This document provides information about the drainage system and major rivers of India. It discusses the two main types of rivers - the Himalayan rivers and the peninsular rivers. For the Himalayan rivers, it summarizes the key details about the three major rivers: the Indus, Ganga, and Brahmaputra. It describes their sources, tributaries, and courses through India and neighboring countries. It also briefly outlines some of the major peninsular rivers like the Narmada, Godavari, Mahanadi, Krishna, and Kaveri.
2. ï‚› DRAINAGE:-
The term drainage describes the river system of an area.
ï‚› Drainage Basin:-
The are drained by a single river system is called a drainage basin.
ï‚› Water Divide.
Any elevated area, such as a mountain or an upland which divides two
drainage basins is known as a Water Divide.
ï‚› River system
A river along with its tributaries may be called a river system.
3. Drainage Patterns
The streams within a drainage basin form certain patterns,
depending on the slope of land, underlying rock structure as well
as the climatic conditions of the area . These are dendritic,
trellis, rectangular, andradial patterns. The dendritic pattern
develops where the river channel follows the slope of the terrain.
The stream with its tributaries resembles the branches of a tree,
thus the name dendritic. A river joined by its tributaries, at
approximately right angles, develops a trellis pattern. A trellis
drainage pattern develops where hard and soft rocks exist parallel
to each other. A rectangular drainage pattern develops on a
strongly jointed rocky terrain. The radial pattern develops when
streams flow in different directions from a central peak or dome
like structure. A combination of several patterns may be found in
the same drainage basin.
7. TYPES OF RIVERS
ï‚› The drainage systems of India are mainly controlled by the broad relief
features of the subcontinents.
Accordingly, the Indian rivers are divided into two parts.
1.The Himalayan Rivers
2.The Peninsular rivers
8. ï‚› Rippling along rough surfaces and the beautiful
meadows, the numerous rivers that dot Indian
mainland are central to our history as well as to
Indian mythology. The main rivers of the
Himalayas group are the Indus, the Ganga and
the Brahmaputra. These rivers are both snow-fed
and rain-fed and therefore they are flow
through so many year. Himalayan rivers
discharge about 70% of their inflow into the
sea. This includes about 5% from central Indian
rivers. They join the Ganga and drain into the
Bay of Bengal
9. Himalayan Rivers
ï‚› Major Himalayan Rivers are
1.The Indus.
2.The Ganga.
3.The Brahmaputra.
The Himalayan rivers are long, and are joined by
many large and important tributaries. A river along
with its tributaries may be called a river system
11. THE RIVER INDUS
ï‚› i. River Indus rises in Tibet, near Lake Mansarowar.
ï‚› ii. It flows west and enters India in the Ladakh district of
Jammu and Kashmir through a picturesque gorge.
ï‚› iii. Several tributaries like the Zaskar, the Shyok, and the
Huzana join it here.
ï‚› iv. It flows through Baltistan-the Gilgit and emerges
from the mountain of Attok.
ï‚› v. Famous five rivers of Punjab-the Satluj, the Beas, the
Ravi, the Chenab and the Jhelum-meet the Indus a little
above Mithankot in Pakistan.
12. THE RIVER INDUS
ï‚› vi. After this the Indus River flows southwards and ultimately
meets the Arabian Sea.
ï‚› Vii. The total length of the river is about 2900 km. This length
ranks it one amongst the longest river of the world.
ï‚› viii. Nearly 33.3% the Indus basin is located in India-in the states
of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and the Punjab and the
67% is in Pakistan.
ï‚› Ix. According to the provisions of the Indus Water Treaty (1960)
India can only use 20% of the total water carried by this river
system.
ï‚› x. This water is used for irrigation in the Punjab, Haryana and the
western parts of Rajasthan
14. THE RIVER GANGA
ï‚› The Ganges has many names associated with its many roles
in Sanskrit mythology. Bhagiratha himself is the source of the
name Bhagirathi (of Bhagiratha), which is its initial stream,
but is also another name for the Hooghly. At one point,
Bhagiratha went too close to the sage Jahnu's meditation site,
and the disturbed hermit immediately gulped up all the
waters. Eventually, after more persuasion from Bhagiratha,
the sage yielded the waters, but Ganges retained the name
"Jahnavi“. Water from the Ganga has the recursive property
that any water mixed with even the minutest quantity of
Ganga water becomes Ganga water, and inherits its healing
and other holy properties. Also, despite its many impurities,
Ganga water does not rot or stink if stored for several days.
15. Numerous Tributaries:
i. From the north, the Ganga is joined by numerous tributaries like-the
Yamuna, the Gomti, the Ghaghara, the Gandak and the Kosi.
ii. The river Yamuna rises from the Yamunotri Glacier in the
Himalayas.
a. It flows parallel to the Ganga.
b. It is the right bank tributaries of the Ganga and meets the
Ganga at Allahabad.
iii. The Ghaghara, the Gandak and the Kosi rise in the Nepal
Himalayas.
These rivers flood parts of the northern plain every year, causing
widespread havoc but enriching the soil for the extensive
agricultural lands of the north plains.
iv. The main tributaries coming from the peninsular uplands, are
the Chambal, the Betwa, the Son and the Damodar.
a. They rise from semiarid areas.
16. Numerous Tributaries:
b. They have shorter courses and do not carry much water in them.
v. Ganga is enriched with the waters from its right and left bank
tributaries.
vi. It flows eastwards till Farakka in West Bengal. This is the
northernmost point of the Ganga delta.
The river bifurcates here.
vii. The Bhagirathi-Hooghly (distributary) flows southward through
the deltaic plains to the Bay of Bangal.
viii. The mainstreams flow southward into the Bangladesh and is
joined by the Brahmaputra. It is known as the Jamuna here, further
downstream. It is known as the Meghna.
ix. This mighty river, with waters from Ganga, and the Brahmaputra
flows into the Bay of Bangal and forms the Sunderban delta. It is the
most classic and the largest delta of the world.
18. THE RIVER BRAHMAPUTRA
ï‚› i. Brahmaputra rises in Tibet, east of Mansarowar Lake very
close to the sources of the Indus and the Satluj.
ï‚› ii. In Tibet, it is known by the name, Tsang Po.
ï‚› iii. It is slightly longer than the Indus, and most of its course lies
in Tibet.
ï‚› iv. It flows eastwards parallel to the Himalayas to its south.
ï‚› v. When it reaches mountain peak of Namcha Barwa (7757 m), it
takes a 'U' twin and makes a 5500 m deep gorge.
ï‚› vi. Then it enters India in Arunachal Pradesh through a gorge.
Here it is called the Dihang and it is joined by the Dibang, the
Lohit, the Kenula and numerous other tributaries to form the
Brahmaputra in Assam.
19. THE RIVER BRAHMAPUTRA
ï‚› vii. In Tibet Tsang Po river carries a smaller volume of water and
less silt as it is a comparatively dry and hard rocked area.
ï‚› viii. In India it passes through a region, which receives a huge
amount of rainfall. The result is that the river carries a large
volume of water and considerable amount of silt.
ï‚› ix. The Brahmaputra has a braided channel in its entire length in
Assam, with numerous riverine islands.
ï‚› x. Every year during the rainy season, Brahmaputra River floods
its banks and causes widespread devastation in Assam and
Bangladesh.
ï‚› xi. The river also shifts its channels during rainy season every
year.
20. PENINSULAR RIVER
ï‚› The main water divide in Peninsular India is
formed by the Western Ghats, which runs 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 deltas at their mouths.
There are numerous small streams flowing west
of the Western Ghats .The Narmada and the Tapi
are the only long rivers, which flow west and
make esturies .The drainage basins of the
peninsular rivers are comparitevely small in size.
21. PENINSULAR RIVERS
THE MAJOR PENINSULAR RIVERS ARE:-
1. THE NARMADA.
2. THE TAPI.
3. THE GODAVARI.
4. THE MAHANADI.
5. THE KRISHNA.
6. THE KAVERI.
23. THE RIVER NARMADA
ï‚› The Narmada rises in the Amarkantak hills in Madhya Pradesh.
It flows towards the west in a rift valley formed due to faulting.
On its way to the sea, the Narmada creates many picturesque
locations. The ‘Marble rocks’, near Jabalpur where the Narmada
flows through a deep gorge, and the ‘Dhuadhar falls’ where the
river plunges over steep rocks ,are some of the notable ones.
All the tributaries of the Narmada are very short and most of
these join the main stream at right angles. The Narmada basin
covers parts of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
25. THE RIVER TAPI
ï‚› The Tapi rises in the Satpura ranges, in the Betul district of
Madhya Pradesh. It also flows in a rift valley parallel to the
Narmada but it is much shorter in length. Its basin covers parts
of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
ï‚› The coastal plains between western ghats and the Arabian sea
are very narrow. Hence , the coastal rivers are short. The main
west flowing rivers are Sabarmati, Mahi ,Bharathpuzha and
Periyar. Find out the states in which these rivers drain the water
27. THE RIVER GODAVARI
ï‚› The Godavari is the largest Peninsular river .It rises
from the slopes of the Western Ghats in the Nasik
district of Maharashtra. Its length is about 1500 km
.It drains into the Bay of Bengal. Its drainage basin
is also the largest among the peninsular rivers. The
basin covers parts of Maharashtra (about 50per cent
of the basin area lies in Maharashtra),Madhya
Pradesh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. The Godavari is
joined by a number of tributaries such as the Purna,
the Wardha,the Pranhita, the Manjra, the Wainganga
and the Penganga.The last three tributaries are very
large. Because of its length and the area it covers, it
is also known as the‘Dakshin Ganga’.
29. THE MAHANADI RIVER
ï‚› The Mahanadi rises in the highlands of
Chhattisgarh. It flows through Orissa to
reach the Bay of Bengal. The length of the
river is about 860 km. Its drainage basin
is shared by Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand, and Orissa.
31. THE KRISHNA RIVER
ï‚› Rising from a spring near Mahabaleshwar,
the Krishna flows for about 1400 km and
reaches the Bay of Bengal. The
Tungabhadra, the Koyana, the
Ghatprabha, the Musi and the Bhima are
some of its tributaries. Its drainage basin
is shared by Maharashtra, Karnataka and
Andhra Pradesh.
33. THE KAVERI RIVER
ï‚› The Kaveri rises in the Brahmagri range of
the Western Ghats and it reaches the Bay
of Bengal in south of Cuddalore, in Tamil
Nadu. Total length of the river is about
760 km. Its main tributaries are Amravati,
Bhavani, Hemavati and Kabini. Its basin
drains parts of Karnataka, Kerala and
Tamil Nadu.