-south flowing rivers, originate from the western slopes of Aravalli range in Rajasthan, pass through the southeastern portion of the Thar Desert, and end into Gujarat.
- Luni River, 495 kilometres (308 mi) originates in the Pushkar valley near Ajmer, ends in the marshy lands of Rann of Kutch.
- Sakhi river, 265 kilometres (165 mi) ends in the marshy lands of Rann of Kutch.
- Sabarmati River, 371 kilometres (231 mi) originates on the western slopes of Aravalli range of the Udaipur District, end into the Gulf of Cambay of Arabian Sea.
West to north-west flowing rivers, originate from the western slopes of Aravalli range in Rajasthan, flow through semi-arid historical Shekhawati region, drain into southern Haryana. Several Ochre Coloured Pottery culture sites, also identified as late Harappan phase of Indus Valley Civilisation culture,[3] has been found along the banks of these rivers.
- Sahibi River, originates near Manoharpur in Sikar district flows through Haryana, along with its following tributaries:[4][5][6][7]
  - Dohan river, tributary of Sahibi river, originates near Neem Ka Thana in Alwar district).
  - Sota River, tributary of Sahibi river, merges with Sahibi river at Behror in Alwar district.
  - Krishnavati river, former tributary of Sahibi river, originates near Dariba zinc and lead mines in Rajsamand district of Rajasthan, flows through Patan in Dausa district and Mothooka in Alwar district, then disappears in Mahendragarh district in Haryana much before reaching Sahibi river.
West to north-east flowing rivers, originating from the eastern slopes of Aravalli range in Rajasthan, flow northwards to Yamuna.
- Chambal River,1,024 kilometres (636 mi) a southern-side tributary of Yamuna river.
  - Banas River, 529 kilometres (329 mi) a northern-side tributary of Chambal river.
    - Berach River, 236 kilometres (147 mi) a southern-side tributary of Banas River, originates in the hills of Udaipur District.
      - Ahar River, 100 kilometres (62 mi) a right-side (or eastern side) tributary of the Berach river, originates in the hills of Udaipur District, flows through Udaipur city forming the famous Lake Pichola.
      - Wagli Wagon River, a right-side tributary of the Berach River.
      - Gambhiri River, a right-side tributary of the Berach river.
      - Orai River, a right-side tributary of the Berach River.

Ganges River System

The major rivers in this system are (in order of merging, from west to east)

Ganga - 2,704 kilometres (1,680 mi) Starting from Gangotri Glacier, Uttarakhand, India
Chambal - 1,024 kilometres (636 mi) Flows through Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and merges into Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh
Betwa - 676 kilometres (420 mi) Not Himalayan river, covers Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh before merging Yamuna
Yamuna - 1,376 kilometres (855 mi) Yamuna runs its most of the course parallel to Ganga before contributing its water to Ganga at Prayagraj. Largest of Ganga's southern tributaries
Gomti - 529 kilometres (329 mi) Starts near the junction of three borders viz. Nepal, Uttarakhand and UP
Ghaghra - 1,156 kilometres (718 mi) Starts in Nepal near Uttarakhand
Son - 784 kilometres (487 mi) Not Himalayan river, covers MP, UP, Jharkhand and Bihar. Second Largest of Ganga's southern tributaries
Gandak - 652 kilometres (405 mi) Starts from Nepal
Kosi - 625 kilometres (388 mi) Starts from Nepal
Brahmaputra - 3,969 kilometres (2,466 mi) Merges with Ganga to form the grand river (but short in length) - Padma in Bangladesh. By now, flow velocity of both rivers slow down to considerable extent as they are in plains now.

Before entering Bangladesh, near Farakka in Malda District, Ganga leaves a distributary Hoogly, 450 kilometres (280 mi) which provides water for irrigation in West Bengal

Brahmaputra River System

Brahmaputra River basin across Northeast India

The Brahmaputra river originates / starts from TIBET.

Yarlung Tsangpo River - 2,809 kilometres (1,745 mi) originates and forms the upper stream of Brahmaputra in Tibet
Siang - 184 kilometres (114 mi) main river after it enters India in the state of Arunachal Pradesh
Dibang - major tributary flowing through Arunachal Pradesh before merging into the Brahmaputra River in Assam
Lohit - one of the three major tributaries of Brahmaputra flowing through Arunachal Pradesh from the easternmost India
Brahmaputra - 780 kilometres (480 mi) runs across the state of Assam from East to West, entering Bangladesh afterwards
Teesta - 324 kilometres (201 mi) one of the largest tributaries of Brahmaputra; originating in the borders of Sikkim and Tibet, flowing South it joins Brahmaputra in Bangladesh
Jamuna River (Bangladesh) - 196 kilometres (122 mi) the Brahmaputra is known as Jamuna in Bangladesh
Padma River - 204 kilometres (127 mi) the Jamuna river merges with Padma in Bangladesh before finally falling into the Bay of Bengal
Brahmaputra has Total length of 3,969 kilometres (2,466 mi) as per latest mapping.

Indus River System

The Indus River originates in the northern slopes of the Kailash range near Lake Manasarovar in Tibet. Although most of the river's course runs through neighbouring Pakistan, as per as regulation of Indus water treaty of 1960, India can use only 20 percent of the water in this river. A portion of it does run through Indian territory, as do parts of the courses of its five major tributaries, listed below. These tributaries are the source of the name of the Punjab of South Asia; the name is derived from the panch ("five") and aab ("water"), hence the combination of the words (Punjab) means "land with the water of five rivers". The Indus is 3,249 kilometres (2,019 mi) long.

The major rivers in Indus river system are (in order of their length):

Indus - 3,249 kilometres (2,019 mi)
Sutlej - 1,600 kilometres (990 mi)
Chenab - 960 kilometres (600 mi)
Jhelum - {{}}
Ravi - 729 kilometres (453 mi)
Beas - 484 kilometres (301 mi)
Shyok - 216 kilometres (134 mi)
Zanskar - 196 kilometres (122 mi)
Galwan - 138 kilometres (86 mi) tributary of Shyok

Annual flows and other data

India experiences an average precipitation of 1,170 millimetres (46 in) per year, or about 4,000 cubic kilometres (960 cu mi) of rains annually.[8] Some 80 percent of its area experiences rains of 50 inches (1,300 mm) or more a year. However, this rain is not uniform in time or geography. Most of the rains occur during its monsoon seasons (June to September), with the northeast and north receiving far more rains than India's west and south. Other than rains, the melting of snow year round over the Himalayas feeds the northern rivers to varying degrees. The southern rivers, however experience more flow variability over the year. For the Himalayan basin, this leads to flooding in some months and water scarcity in others. Despite extensive river system, safe clean drinking water as well as irrigation water supplies for sustainable agriculture are in shortage across India, in part because it has, as yet, harnessed a small fraction of its available and recoverable surface water resource.[9] India harnessed 761 cubic kilometres (183 cu mi) (20 percent) of its water resources in 2010, part of which came from unsustainable use of groundwater. Of the water it withdrew from its rivers and groundwater wells, India dedicated about 688 cubic kilometres (165 cu mi) to irrigation, 56 cubic kilometres (13 cu mi) to municipal and drinking water applications and 17 cubic kilometres (4.1 cu mi) to industry.[8]

According to 2011 report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, India's basin wise distribution of catchment area and utilizable surface water resources is presented in the following table:[8]

Basin number	River basin unit	Region	Draining into	Catchment area (% of river irrigated India)	Average runoff (km³)	Additional available surface water (km³)
1.1	Ganges (GBM)	North	Bangladesh	26.5	525.02	250
1.2	Brahmaputra (GBM)	Northeast	Bangladesh	6	537.24	24
1.3	Meghna/Barak (GBM)	East	Bangladesh	1.5	48.36
2	Other Northeast rivers	Northeast	Myanmar, Bangladesh	1.1	31
3	Subernarekha	East-southeast	Bay of Bengal	0.9	12.37
4	Brahmani-Baitarani	East-southeast	Bay of Bengal	1.6	28.48	6.8
5	Mahanadi	Central-east	Bay of Bengal	4.4	66.88	18.3
6	Godavari	Central	Bay of Bengal	9.7	110.54	50
7	Krishna	Central	Bay of Bengal	8	78.12	76.3
8	Pennar	Southeast	Bay of Bengal	1.7	6.32	58
9	Kaveri	South	Bay of Bengal	2.5	21.36	6.9
10	East flowing rivers between Mahanadi and Pennar	Central-east	Bay of Bengal	2.7	22.52	19
12	East flowing rivers between Kanyakumari and Pennar	Southeast	Bay of Bengal	3.1	16.46	13.1
13	West flowing rivers between Tadri and Kanyakumari	Southwest	Arabian Sea	1.7	113.53	16.7
14	West flowing rivers between Tapi and Tadri	Southwest	Arabian Sea	1.7	87.41	24.3
15	Tapi	Central-west	Arabian Sea	2	14.88	11.9
16	Narmada	Central-west	Arabian Sea	3.1	45.64	14.5
17	Mahi	Northwest	Arabian Sea	1.1	11.02	34.5
18	Sabarmati	Northwest	Arabian Sea	0.7	3.81	3.1
19	West flowing rivers between Kutch and Saurashtra	Northwest	Arabian Sea	10	15.1	1.9
20	Rajasthan inland basin	Northwest	India	0	Negligible	15
21	Indus tributaries	Northwest	Pakistan	10	73.31	46
	Total (per International Treaty)			100	1869.37

The peninsular river system

The main water divide in peninsular rivers is formed by the Western Ghats, which run from north to south close to the western coast. Most of the major rivers of the peninsula such as the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna and the Kaveri flow eastwards and drain into the Bay of Bengal. These rivers make delta at their mouths. The Narmada, Sharavati, Periyar and Tapti are the only long rivers, which flow west and make estuaries.

This chart shows the tributaries and distributaries of major rivers of India. The merging of cells to the right side each time indicates getting supply from a tributary and vice versa. The bottom-most row shows other rivers with no major helping rivers (Saryu is an exception). Flow of the rivers is assumed to be from left to right.

References

Sunil Vaidyanathan, Rivers of India, ISBN 978-8189738884, 2012
"Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-05-14. Retrieved 2015-09-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) page no 361
Gupta, S.P. (ed.) (1995), The lost Sarasvati and the Indus Civilization, Jodhpur: Kusumanjali PrakashanCS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
Cultural Contours of India: Dr. Satya Prakash Felicitation Volume, Vijai Shankar Śrivastava, 1981. ISBN 0391023586
Sahibi river
Books: Page 41, 42, 43, 44, 47 (b) Sahibi Nadi (River), River Pollution, By A.k.jain
Minerals and Metals in Ancient India: Archaeological evidence, Arun Kumar Biswas, Sulekha Biswas, University of Michigan. 1996. ISBN 812460049X.
FAO, India - Rivers Catchment, Aquastat, United Nations (2011)
K.L. Rao, India's Water Wealth, ISBN 978-8125007043, 1979

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Sunil Vaidyanathan, Rivers of India, ISBN 978-8189738884, 2012

[2] "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-05-14. Retrieved 2015-09-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) page no 361

[IVCOCP-3] Gupta, S.P. (ed.) (1995), The lost Sarasvati and the Indus Civilization, Jodhpur: Kusumanjali PrakashanCS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)

[culture1-4] Cultural Contours of India: Dr. Satya Prakash Felicitation Volume, Vijai Shankar Śrivastava, 1981. ISBN 0391023586

[Sahibi1-5] Sahibi river

[AKjain-6] Books: Page 41, 42, 43, 44, 47 (b) Sahibi Nadi (River), River Pollution, By A.k.jain

[Dariba-7] Minerals and Metals in Ancient India: Archaeological evidence, Arun Kumar Biswas, Sulekha Biswas, University of Michigan. 1996. ISBN 812460049X.

[fao1-8] FAO, India - Rivers Catchment, Aquastat, United Nations (2011)

[9] K.L. Rao, India's Water Wealth, ISBN 978-8125007043, 1979

Rivers of India
Seven Great Rivers of India Indus . Ganges · Yamuna · Brahmaputra · Krishna · Godavari · Kaveri
Indus River Basin	Indus River Panjnad River (Pakistan) Sutlej River Beas River Parbati River (Himachal Pradesh) Chenab River Ravi River Jhelum River Neelum River or Kishanganga Suru River Dras River Shingo River Yapola River Zanskar River Markha River Khurna River Tsarap River Doda River Hanley River Marutsudha River
Ganges River Basin	Ganga River Hooghly River Damodar River Barakar River Jahanavi River Jalangi River River Churni Ichamati River Rupnarayan River Ajay River Mayurakshi River Dwarakeswar River Mundeswari River Meghna River Padma River Punarbhaba River Atrai River Mahananda River Kosi River Bagmati River Bhurhi Gandak River Phalgu Gandaki River Son River North Koel River Amanat River Rihand River Gopad River Goini River Neur River Banas River Johilla River Ghaghara River West Rapti River Rohni River Sarda River Ladhiya River Sarayu River Gori Ganga River Darma River Gomati River Sarayan River Kathna River Yamuna River Ban Ganga River Ken River Betwa River Dhasan River Halali River Kaliasote River Sindh River Kwari River Hindon River Karban River Pahuj River Chambal River Kuno River Banas River Berach River Bandi River Mashi River Morel River Kotari River Shipra River Ahar River Kali Sindh River Parbati River (Madhya Pradesh) Gambhir River Parbati River (Rajasthan) Ramganga River Khoh River Mandal River Alaknanda River Mandakini River Pindar River Nandakini River Dhauliganga River Rishiganga River Bhagirathi River Bhilangna River Jahnavi River
Godavari River Basin	Purna River Pranahita River Wainganga River Kanhan River Kolar River Pench River Kulbehra River Nag River Wardha River Penganga River Pedda Vagu River Indravati River Bandiya River Sabari River Pravara River Manjira River Manair River Other minor tributaries: Taliperu River Kinnerasani River Darna River Sindphana River
Krishna River Basin	Krishna River Koyna Venna River Varna River Panch ganga Vedganga river Tillari Bhima Agrani Yerala Varada River Tungabhadra River Tunga River Bhadra River Vedavathi River Suvarnamukhi River Veda River Avathi River Bhima River Sina River Nira River Mula-Mutha River Mula River Mutha River Chandani River Kamini River Moshi River Ambi River Bori River Man River Bhogwati River Indrayani River Kundali River Kumandala River Ghod River Bhama River Pavna River Malaprabha River Ghataprabha River Varma River Venna River Urmodi River Koyna River
Pennar River Basin	Pennar River
Kaveri River Basin	Kaveri River (Cauvery) Kollidam (distributary) Amaravati River Arkavathy River Bhavani River Sarabanga River Noyyal River Hemavati River Kabini River Lakshmana Tirtha River
Tapi River Basin	Tapi River Tapi River Gomai River Arunavati River Panzara River Kaan River Aner River Girna River Titur River Waghur River Purna River Nalganga River Vaan River Morna River Katepurna River Umaa River Sangiya River
Mahi River Basin	Mahi River Som River Gomati Riverty5h65
Sabarmati River Basin	Sabarmati River Wakal River Sei River Harnav River
Meghna River Basin	Meghna River (in the Bangladesh) Padma River (main Ganges Dhaleshwari River Dakatia River Gumti River Feni River (Old) Brahmaputra River (in Bangladesh) Titas River Surma River Kangsha River, Someshwari River Kushiyara River Manu River Barak River Tuivai River Irang River
Costal rivers	Subarnarekha River Kharkai River Kangsabati River Bhagirathi Hughli Thenad River Mahananda River, North Bengal Draupadi River Baitarani Bhargavi Brahmani Daya Devi Hasdeo Ib Jonk Kathajodi Koina Kuakhai Kushabhadra Mand North Karo Ong Pairi Sankh Shivnath Sondur Surubalijora South Karo South Koel Tel River Thamirabarani River Palar River Vaigai River Vaippar River Vellar River Vasishta Nadi Swetha River Cooum River Adyar River Ponnaiyar River Kaveri River Noyyal River Vaaniyaar River Kali River Netravati River Sharavathi River Aghanashini River Gangavalli River Periyar River Bharathapuzha River Pamba River Chaliyar River Chandragiri River Karyangod River Shastri River Gad River Vashishti River Savitri River Kundalika River Gandhari River Patalganga River Ulhas River Thane Creek Vasai Creek Mithi River or Mahim River Oshiwara River Dahisar River Tansa River in Thane Vaitarna River Surya River Chenna River Terna river
Other major rivers	Ghaggar River Musi River Samir River, India/ india Luni River Bhavani River