Rivers of India: Systems, Sources and Tributaries

The correct answer is C, Tons. The Tons is a tributary of the Yamuna in the Ganga system, rising in the Garhwal Himalaya, and has nothing to do with the Brahmaputra basin. Option A is wrong as an answer because the Teesta, which drains Sikkim and north Bengal, does join the Brahmaputra, doing so in Bangladesh. Option B is wrong because the Siang, also called the Dihang, is the name the Brahmaputra itself carries in Arunachal Pradesh and is treated as its head stream, so it belongs to the system. Option D is wrong because the Manas, which comes down from Bhutan through the Manas national park, is one of the major north-bank tributaries of the Brahmaputra in Assam. The other tributaries worth remembering are the Subansiri, the Kameng, the Dibang and the Lohit, the last two giving the river its Assam name at Sadiya.

The correct answer is D, Shipki La. The Sutlej rises from the Rakas lake near Mansarovar in Tibet, where it is called the Langchen Khambab, and enters India through the Shipki La pass in Himachal Pradesh before flowing on to join the Beas at Harike. Option A is wrong because Zoji La lies on the road from Srinagar to Kargil in Ladakh and carries no such river. Option B is wrong because Nathu La is a trade pass in Sikkim on the route to Tibet, in an entirely different part of the Himalaya. Option C is wrong because Lipulekh is a pass in Uttarakhand used by the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage and by the Kali river valley, not by the Sutlej. The Sutlej also carries the Bhakra Nangal project, so link the river, the pass and the dam together when you revise.

The correct answer is C, Parushni. In the Rigveda the Ravi appears as the Parushni, and it is on this river that the Battle of the Ten Kings, the Dasarajna, is placed. Option A is wrong because Askini, also written Asikni, is the Vedic name of the Chenab, which is formed by the Chandra and Bhaga streams and is also called the Chandrabhaga. Option B is wrong because Shutudri is the Vedic name of the Sutlej, the river that enters India through the Shipki La pass. Option D is wrong because Kalindi is an old name of the Yamuna, which rises at the Yamunotri glacier and joins the Ganga at Prayagraj. The remaining pairs to memorise are the Jhelum as the Vitasta and the Beas as the Vipasha, since papers often ask all six Punjab rivers in one matching question.

The correct answer is C, Krishna. The Musi rises in the Anantagiri hills of Telangana, flows through Hyderabad, and joins the Krishna in Nalgonda district, which is why the city's water supply and floods are tied to it. Option A is wrong because the main tributaries of the Kaveri are the Hemavati, the Kabini, the Bhavani, the Noyyal and the Amaravati. Option B is wrong because the Godavari receives the Indravati, the Manjra, the Purna, the Pranhita and the Wainganga, not the Musi. Option D is wrong because the Mahanadi, which rises in the highlands of Chhattisgarh and carries the Hirakud dam, is joined by the Seonath, the Hasdeo, the Jonk and the Tel. The Krishna's other tributaries are the Bhima, the Tungabhadra and the Ghatprabha, and the pair Hyderabad, Musi and Krishna is the quickest way to hold this fact.

The correct answer is B, Godavari. The Godavari is about 1,465 kilometres long, rises at Trimbakeshwar near Nashik in Maharashtra, crosses Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh and falls into the Bay of Bengal, all within India, which makes it the longest river flowing wholly inside the country. It is also the longest peninsular river and is called the Dakshin Ganga. Option A is wrong because the Ganga, at about 2,525 kilometres, is the longest river of India but does not stay inside it; it continues into Bangladesh as the Padma. Option C is wrong because the Narmada, about 1,312 kilometres, is shorter and flows west into the Gulf of Khambhat. Option D is wrong because the Krishna, about 1,400 kilometres, is also shorter than the Godavari. The trap in this question is the word entirely, so read the stem to the end.

The correct answer is C, Trimbakeshwar near Nashik. The Godavari rises in the Western Ghats at Trimbakeshwar in the Nashik district of Maharashtra and flows east across the peninsula to the Bay of Bengal, draining the second largest basin in India after the Ganga. Option A is wrong because the Amarkantak plateau in Madhya Pradesh is the source of the Narmada, and the Son also rises in the same highland. Option B is wrong because Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri hills of Karnataka is the source of the Kaveri. Option D is wrong because the Krishna rises near Mahabaleshwar in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra. All four places are standard options in this question, so fix each with its river: Trimbakeshwar with the Godavari, Mahabaleshwar with the Krishna, Talakaveri with the Kaveri and Amarkantak with the Narmada.

The correct answer is B, Narmada. The Narmada flows west from the Amarkantak plateau through the rift valley between the Vindhya and Satpura ranges and empties into the Gulf of Khambhat through an estuary, because the steep, narrow valley lets it carry its silt straight out to sea instead of spreading it. The Tapi behaves in the same way. Option A is wrong because the Mahanadi flows east and builds a delta in Odisha, with Hirakud dam on its course. Option C is wrong because the Krishna flows east from Mahabaleshwar and forms a delta in Andhra Pradesh next to the Godavari delta. Option D is wrong because the Kaveri too flows east and forms a delta in Tamil Nadu around Thanjavur, long called the granary of the south. Remember that only the west flowing Narmada and Tapi lack deltas.

The correct answer is A, Mahanadi. Hirakud dam stands on the Mahanadi in the Sambalpur district of Odisha and is among the longest earthen dams in the world, built for flood control, irrigation and power in a basin that used to flood badly. Option B is wrong because the Godavari carries projects such as Polavaram and the Sriram Sagar, not Hirakud. Option C is wrong because the Narmada is the river of the Sardar Sarovar and Indira Sagar projects. Option D is wrong because the Sutlej carries the Bhakra Nangal project, whose reservoir is the Gobind Sagar. The safest way to prepare this family of questions is a short list: Bhakra Nangal on the Sutlej, Hirakud on the Mahanadi, Sardar Sarovar on the Narmada, Nagarjuna Sagar on the Krishna and Tehri on the Bhagirathi.

The correct answer is C, Devprayag. At Devprayag in Uttarakhand the Bhagirathi, which comes down from the Gangotri glacier, meets the Alaknanda, and the united stream is called the Ganga from that point. Option A is wrong because Rudraprayag is the confluence of the Alaknanda with the Mandakini. Option B is wrong because Karnaprayag is where the Pindar joins the Alaknanda. Option D is wrong because Haridwar is the town where the Ganga leaves the mountains and enters the plains, an important fact in its own right but not a confluence of the two head streams. The five prayags of the Alaknanda, namely Vishnuprayag, Nandprayag, Karnaprayag, Rudraprayag and Devprayag, are worth learning in order, since papers ask which river joins at each of them. A second point examiners like is that the Bhagirathi is treated as the source stream of the Ganga even though the Alaknanda carries more water, and that the Gangotri glacier snout at Gaumukh is where the Bhagirathi itself begins.

The correct answer is B, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. The Indus Waters Treaty, signed in 1960 with the World Bank as a party to the arrangement, gave India the unrestricted use of the three eastern rivers, the Ravi, the Beas and the Sutlej, and gave the three western rivers to Pakistan, with India allowed limited uses such as run of the river power and some irrigation. Option A is wrong because the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab are exactly the western group allotted to Pakistan. Options C and D are wrong because each mixes the two groups, putting a western river, the Jhelum in one case and the Chenab in the other, on the Indian side. The quick memory hook is that the eastern rivers, being farther from Pakistan, went to India, and the projects on them, such as Bhakra Nangal on the Sutlej and Pong on the Beas, followed from the treaty.