Rivers of India: Systems, Sources and Tributaries
Complete notes on the rivers of India for competitive exams: the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra systems, peninsular rivers, sources, tributaries, dams and falls.
By GK24 Editorial Team· Published · 4 min read
India's rivers are divided into two great families. The Himalayan rivers rise in snow and glaciers, flow all year, cut deep gorges in their upper course and build the alluvium of the northern plains. The peninsular rivers depend on the monsoon, run in shallow, largely fixed valleys over hard rock, and shrink in the dry months. Almost every question in an exam comes from one of four things: which system a river belongs to, where it rises, which river it joins, and which dam, city or waterfall stands on it.
The Indus system
The Indus rises near Lake Mansarovar in Tibet, enters India in Ladakh, and is joined by five rivers of Punjab: the Jhelum, the Chenab, the Ravi, the Beas and the Sutlej. The Chenab is formed by the Chandra and Bhaga streams and is the largest tributary of the Indus. The Sutlej rises from the Rakas lake in Tibet and enters India through the Shipki La pass. The Beas is the only one of the five that rises in India, near the Rohtang pass, and joins the Sutlej at Harike. Under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, India has the unrestricted use of the three eastern rivers, the Ravi, the Beas and the Sutlej, while the three western rivers, the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab, are for Pakistan, with limited use allowed to India.
The Ganga system
The Ganga begins at Devprayag, where the Bhagirathi, which comes from the Gangotri glacier, meets the Alaknanda. It is about 2,525 kilometres long, the longest river of India, and its basin is the largest in the country. The Yamuna, its longest tributary, rises from the Yamunotri glacier and joins it at Prayagraj. Right-bank tributaries include the Son and the Chambal, which joins the Yamuna; left-bank tributaries include the Ramganga, the Ghaghara, the Gandak and the Kosi, called the sorrow of Bihar for the way it shifts its bed. In Bangladesh the main stream is the Padma, and the Ganga and Brahmaputra together build the Sundarbans, the largest delta in the world.
The Brahmaputra system
The Brahmaputra rises in Tibet as the Tsangpo, turns south around Namcha Barwa and enters Arunachal Pradesh as the Siang or Dihang. At Sadiya in Assam the Dibang and the Lohit join it and the river takes the name Brahmaputra. Its tributaries include the Subansiri, the Manas, the Teesta and the Kameng, and it encloses Majuli, the large river island of Assam. In Bangladesh it is called the Jamuna.
Peninsular rivers
Most peninsular rivers rise in the Western Ghats and flow east to the Bay of Bengal, building deltas. The Narmada and the Tapi are the exceptions: they flow west through rift valleys and end in estuaries rather than deltas, which is why they carry so little delta farmland.
| River | Source | Falls into |
|---|---|---|
| Godavari | Trimbakeshwar, Nashik, Maharashtra | Bay of Bengal |
| Krishna | Near Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra | Bay of Bengal |
| Kaveri | Talakaveri, Brahmagiri hills, Karnataka | Bay of Bengal |
| Mahanadi | Highlands of Chhattisgarh | Bay of Bengal |
| Narmada | Amarkantak plateau, Madhya Pradesh | Gulf of Khambhat |
| Tapi | Multai, Betul, Madhya Pradesh | Gulf of Khambhat |
The Godavari, about 1,465 kilometres long, is the longest peninsular river and is called the Dakshin Ganga; its own tributaries include the Indravati, the Manjra, the Purna and the Pranhita. The Krishna is joined by the Bhima, the Tungabhadra, the Musi and the Ghatprabha. The Kaveri, shared by Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, is famous for a fairly even flow through the year because it gets rain from both monsoons, and the Shivanasamudram falls stand on it. The Mahanadi carries the Hirakud dam, one of the longest earthen dams in the world, and the Luni is the main river of the inland drainage of Rajasthan, ending in the Rann of Kachchh.
Dams, falls and cities to remember
- Bhakra Nangal on the Sutlej, Pong on the Beas, Tehri on the Bhagirathi
- Hirakud on the Mahanadi, Sardar Sarovar on the Narmada, Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam on the Krishna
- Jog or Gersoppa falls on the Sharavathi in Karnataka, Dhuandhar falls on the Narmada at Bhedaghat
- Delhi on the Yamuna, Kanpur, Varanasi and Patna on the Ganga, Guwahati on the Brahmaputra, Surat on the Tapi, Nashik on the Godavari, Vijayawada on the Krishna, Cuttack on the Mahanadi
Confluences and old names
Devprayag joins the Bhagirathi and the Alaknanda, Karnaprayag the Alaknanda and the Pindar, and Rudraprayag the Alaknanda and the Mandakini. Prayagraj is the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna. The Vedic names of the Punjab rivers are asked often: the Jhelum was the Vitasta, the Chenab the Askini or Chandrabhaga, the Ravi the Parushni, the Beas the Vipasha, the Sutlej the Shutudri and the Yamuna the Kalindi.
Exam Point of View
Three question types cover most of this topic. First, source and mouth: which river rises at Trimbakeshwar, Amarkantak, Talakaveri, Multai or Mahabaleshwar, and which ends in the Gulf of Khambhat instead of the Bay of Bengal. Second, tributary matching: whether the Musi belongs to the Krishna, the Indravati to the Godavari, the Chambal to the Yamuna and the Teesta to the Brahmaputra. Third, the river behind a dam, a city or a waterfall. Add the Vedic names of the Punjab rivers and the passes and confluences, and you have covered the usual paper. The traps are the longest river of India, the Ganga, against the longest river flowing wholly within India, the Godavari; the Chambal, which joins the Yamuna and not the Ganga directly; and rivers with different names along their course, such as the Tsangpo, Siang and Jamuna for the Brahmaputra.
Important Facts
| Longest river of India | Ganga, about 2,525 km |
|---|---|
| Longest river wholly within India | Godavari, about 1,465 km |
| Origin of the Ganga | Devprayag, where the Bhagirathi from Gangotri meets the Alaknanda |
| Largest tributary of the Indus | Chenab, formed by the Chandra and Bhaga |
| West flowing rivers in rift valleys | Narmada from Amarkantak and Tapi from Multai |
| Indus Waters Treaty | Signed in 1960; eastern rivers Ravi, Beas and Sutlej for India |
| Sorrow of Bihar | Kosi, a left-bank tributary of the Ganga |
| Hirakud dam | On the Mahanadi in Odisha |
| Jog falls | On the Sharavathi river in Karnataka |
| Largest delta in the world | Sundarbans, built by the Ganga and the Brahmaputra |
Practice MCQs on this topic
Which among the following is not a tributary of the Brahmaputra river?
- A.Teesta
- B.Siang
- C.Tons
- D.Manas
Show answer
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.
Read the full explanation →River Sutlej enters India through which pass?
- A.Zoji La
- B.Nathu La
- C.Lipulekh
- D.Shipki La
Show answer
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.
Read the full explanation →What is the Vedic name of the Ravi river?
- A.Askini
- B.Shutudri
- C.Parushni
- D.Kalindi
Show answer
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.
Read the full explanation →Musi river is a tributary of which of the following rivers?
- A.Cauvery
- B.Godavari
- C.Krishna
- D.Mahanadi
Show answer
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.
Read the full explanation →Which is the longest river flowing entirely within the territory of India?
- A.Ganga
- B.Godavari
- C.Narmada
- D.Krishna
Show answer
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.
Read the full explanation →The Godavari river originates from which of the following places?
- A.Amarkantak plateau
- B.Talakaveri
- C.Trimbakeshwar near Nashik
- D.Mahabaleshwar
Show answer
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.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following rivers flows through a rift valley and forms an estuary instead of a delta?
- A.Mahanadi
- B.Narmada
- C.Krishna
- D.Kaveri
Show answer
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.
Read the full explanation →The Hirakud dam is built on which river?
- A.Mahanadi
- B.Godavari
- C.Narmada
- D.Sutlej
Show answer
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.
Read the full explanation →At which place do the Bhagirathi and the Alaknanda meet to form the Ganga?
- A.Rudraprayag
- B.Karnaprayag
- C.Devprayag
- D.Haridwar
Show answer
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.
Read the full explanation →Under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, which group of rivers was allotted to India for unrestricted use?
- A.Indus, Jhelum and Chenab
- B.Ravi, Beas and Sutlej
- C.Jhelum, Ravi and Beas
- D.Chenab, Sutlej and Beas
Show answer
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…
Read the full explanation →Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the longest river of India and which is the longest river flowing entirely within India?
The Ganga, about 2,525 km, is the longest river of India, but it continues into Bangladesh. The Godavari, about 1,465 km, is the longest river that flows entirely within India.
Why do the Narmada and the Tapi not form deltas?
Both flow west through narrow rift valleys with steep sides, so they carry their load straight into the sea at speed and end in estuaries. Rivers flowing east over gentler slopes drop their silt and build deltas.
What are the names of the Brahmaputra along its course?
It is the Tsangpo in Tibet, the Siang or Dihang in Arunachal Pradesh, the Brahmaputra in Assam after the Dibang and Lohit join it, and the Jamuna in Bangladesh.
Which rivers make up the Indus system and how are they shared?
The Indus with the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. Under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 the eastern three, the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej, are for India and the western three for Pakistan.
Which peninsular river is called the Dakshin Ganga?
The Godavari. It rises at Trimbakeshwar near Nashik in Maharashtra, is the longest river of the peninsula, and drains parts of Maharashtra, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.
Sources
- Contemporary India II (Class X), Chapter 3: Drainage — NCERT
- India Physical Environment (Class XI), Chapter 3: Drainage System — NCERT
- Indus Waters Treaty 1960 — Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India
