MAP OF INDIA SHOWING RIVERS:-

Rivers in India carry almost 1683000 million cubic meters of water every year. Indian rivers can be divided into 4. They are :

• Central Indian and Rivers of the Deccan region
• Himalayan Rivers
• Coastal Rivers
• Inland rivers

Rivers of the Deccan region : The rivers of the Deccan region and central India are totally dependant on the monsoons and these rivers dry up in summer and almost all of them are non-perennial rivers. The major rivers of this region are the following :

1. Narmada : Length of the river is 785 km. Narmada river originates from the Amarkaandak branch of the Maikaal range. It flows through the Vindhya Satpura ranges and finally flows into the Arabian Sea.

2. Tapti : Length of the river is 720 km. The river originates from Bethool in Madhya Pradesh. The Tapti river empties into the Arabian Sea.

3. Mahanadi : The Mahanadi river is 880 km in length. The river originates from the Sahava region which lies south to the Amarkaandak peak. The river splits into distributaries in the costal plains of Cuttak in Orissa.

4. Damodar : The river is 530 km in length. Damodar originates from the Daaru peak in Chotta Nagpur and merges with the Hoogli river. Gaddi, Konaar, Jamunia, Baaraakaar etc are tributaries.

5. Godavari : Godavari is one of the longest rivers of the Deccan region. It flows over a distance of 1440 km. Godavari originates from Thrayyabaka near Nasik in the state if Maharashtra. It flows through Andhra Pradesh before emptying into the Bay of Bengal. Praneetha, Penuganga, Vardha, Indravathi etc are the major triburaries.

6. Krishna : Krishna is also another important river of the southern region. The river originate near Mahabaleshwar and flows east through the state of Andhra Pradesh and empties into the Bay of Bengal. Bheema and Thungabhadra are the major tributaries.

7. Kaveri : The river flows through the states of Karnataka and Tamilnadu and empties into the Bay of Bengal. Length of the river is 760 km.

Apart from these major rivers, rivers like Chambal, Sindh, Bekvason etc... originates in the Vindhya-Satpura ranges and merges with the Ganges and the Yamuna.

North Indian Rivers : Most of the north Indian rivers originate from the Himalayas and are very prosperous and perennial since they are ice fed. Floods are common in some of these rivers during summer when the ice in the Himalayas melts during summer increasing the amount of water in these rivers.

Sindhu : The Sindhu river originates in the Tibetan Plateau and empties into the Arabian Sea. The river flows over a length of 2880 km. Following the India-Pakistan division, majority of the river now flows through Pakistan. Sutlej, Jhalem, Chenab, Ravi, Biyaas etc are the major tributaries.

Sutluej : The river originates in the Kailaas regions, flows 200 km westwards through Ludhiana and Jalandhar districts of Punjab and then changes route and flows south-west. The total length of the river is 1440 km of which it flows 1100 km within India.

Ganga or the Ganges : Ganges is the longest river in India and has a total length of 2480 kms. The Ganges flows through the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal. River Ganges originates from Gomukh in the Himalayas. The river flows 1200 km eastwards and then turns south and splits into two. One branch enters Bangladesh and the other branch, known by the names Hoogli and Bhageeradhi, flows south and empties into the Bay of Bengal. The main tributaries of the Ganges river are Yamuna, Zon, Kozi etc...

Yamuna : The river is 1375 km in length and runs parallel to the ganges for almost 600 km before joining it at Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. Chambal, Sindh, Bethwa etc... are the main tributaries.

Brahmaputra : The river Brahmaputra originates from Kailaas, near the Maanasasarovar lake. After flowing through southern Tibet for almost 1250 km, Brahmaputra enters India and then Bangladesh, joins with the branch of Ganges in Bangladesh and finally empties into the Bay of Bengal. Brahmaputhra is the most prosperous river among all the other Indian rivers.