Rivers play an important role in Indian life and culture, providing water for irrigation, transportation, power, and livelihoods. Most major Indian cities are located on river banks. India's river systems originate from three main watersheds - the Himalayas, Vindhya Range, and Western Ghats. The Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra are some of India's longest rivers. Rivers have supported ancient Indian civilizations and continue to be vital to society and the environment.

2. The rivers and 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. 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 mythology 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:

3. Indian rivers overview
Himalayan
and
Karkoram
Ranges
Vindhyas,
Satpuras,
Central
Plateau
Western
Ghats
India
Arabian
Ocean
Bay of Bengal

4. Rivers and
human
civilization

6. The major Himalayan Rivers are Indus ,
Ganga 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.

7. The Ganga (or Ganges) and its tributaries like Yamuna, Son, and Gandak, which
have been left out of the list, actually formulates the biggest cultivable plains of
north and eastern India, known as the Gangetic plains. The main river, the holy
Ganga forms by the joining of theAlaknanda River and Bhagirathi
River at Devprayag. The Bhagirathi, which is considered the Ganga's true source,
starts from Gangotri glaciers in the Himalayas and flows through the states
of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal, after which it
enters Bangladesh. Known as the Padma River in Bangladesh, it joins the Jamuna
River, the largest distributary of the Brahmaputra River. The Padma then joins
the Meghna River before emptying into the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh. With a
length of about 2,525 kilometres (1,569 mi), the Ganga the second longest river of
India. The Brahmaputra is longer, but most of its course is not in India.

8. The Indus River is a major river which flows through
Pakistan, as well as India and China.
Originating in the Tibetan plateau of western China
in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous
Region, the river runs a course through the Ladakh d
istrict of Jammu and Kashmir and then enters Pakistan
via the Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan), flowing through the North in
a southerly direction along the entire length of Pakistan, to merge into
the Arabian Sea near the port city of Karachi in Sindh. The total length
of the river is 3,180 kilometers (1,976 miles) and it is Pakistan's
longest river.
The river has a total drainage area exceeding 1,165,000 square
kilometers (450,000 square miles). The river's estimated annual flow
stands at around 207 cubic kilometers, making it the twenty-first
largest river in the world in terms of annual flow. Beginning at the
heights of the world with glaciers, the river feeds the ecosystem of
temperate forests, plains and arid countryside. Together with the rivers
Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, Beas and two tributaries from the Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan, the Indus forms the delta of Pakistan
mentioned in the Vedic Rig Veda as Sapta Sindhu and the Iranic Zend
Avesta as Hapta Hindu, (both sets of terms meaning Seven Rivers).

9. The Brahmaputra also called Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, is a trans-boundary
river and one of the major rivers of Asia. It originates in China, near the
sources of the Indus and the Sutlej. It is about 2,900
kilometres (1,800 mi) long. In China, where it is known as
the Yarlung Zangbo River, or Tsangpo, it flows east, parallel to
the Himalayas. Reaching Namjagbarwa it turns south and
enters India in Arunachal Pradesh, where is it known as
Dihang. In Assam it is called the Brahmaputra. Just before
entering Bangladesh it splits into two distributaries, the
larger of which is called the Jamuna River.

10. The Chenab River is a major
river of Jammu and
Kashmir and
the Punjab in India. It forms in
the upper Himalayas in the
Lahaul and Spiti
district of Himachal Pradesh,
India, and flows through the
Jammu region of Jammu and
Kashmir into the plains of
the Punjab. The waters of the
Chenab are allocated
to Pakistan under the terms of
the Indus Waters Treaty.

11. Peninsular India is drained by five major river systems: Mahanadi, Godavari,
Krishna, Penner and Cauvery.
The geology and climate of Peninsular India are two overriding physical
controls effecting the rivers of the region. By effecting the soils and
vegetation the geology and climate determine the sedimentological
characteristics and the whole process of erosion, transportation and
deposition within each drainage basin.
The sparse vegetation of the highlands contrasts with the moderately
luxuriant vegetation of the river valleys.

12. The Mahanadi in East Central India. It
drains an area of around 132,100 km2
and
has a total course of 858 km. The river
flows through the states
of Chhattisgarhand Orissa.
Like many other seasonal Indian rivers,
the Mahanadi too is a combination of
many mountain streams and thus its
precise source is impossible to pinpoint.
However its farthest headwaters lie 6 km
from Pharisiya village 442 m above sea
level south of Nagri town in Dhamtari
district of Chhattisgarh. The hills here are
an extension of the Eastern Ghats and are
a source of many other streams which
then go on to join the Mahanadi.

13. The Godavari is a river that runs from
western
to southern India and is considered to be one
of the big river basins in India. With a length
of 1465 km, it is the second longest river in
India (only after the Ganga), that runs within
the country and also the longest river in South
India. It originates near Trimbak in Nashik
District of Maharashtra state and flows east
across the Deccan Plateau into the Bay of
Bengal near Narasapuram in West Godavari
district of Andhra Pradesh.
The Godavari River is a major waterway in
central India, originating in the Western Ghats
Trimbakeshwar, in the Nashik Subdivision or
District Of Maharashtra and flowing eastwardly
across the Deccan Plateau through the state of
Maharashtra. It is known as dakshin ganga
(Southern Ganga). It enters Andhra Pradesh at
Kandhakurthi in Nizamabad district.

14. The Krishna River is one of the longest rivers
in central-southern India, about 1,300
kilometres (810 mi). It is also referred to as
Krishnaveni in its original
nomenclature.Krishna river is the third largest
river in india.
Krishna river rises at Mahabaleswar near the Jor
village in the extreme north of Wai taluka
,district satara,Mahararshta in the west and
meets the Bay of
Bengal at Hamasaladeevi in Andhra Pradesh, on
the east coast. It also flows through the state
of Karnataka. The delta of this river is one of
the most fertile regions inIndia and was the
home to ancient Satavahana and Ikshvaku Sun
Dynasty kings.
Vijayawada is the largest city on the River
Krishna . Sangli is the largest city on the river
Krishna in Maharashtra state .

15. Rivers and Human Civilization
• Rivers played a very important role in the development and
maintenance of Civilizations.
• With the discovery of the usefulness of water in food production, man
realized that hunting and gathering were not the only ways to produce
food!
• Now with the constant supply of water, man could reliably and in a
sustainable manner grow plants intentionally.
• This discovery alleviated the need to search and gather food.
Agriculture was hard work but yielded huge benefits:
– Larger food supply led to decreased starvation which further led to
increased settlements, communities and later cities
– This led to an increase in the trade and commerce. Rivers served as
important modes of transport and transportation for the same.
– As wealth and trade increased huts were replaced by houses, which
further shaped the ‘civilized’ world.

16. Indian Rivers
– an overview

17. Ancient Indian river
civilizations

18. Indus Valley Civilization
The ancient civilizations of the Indian sub-
continent were in and around two might
river systems
– The Indus Valley Civilization (mature
period 2600–1900 BCE), abbreviated
IVC, was an ancient civilization in the
Indian Subcontinent that flourished
around the Indus River basin.
Primarily centered along the Indus
river, the civilization encompassed
most of what is now Pakistan, mainly
the provinces of Sindh, Punjab and
Balochistan, as well as extending into
modern day Indian states of Gujarat,
Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan.
– Nearby the Saraswati civilization,
based on the now dried-up Saraswati
river, a river that in ancient Indian
historic texts is described as far
The sites of the
Mohenjadaro and
Harappan sites
along the Indus
River Valley

19. The Saraswati Civilization
"Pure in her course from
the mountains to the
ocean, alone of streams
Saraswati hath
listened."
- Rig Veda
The Saraswati river,
believed to be now
mostly disappeared
underground, was the
locus of one of the most
ancient of human
civilisations

20. The mother of
Indian rivers-
Ganga

21. Ganga is born in the Gangotri glacier at the foothills
of the Himalayas (14000 ft) high up in the Himalaya
Mountains of Uttaranchal. Gaumukh is the giant ice-
cave from where the Ganga originates
The first town she reaches on leaving the mountains is
Rishikesh. At this point she is wider and slower. She
becomes a ‘real’ river, no more the turbulent stream that
flows through canyons and ravines
Her main flow is through the Gangetic plain: the vast flat
land that stretches from the north to south to the state of
Uttar Pradesh and from its West all the way to the Eastern
state of West Bengal. She is a source of water for
agriculture, passing through famous towns such as
Varanasi.
Finally, past Kolkata in the east, the Ganges reaches the
ocean – creating one of the world largest river deltas and
home to the beautiful Sundarban forests.

22. The Brahmaputra

23. The origin of Brahmaputra River is in southwestern
Tibet as the Yarlung River. The river takes birth at the
Mansarovar of the Himalayas, flows through Tibet,
China, Burma, India and joins with River Ganges in
Bangladesh.
Called the Tsangpo in Tibet, it flows past the towns of
Xigatse and Tsedang and then climbs north. It curves
around a majestic mountain called the Namche Barwa,
shortly before entering India.
Along the Brahmaputra are a thousand chars or river
islands. Several nomads live on them who wander from
one island to another.
Finally, passing through Bangladesh, it becomes the
Padma river and enters the Bay of Bengal in the
Sundarbans along with the Ganges.

24. River Kaveri – The
Ganga Of South
India

25. Kaveri starts as a small spring in Karnataka
Talakaveri, high up in the mountains of the
Brahmagiri mountains of the Western Ghats. At this
spot stands a temple which has a tank filled with the
river’s water.
A little further down the Kaveri forks to form a rocky
island called Srirangapatna; until the end of the 18th
century this was the capital of the Mysore kingdom. It is
believed that Lord Vishnu himself came and resided in
these islands.
At Sivasamudram the Kaveri tumbles down as a rapids
and waterfalls, where the river plunges downward in a
wonderful cascade to a depth of 300-350 ft. She falls with
tremendous force and her waters are used to generate
hydroelectricity.
Kaveri enters the sea in a triangle-shaped delta in Tamil
Nadu. The delta is large and covers 14 lakh hectares of
land. The ancient temple town of Tanjavur stands at the
head of the delta.

26. The Narmada ,
rivers and the
environment

27. The Narmada is born in a small tank called “Narmada
Kund” on the Amarkantak Hill in Eastern Madhya
Pradesh.
The Kanha National Park lies close to the Narmada in the
Maikal Plateau. Unusual species of birds and animals are
found here. This is a protected area and was a declared a
Tiger Reserve in 1974.
The Sardar Sarovar project is part of a plan to take
Narmada’s waters to states further away where there is
little rainfall and not much water for people and crops.
But the dangers if this plan materializes are many:
Earthquakes and flood caused by this man made structure threaten the area around
it. In response to these concerns, that the Narmada Bachao Andolan movement
grew to try and answer questions like (i)Are big dams more dangerous than useful?
(ii) Are there other ways of collecting water for drinking, irrigation and electricity?
(iii) Will those who lose their homes be given land somewhere else?

28. Conclusion

29. Conclusion
• The large geographic span of India has a variety of rain-fed
and mountain glacier fed rivers, that have sustained the
ancient civilization of India, and still today continue to
provide livelihood and sustenance for the large population of the
nation.
• The rivers of India, apart from their utility, are a rich
storehouse of natural beauty, and have a long and ancient
history of mythological and historical treasures.
• The global environmental problems of the 21st
century will also
have their impact on the rivers of India. By respecting these
treasures of India, both for their history as well as for the
precious natural resource of water, these rivers will sustain our
country for many centuries to come.