Haryana Rivers and Lakes: Yamuna, Ghaggar and Wetlands

The correct answer is B, the Yamuna. The Yamuna comes down from Yamunotri, enters Haryana near Kalesar in Yamunanagar district and flows south along the eastern boundary of the state with Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. It is the only river in Haryana that carries water through the year, which is why the Hathnikund barrage and the canals drawn from it matter so much to the state's irrigation.

Option A, the Ghaggar, is the longest river inside Haryana but it is seasonal: it fills in the monsoon and runs as a sandy channel for the rest of the year, finally dying in the sands of Rajasthan. Option C, the Markanda, is a Shivalik stream and a tributary of the Ghaggar, dry outside the rains. Option D, the Sahibi, rises in the Aravalli of Rajasthan and reaches the Najafgarh jheel only in flood. The point to keep is the contrast: one perennial Himalayan river on the edge of the state, and seasonal streams everywhere else.

The correct answer is A, Yamunanagar. The Hathnikund barrage stands on the Yamuna in Yamunanagar district, where the river leaves the hills, and it replaced the older Tajewala headworks a short distance upstream. From it the Western Yamuna Canal carries water into Haryana and the Eastern Yamuna Canal into Uttar Pradesh, and the discharge released from it during heavy rain is what decides flood warnings downstream in Delhi.

Option B, Karnal, lies on the Yamuna further south and is a canal command district, not the site of the barrage. Option C, Panipat, is also on the river but is remembered for its three battles and its industry. Option D, Panchkula, is the district where the Ghaggar enters Haryana, so it belongs to the other river system altogether and is the most common distractor in this question. Remember the three names together: Tajewala, Hathnikund and the Western Yamuna Canal.

The correct answer is B, Panchkula. The Ghaggar rises in the Shivalik hills of Himachal Pradesh and comes into Haryana through Panchkula district in the extreme north-east, then turns south-west across Ambala, Kaithal, Fatehabad and Sirsa before passing into Rajasthan as the Hakra. Knowing the entry district also fixes the direction of the river's flow, which is the opposite of the Yamuna's.

Option A, Ambala, is the next district on its course and is often chosen by mistake because the Ghaggar and its tributary the Tangri are so closely associated with the town. Option C, Kaithal, and option D, Sirsa, are downstream districts; Sirsa is the last one before Rajasthan. In papers the Ghaggar is also asked as the state's longest river, as the classic case of inland drainage in north-west India, and as the river most scholars identify with the Vedic Saraswati.

The correct answer is C, the Ghaggar. Most scholars identify the Ghaggar, with its dry continuation the Hakra in Rajasthan and Pakistan, with the Saraswati of the Rigveda, and the neighbouring Chautang with the Drishadvati. The strongest support comes from archaeology: a very large number of Harappan settlements, among them Rakhigarhi in Hisar district and Banawali in Fatehabad, stand along these channels, which means they carried water when those towns were alive.

Option A, the Yamuna, is a living river with its own Vedic name and is thought by some to have captured part of the Saraswati's old drainage, but it is not the identification asked for. Option B, the Sahibi, is an Aravalli stream of south Haryana with no such association. Option D, the Markanda, is a tributary within the same Ghaggar system, so it is part of the answer's basin but not the river itself. Adi Badri in Yamunanagar district is the place traditionally treated as the Saraswati's source.

The correct answer is B, Yamunanagar. Adi Badri lies at the foot of the Shivaliks in Yamunanagar district, and tradition holds it to be the place where the Saraswati came down to the plain. It is the focus of the state's Saraswati heritage work, including the excavation and channelling of the old bed and the reservoir built in the hills above it.

Option A, Kurukshetra, is the heart of the Saraswati country in tradition, with Brahma Sarovar, Sannihit Sarovar and Jyotisar in it, so it is the most tempting wrong answer; but the source site is in Yamunanagar. Option C, Fatehabad, lies far downstream on the Ghaggar and holds the Harappan site of Banawali. Option D, Jhajjar, is in the south and is the district of the Bhindawas wetland. Remember the pair: Adi Badri in Yamunanagar for the source, Kurukshetra for the sacred tanks.

The correct answer is A, Gurugram. Sultanpur National Park lies in Gurugram district, near Sultanpur village on the Gurugram-Jhajjar road, and it is a shallow seasonal wetland that fills in the monsoon and draws large numbers of migratory waterbirds on the Central Asian Flyway. In 2021 it was listed under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland of international importance, one of the first two such sites in Haryana.

Option B, Jhajjar, is the district of the other 2021 Ramsar site, the Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary, which is the largest wetland in the state, and the usual trap in this question is to swap the two districts. Option C, Rohtak, has the Tilyar lake but no Ramsar site. Option D, Faridabad, has Surajkund and Badkhal. Learn the pair in one line: Sultanpur in Gurugram and Bhindawas in Jhajjar, both listed in 2021.

The correct answer is A, Jhajjar. Bhindawas lies in Jhajjar district and is a man-made wetland fed by drainage and canal water. It is the largest wetland in Haryana, is an important wintering ground for waterbirds, and in 2021 it was listed as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention along with Sultanpur. The smaller Khaparwas sanctuary lies close to it in the same district.

Option B, Gurugram, is the district of Sultanpur National Park, the other Ramsar site, and swapping the two is the mistake the question is designed to catch. Option C, Hisar, has the Blue Bird lake and the Harappan site of Rakhigarhi, but no Ramsar wetland. Option D, Sonipat, lies on the Yamuna in the canal belt and is known for waterlogging rather than for a protected wetland. Remember Bhindawas with Jhajjar and with the word largest.

The correct answer is A, the Najafgarh jheel. The Sahibi rises in the Aravalli hills of Rajasthan, flows north-east across Rewari and Gurugram and ends in the Najafgarh jheel on the Haryana-Delhi border; from there the Najafgarh drain carries its water into the Yamuna. It is the largest of the southern streams of the state and floods violently for a few days of the monsoon, which is why its channel through Gurugram is a recurring urban flooding story.

Option B, Damdama lake near Sohna in Gurugram district, is a reservoir in the Aravalli foothills and is not the Sahibi's outlet. Option C, Bhindawas, in Jhajjar district, is fed by drains and canals, not by the Sahibi. Option D, Brahma Sarovar, is a religious tank at Thanesar in Kurukshetra, hundreds of kilometres to the north. The other southern streams, the Dohan, the Krishnavati and the Indori, mostly disappear into the sandy plain without reaching any water body at all.

The correct answer is A, Thanesar in Kurukshetra. Brahma Sarovar is the great tank at Thanesar in Kurukshetra district, and with the Sannihit Sarovar nearby it is the centre of the bathing fairs held there, especially at the solar eclipse and during Gita Jayanti. Kurukshetra is in the old Saraswati country, and the town of Jyotisar, held to be the place where the Gita was preached, is in the same district.

Option B, Pehowa, is also in Kurukshetra district and has its own Saraswati tirtha, so it is a real pilgrimage town but not the site of Brahma Sarovar. Option C names the right town but the wrong district: Thanesar is in Kurukshetra, not Karnal, and that switch is exactly what the question tests. Option D, Faridabad, has Surajkund and Badkhal, which are old reservoirs rather than religious tanks. Match the pairs before the exam: Brahma Sarovar and Sannihit Sarovar with Kurukshetra, Surajkund with Faridabad.

The correct answer is A, Tomar. Surajkund is an amphitheatre-shaped tank in the Aravalli hills near Faridabad, and it is traditionally ascribed to Suraj Pal, a ruler of the Tomar line that held the Delhi region before the Chauhans. The tank was built to hold rainwater running off the hills, and it is now best known for the Surajkund international crafts fair held beside it every year.

Option B, Chauhan, refers to the dynasty of Prithviraj Chauhan, which came after the Tomars in Delhi and is associated with Tarain rather than with Surajkund. Option C, Tughlaq, is the sultanate line that cut the canal from the Yamuna in Firoz Shah's time, a different kind of water work in the same region. Option D, Mughal, built the Badkhal and other tanks of a later age. For the exam, keep Surajkund with Suraj Pal and the Tomars, and the crafts fair with Faridabad.

The correct answer is B, the Western Yamuna Canal. The Western Yamuna Canal draws its supply from the Hathnikund barrage in Yamunanagar district and carries Yamuna water across Karnal, Panipat, Rohtak, Jind and Hisar, making it the backbone of irrigation in northern and central Haryana. Its line goes back to a canal cut in the fourteenth century, in the time of Firoz Shah Tughlaq, and remodelled in the nineteenth century.

Option A, the Gurgaon Canal, takes Yamuna water from Okhla near Delhi to Palwal and Nuh in the south-east, so its head is far downstream of Hathnikund. Option C, the Narwana branch, belongs to the Bhakra system and carries Sutlej water, not Yamuna water, to Kaithal, Jind and Hisar. Option D, the Agra Canal, also starts at Okhla and serves Uttar Pradesh. A fourth canal worth remembering is the Jawaharlal Nehru Lift Canal, which lifts water from the Western Yamuna Canal to the high, dry ground of Mahendragarh and Bhiwani.

The correct answer is B, the Ghaggar. The Markanda rises in the Shivalik hills of Himachal Pradesh, where it is known as the Aruna, enters Haryana near Ambala and flows through Ambala and Kurukshetra districts before joining the Ghaggar. Like the main river it is seasonal, swelling dangerously in the monsoon and drying to a sandy bed afterwards, and the flooding of Ambala is usually the work of the Markanda and the Tangri together.

Option A, the Yamuna, has no Haryana tributary of consequence; it receives the state's water mainly through drains such as the Najafgarh drain. Option C, the Sahibi, is an Aravalli stream of the south and is far from the Markanda's course. Option D, the Sutlej, does not flow through Haryana at all, although its water reaches the state through the Bhakra canal system. The Ghaggar's tributaries to remember are the Markanda, the Tangri, the Saraswati and the Chautang.