2.Five Important Rivers of Punjab
Punjab is the land of five rivers in north west India and north east Pakistan.
Punj means "five" and aab means "waters", so "punjab" means "land of five rivers".
These five rivers that run through Punjab, having their originating source as various small lakes in Himalayas. If one were to go across the Punjab starting from Delhi and to Afghanistan, the rivers are in this order.
- Beas
- Satluj
- Ravi
- Chenab
- Jhelum
1. Beas:
One
of the “five rivers” that give the Punjab its name, the Beas river
rises in the Himalayas in central Himachal Pradesh state and flows for
some 290 mi (470 km) to the Sutlej
River in western Punjab state. The river was also known as Arjiki or
Vipas to the ancient Indians and the Hyphasis to the Ancient Greeks. The
present name 'Beas' is thought to be a corruption of the word
'Vyas',the name of Veda Vyasa, the author of the great Hindu epic, the
Mahabharat.
The river is sometimes also referred to as 'Vipasha'in Himachal, especially by the scholars. The Beas River marks the eastern-most border of Alexander the Great's conquests in 326 BC. The river begins at the Rohtang Pass in the state of Himachal Pradesh, and merges with the Sutlej at Harike Pattan south of Amritsar in Punjab, India. The Sutlej continues into Pakistani Punjab and joins the Chenab River to form the Panjnad River; the latter joins the Indus River at Mithankot. The waters of the Beas and Sutlej rivers are allocated to India under the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan.
2.Jhelum :
Jehlum is a city in northern Punjab Province, Jhelum District, Pakistan. Jhelum lies on the right bank of the Jhelum River. The 16th-century Grand Trunk Road passes through the city. According to the 1998 census of Pakistan the population of Jhelum was 293,000. The name of the city is derived from the words Jal (pure water) and Ham (snow), as the river that flows through the river originates in the Himalayas. There are numbers of industry in and around Jhelum city. Major industries include a tobacco factory, wood, marble, glass and flour mills.Mata Sahib Kaur was born on the 1 November 1681 in a village called Rohtas, District Jehlum, in West Panjab, (now in Pakistan).
3.Sutlej :
Sutlej is the longest of the five rivers of the Punjab , which is a historic region in the NW of the Indian subcontinent. Since 1947 it has been separated into an Indian state and a Pakistani province bearing the same name.The province is 900 mi (1,450 km) long, rising in the Kailas Range, SW Tibet region of China, and flowing generally west, meandering through the Himalayas in India, then onto the Punjab plain where it receives the Beas River and forms part of the India-Pakistan border; continuing into Pakistan, it is joined by the Chenab River (which received the Jhelum and Ravi rivers).
The combined stream, the Panjnad, channels the collected waters of all five rivers of the Punjab into the Indus River. The Sutlej is extensively used for irrigation; many large canals branch from it. Bhakra Dam (750 ft/229 m) in Punjab state, N India, impounds water for irrigation and power production (450,000-kW capacity). Until the Sikh Wars in the 1840s, the Sutlej was the border between the Sikh and British spheres of influence.
4.Ravi:
Ravi River is a river in India and Pakistan. It is one of the five rivers which give Punjab its name. The Ravi was known as Parushani or Iravati to Indians in Vedic times and Hydraotes to the Ancient Greeks. It originates in the Himalayas in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh following a north-westerly course.It turns to the south-west, near Dalhousie, and then cuts a gorge in the Dhaola Dhar range entering the Punjab plain near Madhopur. It then flows along the Indo-Pakistan border for some distance before entering Pakistan and joining the Chenab river. The total length of the river is about 720 km. The waters of the Ravi river are allocated to India under the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan. It is also called 'The river of Lahore' since that great city is located on its eastern bank. On its western bank is located the famous tomb of Jahangir.
5.Chenab :
The Chenab River is formed by the confluence of the Chandra and Bhaga rivers at Tandi located in the upper Himalayas, in the Lahul and Spiti District of Himachal Pradesh, India.In its upper reaches it is also known as the Chandrabhaga. It flows through the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir into the plains of the Punjab, forming the boundary between the Rechna and Jech interfluves (Doabs in Persian). It is joined by the Jhelum River at Trimmu, and then by the Ravi River. It then merges with the Sutlej River near Uch Sharif to form the Panjnad ('Five Rivers'), which joins the Indus at Mithankot.
The total length of the Chenab is approximately 960 kilometres. The waters of the Chenab are allocated to Pakistan under the terms of the Indus Waters Treaty.
The Chenab originates from the Bara Lacha Pass in Himachal Pradesh,has been considered as the source of the glacier fed perennial river.
The anicient knew the river ar ASIKNI,it has two sources one which flows down south known as Chandra and that goes to North named as Bhaga. About 26 Km further south from Manali (a tourist place in Himachal Pradesh) ,a motorable road runs along the river,from Khoskhas to Tandi. In all 107 Km length of road run side by side of river during the sarjoun of Himachal Pardesh.The Chandra and Bhaga meets to form Chandrbhaga at Tandi. It becomes Chenab when it joins Marau at Bhandera Kot 12 Km from Kishtwar Town in J&K.
The river then travels to Reasi,where it has been dammed at Salal at Hydroelectric Project. There is a motorable road runs along the river in the stretch between Atholi, Malhori, Perah and Ramban, Kautham and Jourian in J&K. The road is often 50 to 100 meters above the river Chenab with wonderful view of various facets of the river.
The river was known to Indians in Vedic period as Ashkini (Sanskrit: अशढ़किनि) or Iskmati and as Acesines to the Ancient Greeks. In 325 BC, Alexander the Great allegedly founded the town of Alexandria on Indus (present day Uch Sharif or Mithankot or Chacharan) at the confluence of the Indus and the combined stream of Punjab rivers (currently known as the Panjnad River).
The Chenab has the same place in the consciousness of the people of the Punjab, as, say the Rhine holds for the Germans, or the Danube for the Austrians and the Hungarians. It is the iconic river around which Punjabi consciousness revolves, and plays a prominent part in the tale of Heer Ranjha, the Punjabi national epic.
