Drainage system of India
India blessed with hundreds of large small rivers which drains the length and breadth of the country.
Those Himalayan rivers which originated before the formation of Himalayas are known as antecedent rivers, such as Indus, Brahmaputra, Sutlej.
Water drains into two direction of the main water divide line of India. 90% of land water drains into Bay of Bengal and the rest drains into Arabian sea.
Accordingly the Indian rivers are divided into following two major groups
i. The Himalayan rivers
ii. The Peninsular rivers
The Himalayan Rivers
The Himalayan Rivers system is divided into three major system.
i) Indus river System
• The Indus, also known as Sindhu, is the western most of Himalayan rivers in India. It is one of the largest rivers basins of the world covering an area of 1165000 sq km (in India it is 321289 sq km) and a total length of 2880 km (in India 1114 km).
• It originates from a glacier near Bokhar chu in the Tibetan region near Mansarovar lake. In Tibet, it is known as Singi Khamban or Lion’s mouth.
• In In Jammu and Ladakh, its Himalayan tributaries are Zanskar, Dras, Gartang, Shyok, Shigar, Nubra, Gilgit etc. Its most important tributaries, which join Indus at various places are Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej.
ii) The Ganga River System
• The Ganga System is the second major drainage system of India. It rises in the Gangotri glacier near near Gaumukh (3900m) in the Uttarakhand. Here, it is known as the Bhagirathi. At Devprayag, the Bhagirathi, meets the Alaknanda, hereafter, it is known as the Ganga
• The Alaknanda has its source in the Satopanth glacier above Badrinath. The Alaknanda consists of the Dhauli and the vishnu Ganga, which meet at Joshimath or Vishnu Prayag.
• The other tributeries of Alaknanda such as the Pindar joins it at karna Prayag, while Mandakini or Kali Ganga meets it at Rudra Prayag. It is 2525 km long of which 1450 km is in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, 445 km in Bihar and 520 km in West Bangal.
• The left bank tributaries of Ganga are Ramganga, Gomti, Kali or Sharda, Gandak, Kosi, Mahanadi. The right bank tributes of Ganga are Yamuna and Son. Yamuna joins the Ganga at Allahabad .
• Kosi is called sorrow of Bihar while Damodar is called as sorrow of Bengal as these cause flood in these regions. Hooghly is a distributary of Ganga flowing through Kolkata.
iii) The Bramhaputra River System
• It is one of the largest river in the world. It is known as Tsangpo in Tibet, Dihang or Siang in Arunachal Pradesh, Bramhaputra in Assam and Jamuna in Bangladesh. Bramhaputra forms largest number of reverine islands. Majuli is the largest reverine island in the world.
• The combined stream of Ganga and Bramhaputra forms the biggest delta in the world, the Sunderbans, covering an area of 58752 sq km. Its major part is in Bangladesh.
• Bramhaputra is volume wise largest river of India, whereas lengthwise Ganga is the longest river in India. Tributaries of river are Manas, Shubanshri, Dibang, Lohit.
The Peninsular River
• The Peninsular drainage system is older than the Himalayan one. A large number of the Peninsular Rivers are seasonal, as their flow is dependent on rainfall.
• The Peninsular river system is divided into East flowing rivers and West flowing Rivers are as follow
i. East flowing rivers Most of the major rivers of Peninsula flow eastward and drains into the Bay of Bengal. These rivers makes delta at their mouths.
ii. West flowing rivers (or Estuaries Forming Rivers)
The two most important rivers such as Narmada and Tapti are the only long rivers of the west flowing Peninsula rivers. These two rivers make Estuaries rather than making of Delta, bacause of their swift flow and steep slopes.