Himalayan Drainage System

It is regulated by broad relief features of the Indian subcontinent. Accordingly, the Indian rivers are divided into two major groups – the Himalayan rivers and the Peninsular rivers.

The Himalayan Rivers

Most of the Himalayan rivers are perennial and receive water from rain and melted snow from mountains.
The Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra are some of the major rivers. Several river tributaries join these rivers collectively making a river system. Due to the fact that it joins with so many tributaries along its path, the length of these rivers is very long.
The two significant Himalayan streams, the Indus and the Brahmaputra show up from the north of the mountain ranges. They make ravines and have long courses from their source to the ocean.
They perform rigorous erosion activity in their upper courses and carry huge loads of sand and silt.
In the middle and the lower courses, these rivers form meanders, oxbow lakes, and many other depositional features in their floodplains. They also have well-developed deltas.

Himalayan River System

The Indus River System

It rises in Tibet, near Lake Mansarovar from Bokhar Chu glacier in the Kailash mountain range and flows west, entering India in Ladakh.
Its total length is 2900 km and a little over a third flows in India.

Left bank tributaries: The Zaskar, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Satluj etc.
Right bank tributaries: Shyok, Hunza, Gilgit, Khurram, Gomal etc.
It flows through the popularly known northern area of Pakistan, Baltistan and Gilgit and emerges its way through the mountains at Attock.
Making its way to Pakistan The Satluj, the Beas, the Ravi, the Chenab and the Jhelum accompany it while entering the Indus near Mithankot.
The Indus river finally discharges into the Arabian Sea in the southern province of Pakistan.

Ganga river system

The Ganga is India’s most significant river, both in terms of its basin and its cultural significance.
It rises near Gaumukh in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district, in the Gangotri glacier. The Bhagirathi is the name given to it in this region.
The Bhagirathi meets the Alaknanda at Devprayag, where it becomes the Ganga.
At Haridwar, the Ganga enters the plains. It runs south, then south-east, then east from here until separating into two distributaries, the Bhagirathi and the Hugli.
The Ganga river system is India’s biggest, with a variety of perennial and non-perennial rivers flowing from the Himalayas in the north and the Peninsula in the south. Its main right bank tributary is the Son.
The Ramganga, the Gomati, the Ghaghara, the Gandak, the Kosi, and the Mahananda are prominent left bank tributaries.
Finally, at Sagar Island, the river empties into the Bay of Bengal.

The Brahmaputra System

The Brahmaputra, one of the world’s greatest rivers, rises from the Kailash range’s Chemayungdung glacier near Mansarovar Lake.
It is known as the Tsangpo in southern Tibet, which means “purifier.” The Rango Tsangpo is the river’s main right-bank tributary in Tibet.
After carving out a deep valley in the Central Himalayas at Namcha Barwa, it emerges as a tumultuous and powerful torrent.
Siang or Dihang is the name of the river that emerges from the slopes. It enters India west of the Arunachal Pradesh town of Sadiya.
It receives its main left bank tributaries, the Dibang or Sikang and Lohit, as it flows southwest, and is thereafter known as the Brahmaputra.
In Bangladesh, it joins the Padma River, which empties into the Bay of Bengal.

Important Tributaries of Brahmaputra

The Burhi Dihing and Dhansari (South) are key left bank tributaries, while the Subansiri, Kameng, Manas, and Sankosh are important right bank tributaries.
An antecedent river is the Subansiri, which originates in Tibet.
Near Dhubri, the Brahmaputra enters Bangladesh and flows southward.
The Tista joins it on its right bank in Bangladesh, where the river is known as the Yamuna.
It eventually joins the Padma River, which empties into the Bay of Bengal. Floods, channel shifting, and bank erosion are all common occurrences on the Brahmaputra.
This is because most of its tributaries are huge and carry a lot of sediments due to the considerable rainfall in its catchment region.

Significance of Himalayan Drainage

The major Himalayan rivers run through steep gorges that often represent some geologic structural restriction, such as a fault line, and rise north of the mountain ranges.
The rivers of the Indus system, on average, run northwesterly, whereas those of the Indus-Ganges-Brahmaputra systems, on average, flow easterly across the Himalayan area.
This river system is vital to the entire region of North India. They offer both surface and groundwater, and hence serve as a source of irrigation.
Agriculture is entirely reliant on these rivers. Aside from agriculture, big businesses such as leather tanning rely on these rivers.
They, on the other hand, supply inland waterways. They support a wide range of species and contribute to the country’s flora and wildlife. As a result, natural resources such as forests rely on these rivers.
As a result, we can claim that about half of the world’s population is dependent on these rivers, proving their economic value.
The Himalayan rivers offer enormous hydropower generating potential. Beginning in the 1950s, India aggressively pursued this potential.
Bhakra-Nangal on the Sutlej River in the Outer Himalayas is home to a massive multifunctional project.