Water is essential for the survival of living things. Water resources play a vital role in the protection of the beauty of nature and the ecological balance. River System plays a significant role where countries are based on agriculture as their primary sector. Similarly river systems are the main source of water for generating power for industrialization. Fortunately, our nation is possessed with many river systems and enriching the agricultural and industrial sectors. 

We can divide the Indian river system to two categories on the basis of their origin
1. Himalayan rivers
2. Peninsular rivers

1. Himalayan Rivers:
The Himalayan rivers are perennial rivers. They are very deep with rapid flow. They flow through steep and narrow valleys and forming many beautiful land forms along their course. The following rivers belong to the Himalayan river system.

1. Indus River
2. The Ganga and
3. The Brahmaputra

The Indus River :
It is born on the Northern slopes in the Kailasa mountains near Manasa Sarovar in Tibet. After the flowing in the north-west part of the Tibet it enter in to India through Jammu and Kashmir. The Indus catchment area is extended primarily in the states of Jammu-Kashmir, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. The Indus has Five tributaries in India. They are 1. Jhelum, 2. Chenab, 3.
Ravi, 4. Beas and 5. Sutlej.

The longest tributary of Indus is Chenab. It focus in Pakistan also. The longest tributary of Indus in India is Sutlej. Sindhu is called Indus is English. India is named after the Indus river.

The Ganga System :
The Ganga River is the longest river in India. The ganga has two sources of origin. The river ganga forms due to confluence of two rivers (1) Alakananda and (2) Bhagirahti.

Alakananda originates at Satopnath lies to the north-west of Badrinath. Bhagirath rises from Gangotri glacier. These two join at Devaprayaga to forms the river ganga. The river ganga entered into plains near Haridwar.

The ganga is joined by a large number of tributaries. The majority of them originate in the Himalayan ranges while some originate in the Vindhya Satpura region.

The Ganga catchment area reflects the ancient culture of our country. Most of the Indian population lives in the Gangatic plains. The Ganga flows through uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and enter into Bangladesh. There it is called Padma river.

The tributaries of the river Ganga are divided as follows.

1. Born in the Himalayas.
2. Born in the Vidya Satpura range

The prominent tributaries that are born in the Himalayas and merge with the Ganga river are

1. Yamuna
2. Gaghra
3. Gandak
4. Kosi

Some of the Ganga River tributaries that born in the vindhya stapura mountains are….

1. Chambel
2. Betva
3. Ken
4. Son
5. Damodar

The longest tributary of the Ganga river is Yamuna.

Brahmaputra
It is originated from the ‘Chemyung dung” glacier in the kailash mountains near manasasarovar in Tibet. It flows eastward so through Southern Tibet near Lhotse Dzong. Thereafter the river breaks through a succession of rapids. It enters in India through Arunachal Pradesh, first called as Siang and then Dihang. Emergin into Assom Valley it is joined by two tributories - The Dibang and Lohit. From here the river is known as Brahmaputra.


Peninsular Rivers
These are not peninsular. These are rain fed rivers. So get dried in summer season and water flows during rainy season. As these rivers are born at lesser heights and flow across the plateau which is geologically
storable. They do not change their course. As the peninsular plateau has a gentle slope from northwest to the southwest. Majority of these rivers flow from west to east and fall into Bay of Bengal. Narmada and Tapti
rivers originate in west and flows to east through a rift valley and joins Arabian Sea.

Major rivers in the Peninsular Plateau :
1. Narmada 
2.Tapati
3. Godavari
4. Krishna
5. Thungabhadra
6. Penna
7. Cauvery
8. Mahanadi.

Narmada River :

It is originated in Madhya Pradesh at Amarakantak Plateau it flows through the states such a Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. It focus between vindhyas and satpura ranges and falls in to Arabian Sra
near “Gulf of Cambay” in Gujarat.

Tapati :
It is born in satpura mountains in Madhya Padesh at “Multai” a tribal region. It merges in to Arabian sea at “Khandesh” village in Maharashtra.

Godavari
This is the longest and the biggest river in the peninsular plateau. It is originated in westernghats of maharastra at ‘Nasik’ district near Trayambakeswaram. It flows through Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and joins the Bay of Bengal. The flowing speed of the Godavari decreases in Andhra Pradesh at Rajahmundry and splits into seven distributaries. The region between these seven distributories is called as Sapta Godavari region of these distributories. Three major disributories are Vasista, Gowtami and Vynateja. The region between these three are called “Konaseema”. This area is agriculturally developed and is called as the granary of South India. The Rhine river is important to the Germany as such the Godavari is to India. Hence it is called “Indian Rhine”. The peninsular rivers are geologically old. Hence the river Godavari is known as “Vridha ganga” and also called “Dakshina Ganga”.

Tributaries to Godavari :
Manjeera, pranahita, Kinnerasani, Indravati, Sabari and Seeleru are the chief tributaries of Godavari. However the rivers such as Narmada and Tapati flow from east to west as they are flowing through a “Rift valley” which has an East –Westerly slope. The rivers narmada and Tapati fall in to Arabian Sea.

Krishna River :
This is the second longest river of the Indian peninsula. It is originated in the sahyadri ranges (part if western Ghats) of Maharastra. At Mahabaleswar. It flows through maharastra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. It joins in bay of bangal at “Hamsaladeevi” of Krishna District.

After crossing Vijayawada near Avanigadda the Krishna river splits into two distributaries. The region in between this two is called “Diviseema” this is famous for mangoes.

Tributaries of Krishna :

Thunga Bhadra, Dindi, Bheema, Paleru, Koyana, Varnaganga, Panchaganga, Ghata Prabha, Malaprabha, Mousi, Munneru are chief tributaries of the Krishna river. Among these the longest tributary is “Tunga Bhadra”.

Thunga Bhadra :
This is formed due to merging of the two tributaries Thunga and Bhadra which originate in Varaha hills in Western Ghats in Karnataka. Thunga Bhadra joins Krishna river in Kurnool district near sangameswaram. It is the longest of all tributaries of Krishna river. The main Tributary of Thunga Bhadra is “Hagari”.

Penna :

This is also called as “Pinakini” It Originates in Nandi durga hills (part of western Ghats) of Karnataka. It enters Andhra Pradesh near Ananthapur district and joins Bay of Bengal at “Vutukur” in Nellore district after flowing through YSR Kadapa and Nellore.

Tributaries of Penna :

Jaya mangali, Sagileru, Papaghni, Chitravathi, Cheyyeru, Kunderu.

Cauvery river :
It is originated in Brahmagiri hills of Kurgu district in Karnataka. This is flowing through the states of Karnataka and Tamilnadu catchment area of Cauvery but it is larger in Tamil Nadu and it joins Bay of Bengal at Kavery pattanam in Tamil Nadu. In the Cauvery region so many ancient temples were established by Chola kingdom.

Tributaries of Cauvery:
Loka pavani, Arkavati, Suvarnavati, Lavana theerdha, Bhavani and Amaravathi.

Mahanadi :
It originates in Madya Pradesh at “Sihava”. The large part of the catchment area of this river is in Odissa. It joins the Bay of Bengal near Cuttack city. The longest masonry in India is Hiracud and it is constructed across this river in Odissa in Sambalpur district.

Tributaries :
Ich,Mand, Hasdo, Ong, Seonath, Tel, etc.

Potomology :
The study (or) science of rivers.

River System :
The flowing regions of River and its tributaries is called river system.

River Catchment Area :
This Area or region where a river and its tributaries are used for cultivation is called catchment Area.