The rivers of India can be classified into four groups viz., Himalayan
rivers, Deccan rivers,
Coastal rivers, and Rivers
of the inland drainage basin.
The Himalayan Rivers are formed by melting snow and glaciers and
therefore, continuously flow throughout the year. During the
monsoon months, Himalayas receive very heavy rainfall and rivers
swell, causing frequent floods. The Deccan Rivers on the other
hand are rain fed and therefore fluctuate in volume. Many of these
are non-perennial. The Coastal streams, especially on the west
coast are short in length and have limited catchment's areas. Most
of them are non-perennial. The streams of inland drainage basin of
western Rajasthan are few. Most of them are of an ephemeral
character.
The main Himalayan river systems
are those of the Indus and the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna system.
The Indus, which is one of the great rivers of the world, rises
near Mansarovar in Tibet and flows through India, and thereafter
through Pakistan, and finally falls in the Arabian Sea near
Karachi. Its important tributaries flowing in Indian Territory are
the Sutlej (originating in Tibet), the Beas, the Ravi, the Chenab,
and the Jhelum. The Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna is another important
system of which the principal sub-basins are those of Bhagirathi
and the Alaknanda, which join at Dev Prayag to form the Ganga. It
traverses through Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West
Bengal. Below Rajmahal hills, the Bhagirathi, which used to be the
main course in the past, takes off, while the Padma continues
eastward and enters Bangladesh. The Yamuna, the Ramganga, the
Ghaghra, the Gandak, the Kosi, the Mahananda and the Sone are the
important tributaries of the Ganga. Rivers Chambal and Betwa are
the important sub-tributaries, which join Yamuna before it meets
the Ganga. The Padma and the Brahmaputra join inside Bangladesh,
and continue to flow as the Padma or Ganga. The Brahmaputra rises
in Tibet, where it is known as Tsangpo and runs a long distance
till it crosses over into India in Arunachal Pradesh under the
name of Dihang. Near Passighat, the Debang and Lohit join the
river Brahmaputra and the combined river runs all along the Assam
in a narrow valley. It crosses into Bangladesh downstream of
Dhubri.
The principal tributaries of
Brahmaputra in India are the Subansiri, Jia Bhareli, Dhansiri,
Puthimari, Pagladiya and the Manas. The Brahmaputra in Bangladesh
receives the flow of Tista, etc., and finally falls into Ganga.
The Barak River, the Head stream of Meghna, rises in the hills in
Manipur. The important tributaries of the river are Makku, Trang,
Tuivai, Jiri, Sonai, Rukni, Katakhal, Dhaleswari, Langachini,
Maduva and Jatinga. Barak continues in Bangladesh till the
combined Ganga-Brahmaputra join it near Bhairab Bazar.
In the Deccan region, most of the
major river systems flowing generally in east direction fall into
Bay of Bengal. The major east flowing rivers are Godavari,
Krishna, Cauvery, Mahanadi, etc. Narmada and Tapti are major West
flowing rivers.
The Godavari in the southern
Peninsula has the second largest river basin covering 10 per cent
of the area of India. Next to it is the Krishna basin in the
region, while the Mahanadi has the third largest basin. The basin
of the Narmada in the uplands of the Deccan, flowing to the
Arabian Sea, and of the Kaveri in the south, falling into the Bay
of Bengal are about the same size, though with different character
and shape.
There are numerous coastal rivers,
which are comparatively small. While only handful of such rivers
drain into the sea near the delta of east cost, there are as many
as 600 such rivers on the west coast.
A few rivers in Rajasthan do not
drain into the sea. They drain into salt lakes and get lost in
sand with no outlet to sea. Besides these, there are the Desert
Rivers which flow for some distance and are lost in the desert.
These are Luni and others such as, Machhu, Rupen, Saraswati, Banas
and Ghaggar.
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