How Many Peninsular Rivers are There in India

Introduction

The Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, Narmada, and Tapti or Tapi are among India's peninsular rivers. Together, they significantly drain India's rural areas. In the lives of Indian people, these rivers have both religious and cultural significance.

Indian Peninsular Rivers

Peninsular India's geography and climate are two factors that have a greater influence on its rivers than any external forces. Weather and geography play crucial roles in determining the sedimentological nature of each catchment area of the river as well as the entire process of soil corrosion, silting, and transfer factors by influencing the flora and soil of the region.

There are many differences between the reasonably abundant flora of the river basins and the sparse flora of the flat terrain. The succinct descriptions of a few significant peninsular rivers in India are provided below:

1. Cauvery

The rains that fall in the Cauvery River Valley during the monsoon season regulate the region's climate. The northeast monsoon is primarily responsible for the majority of the yearly rainfall. The weather is humid in the far north-western part of the catchment area, and it becomes moist subhumid, humid, semi-dry, and arid sub-humid in the east.

Another name for the Cauvery River is the Kaveri River. It is one of the rivers that the Hindus regard as holy. The Western Ghats Mountain Range's Talakaveri District in Karnataka is where the river originates. To reach the plains in the southeast, the river travels through the south Deccan terrain. Through its two principal mouths, the river eventually empties into the Bay of Bengal. The Cauvery River spans 805 kilometres.

2. Godavari

The Godavari is South India's largest and longest river. It also goes by the name Dakshina Ganga. The Godavari is India's second-longest river after the Ganga. The Trimbakeshwar in Maharashtra's Nashik District is the river's source. The Bay of Bengal is filled by the river.

The southwest and northeast monsoons are responsible for the extremely humid weather that prevails throughout the year in the Godavari River catchment area. With 1,042 mm of precipitation on average annually, the delta region is semi-arid. The month of May has seen the highest recorded temperature, which is 37.3°C. With an average daily maximum temperature of 26.9°C and an average daily minimum temperature of 19.2°C, January is the coldest month of the year.

The Deccan Traps enclose the upper reaches of the Godavari catchment area. The Gondwana is primarily composed of silts with some dense coal layers.

3. Mahanadi

In the north, the Mahanadi River basin primarily experiences subtropical weather. In the summer, temperatures are typically around 29°C, while in the winter, they are typically around 21°C. The rain falls between 800 and 1200 mm, with the majority falling between July and September. The amount of rainfall in January and February is under 50 mm.

A significant river in eastern India is the Mahanadi River. The river spans 900 km. States like Chhattisgarh, Orissa, and Jharkhand are traversed by the Mahanadi. The river's catchment area spans roughly 132,100 km.

4. Krishna

One of the significant rivers in South India is the Krishna River. Krishnaveni is another name for the river. Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh are among the states that Krishna travels through.

The southwest monsoon, which is in charge of most of the region's rainfall, regulates the climate of the Krishna River's catchment area. At Vijayawada, high water levels are seen from August to November and low water levels are seen from April to May. (AP). Weather conditions range from semi-dry in the middle and eastern parts of the valley to arid sub-humid humid in the west. The south-central region of the country experiences extremely dry weather.

The Deccan Traps in the northwest and the Cuddapah Group in the east are in charge of the catchment area's physical characteristics. A significant portion of the rocky outgrowths is made up of the Vindhya Mountain Range in the east-central region and the Dharwars in the southwest-central region. The majority of the materials in the deltaic region date from the Pleistocene to the present.

5. Narmada

One of Western India's most picturesque rivers is the Narmada. The river has its source in Amarkantak Hill. The river also goes by the name Rewa. The Narmada is India's fifth-largest river. The Vindhya and Satpura mountain ranges are traversed by the river. States like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra make up the river's catchment areas. On the banks of the Narmada River, which has significant religious significance, are numerous forests, anthropological sites, and wildlife parks.

6. Tapti

One of the major rivers in peninsular India is the Tapi or Tapti River. The East Satpura Mountain Ranges in southern Madhya Pradesh are the source of the river. The river ends its route into the Gulf of Khambhat, close to Surat City in Gujarat. The river runs through the Indian states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra. On the banks of the Tapi River, there are several tourist attractions.

Rain primarily supplies Peninsular Rivers with water.

Most of the rivers on the Indian Peninsula are fed by rain. Their outflow is significantly reduced during the summer. Some of their tributaries even become dehydrated, but the monsoon restores them. The Godavari River's catchment area in the peninsula is the largest in all of India, covering a region that makes up about 10% of the country.

The Narmada is the most revered river in India. While almost parallel, Tapti and Narmada flow in opposite directions. The two streams create a basin with rich, fertile soil that is mostly covered by teakwood jungles.

Although seaward rivers flow rapidly into the Arabian Sea from the Western Ghat Mountain Ranges during the monsoon, they stop once the rainy season is over. The Sambhar, a torrent that flows into interior valleys and saltwater bodies in west Rajasthan, is primarily a seasonal torrent. The only river that traverses the salty, arid Rann of Kutch is the Luni.

People cannot travel by small boats and flatboats year-round on large rivers like the Ganga and the Yamuna due to India's harsh summers.