Rivers in India

Rivers in India: Rivers of India play an important role in the lives of the Indian people. The river systems provide irrigation, potable water, cheap transportation, electricity, and the livelihoods for a large number of people all over the country. Rivers can be divided into Four Major River systems in India.
Ganges/Ganga River System: The major river Ganges,and its tributaries like Yamuna, Son, and Gandak. The main river, the holy Ganges forms by the joining of the Alaknanda River and Bhagirathi River at Devprayag. The Bhagirathi, which is considered the Ganges' true source, starts from Gomukh . Known as the Padma River in Bangladesh, it joins the Jamuna River/Brahmputra. The Brahmaputra is longer, but most of its course is not in India.The Ganges Brahmaputra river system forms the largest delta in the world known as the Sunderbans before emptying into the Bay of Bengal.

Indus/Sindhu River System: The Indus River originates in the northern slopes of the Kailash range near Lake Mansarovar in Tibet. Although most of the river's course runs through neighbouring Pakistan, a portion of it does run through Indian territory, as do parts of the courses of its five major tributaries - Beas, Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi and Sutlej.

Brahmaputra River System: Brahmaputra originates in Tibet, near the sources of the Indus and the Sutlej. It is about 2,900 kilometres long. In Tibet, where it is known as the Yarlung Zangbo River, or Tsangpo, it flows east, parallel to the Himalayas. Reaching Namjagbarwa, it turns south and enters India in Arunachal Pradesh, where is it known as Dihang. In Assam it is called the Brahmaputra. Just before entering Bangladesh it splits into two distributaries, the larger of which is called the Jamuna River.
Peninsular/Prayaydwipiya River System: The main water divide in peninsular rivers is formed by the Western Ghats, which run from north to south close to the western coast. Most of the major rivers of the peninsula such as the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna and the Kaveri flow eastwards and drain into the Bay of Bengal. These rivers make delta at their mouth. The Narmada and Tapi are the only long rivers, which flow west and make esturies.