Table of Contents
India’s Rivers That Flow East
• Throughout human history, rivers have been very important. River water is a basic natural resource that is needed for many things that people do.
So, people have been moving to riverbanks since the beginning of time. Using rivers for farming, transportation, and making hydroelectric power is very important, especially in a country like India where agriculture is the main way most people make a living.
• The Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, Mahanadi, Pennar, Subarnarekha, Brahamani, Ponnaiyar, Vaigai River, and other major rivers all run east.
• Rivers that run east: end up in the Bay of Bengal
have many branches, make deltas, and carry more sediment than rivers that flow west.
Pennar River
• The Pennar, which is also called Uttara Pinakini, is one of the peninsula’s most important rivers.The Pennar starts at the top of the Chennakasava hill in the Nandidurg range in the Chikkaballapura district of Karnataka. It then runs east and empties into the Bay of Bengal.
• The river is 597 km long from where it starts to where it ends in the Bay of Bengal.
The Pennar basin is in peninsular India and is made up of the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. It is 55,000 km2 in size. The basin is shaped like a fan and is surrounded by the Erramala range on the north, the Nallamala and Velikonda ranges of the Eastern Ghats on the east, the Nandidurg hills on the south, and a narrow ridge that separates it from the Vedavati valley of the Krishna
Rivers that flow into the Pennar
• The Jayamangali, the Kunderu, and other rivers on the left bank.
• The Chiravati, Papagni, and other rivers on the right bank.
Work on the Pennar River
• Parts of the Pennar basin were also watered by the Tungabhadra high-level canal in the Krishna basin. The Somasila project, Mylavaram Dam, and Penna Ahobilam Balancing Reservoir (PABR Dam) are the biggest projects in the area.
Palar River
• Palar is a river in southern India. It starts in the Nandi Hills in Karnataka’s Chikkaballapura district and runs through Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu before joining the Bay of Bengal at Vayalur.The Cheyyar and the Ponnai in Tamil Nadu are two of the major rivers that feed into the Palar.
• Water from the Palar river is redirected from Palar anicut to the Poondi reservoir in the Kosasthalaiyar River basin and to Chembarambakkam Lake in the Adayar River basin.
Subarnarekha River:
The Subarnarekha starts on the Ranchi Plateau in Jharkhand. In its lower course, it divides West Bengal and Odisha and forms a waterway between the Ganga and Mahanadi deltas. It flows into the Bay of Bengal. It is 395 km long as a whole.
Tributaries of Subarnarekha River
Left bank: Dulang River; right bank: Kanchi River, Kharkai River, Karkari River, Raru River, and Garru River
Hundru Falls:
The water from the Subarnarekha falls from a height of 98 metres (322 feet) to make Hundru Falls.
Brahamani River:
• The Brahmani river starts where the Koel and Sankh rivers meet, which is near Rourkela. It is 800 km long all together.The basin is surrounded by the Chhotanagpur plateau to the north, the Mahanadi basin to the west and south, and the Bay of Bengal to the east. The basin runs into the Bay of Bengal through the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Orissa.
Before it empties into the Bay of Bengal at Dhamra, it joins with the river Baitarani to make a big delta.
Rengali Dam
• Rengali dam is a dam found in Odisha, India. It was built across the Brahmani River in the village of Rengali, which is 70 km from Angul in the district of Angul.
Baitarni River
The Baitarani River is one of Orissa’s major rivers. The river’s area is mostly in the state of Orissa, except for 736 km2 in the state of Jharkhand’s Singhbhum District. The river’s source is the Guptaganga hills in Orissa’s Keonjhar District.
At first, the river runs north for about 80 km, and then it suddenly turns right. Up until the point where it meets the Kangira River, this part of the river is the border between the states of Jharkhand and Orissa.
Damodar River:
The Damodar River starts in the Palamau hills of Chota Nagpur at an elevation of about 609.75 m and runs through a rift valley.It flows south-east and flows into the delta lands below Raniganj. Near Burdwan, the river suddenly turns south, and about 48.27 km below Calcutta, it meets the Hooghly.It has a number of tributaries and subtributaries, such as Barakar, Konar, Bokaro, Haharo, Jamunia, Ghari, Guaia, Khadia and Bhera.
•The Barakar is the largest river that flows into the Damodar. The beginning of the Barakar is near the Padma in the Hazaribagh area. It was once called the “Sorrow of Bengal” because of how bad its floods were in West Bengal.
At the moment, the Damodar is India’s most polluted river. This is because many businesses have grown up along its riverbanks, which are rich in minerals. Several businesses that depend on coal are spread out across the Damodar basin.
Ponnaiyar River
• In Kannada, the South Pennar River is called Dakshina Pinakini, and in Tamil, it is called Thenpennai. It is also known by the name Ponnaiyar.
The river starts in the Nandi Hills in the Chikkaballapura district of Karnataka. It runs through Tamil Nadu and empties into the Bay of Bengal.
The Velikonda Range, the Nagari hills, the Javadu hills, the Shevaroy hills, the Chitteri hills, and the Kalrayan hills are some of the Eastern Ghats ranges that surround the Basin on the north, west, and south. The Bay of Bengal is on the east side of the Basin.
This river is also crossed by the Krishnagiri dam and the Sathanur dam. The Moongilthuraipattu Sugar Factory is on the riverbank.
Vaigai River
The Vaigai is a river in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It starts in the Varusanadu Hills, which are part of the Western Ghats range, and flows northeast through the Kambam Valley, which is between the Palani Hills to the north and the Varushanad Hills to the south. The river empties into the Palk Strait near Uchipuli, close to the Pamban bridge in Ramanathapuram District.
The two important left-bank streams, the Suruliyar and the Manjalar, make up nearly 20% of the Vaigai’s catchment area as a whole.
o The Suruliyar is the main river that runs into the Vaigai. It starts on the eastern side of the Varushanadu hills and flows north and north-east.
o The Manjalar is another important tributary that starts in the Palani hills and runs eastward before joining the Vaigai below the Vaigai dam.
The Vaigai also gets water from the Varahanadhi (Varaha River) on its left bank, just below the Vaigai dam. The Vaigai used to flow through the famous city of Madurai, which was the capital of the ancient and prosperous Pandya kingdom in southern Tamil Nadu from the 4th to 11th centuries CE. The river is mentioned in Sangam literature from 300 BCE.