(Redirected from Indus river):''This article deals with the Indus River. For other uses of the word Indus, see
Indus (disambiguation).''
The 'Indus River' (
Urdu: سندھ '''Sindh''';
Sindhi: سنڌو '''Sindh''';
Sanskrit and
Hindi: सिन्धु '''';
Persian: 'Hindu'حندو ;
Pashto: 'Abasin' ّآباسن"''Father of Rivers''";
Tibetan: 'Sengge Chu' "''Lion River''";
Chinese: 印度 '''Yìndù''';
Greek: Ινδός '''Indos''') is the longest and most important
river in
Pakistan and one of the most important rivers on the
Indian subcontinent and has given the country
India its name. Originating in the
Tibetan plateau in the vicinity of
Lake Mansarovar, the river runs a course through
Ladakh district in
Kashmir and
Northern Areas, flowing through the
North in a southernly direction along the entire length of country, to merge into the
Arabian Sea near Pakistan's port city
Karachi. The total length of the river is 3200 kilometres (2000 miles). The river has a total drainage area exceeding 1,165,000 square kilometres (450,000 square miles). The river's estimated annual flow stands at around 207 cubic kilometres. Beginning at the heights of the world with
glaciers, the river feeds the
ecosystem of temperate forests,
plains and arid countryside. Together with the rivers
Chenab,
Ravi,
Sutlej,
Jhelum,
Beas and the extinct
Sarasvati River, the Indus forms the ''
Sapta Sindhu'' ("Seven Rivers")
delta in the
Sindh province of Pakistan. It has 20 major tributaries.
The Indus provides the key water resources for the
economy of Pakistan - especially the ''breadbasket'' of
Punjab province, which accounts for most of the nation's agricultural production, and Sindh. It also supports many heavy industries and provides the main supply of
potable water in Pakistan.
The ultimate source of the Indus is in
Tibet; it begins at the confluence of the Sengge and Gar rivers that drain the Nganglong Kangri and Gangdise Shan mountain ranges. The Indus then flows northwest through
Ladakh-
Baltistan into
Gilgit, just south of the
Karakoram range. The Shyok, Shigar and Gilgit streams carry glacieral waters into the main river. It gradually bends to the south, coming out of the hills between
Peshawar and
Rawalpindi. The Indus passes gigantic gorges 4500 - 5200 metres (15,000-17,000 feet) high near the
Nanga Parbat massif. It swiftly flows across Hazara, and is dammed at the Tarbela Reservoir. The
Kabul River joins it near
Attock. The remainder of its route to the sea is in plains of the
Punjab and
Sind, and the river becomes slow-flowing and highly braided. It is joined by
Panjnad River at
Mithankot. Beyond this confluence, the river, at one time, was named as Satnad River (sat = seven, nadi = river) as the river was now carrying the waters of Kabul River, Indus River and the five Punjab rivers. Passing by
Jamshoro, it ends in a large delta to the east of
Thatta.
The Indus is one of the few rivers in the world that exhibit a
tidal bore. The Indus system is largely fed by the snows and glaciers of the Karakoram,
Hindu Kush and Himalayan ranges of Tibet, Kashmir and
Northern Areas of
Pakistan. The flow of the river is also determined by the seasons - it diminishes greatly in the winter, while flooding its banks in the
monsoon months from July to September. There is also evidence of a steady shift in the course of the river since prehistoric times - it deviated westwards from flowing into the
Rann of Kutch.
History
Indus Valley archaeological sites.
sites have been discovered in
Pothohar, with the stone tools of the
Soan Culture.
In ancient
Gandhara, evidence of cave dwellers dated 15,000 years ago has been discovered at
Mardan.
The major cities of the
Indus Valley Civilization (IVC), such as
Harappa and
Mohenjo Daro, date back to around 3300 BC, and represent some of the largest human habitations of the ancient world. The IVC was extended from
Balochistan to
Gujarat, with an upward reach to the darcon from east of River
Jhelum to
Rupar on the upper
Sutlej. The coast settlements extended from
Sutkagan Dor at
Iranian border to
Lothal in Gujarat. There is an Indus site on the
Oxus river at Shortughai in northern
Afghanistan (Kenoyer 1998:96), and the Indus site Alamgirpur at the Hindon river is located only 28 km from
Delhi (S.P. Gupta 1995:183). To date, over 1,052 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the general region of the
Ghaggar-Hakra River and its tributaries. Among the settlements were the major urban centers of
Harappa and
Mohenjo-daro, as well as
Lothal,
Dholavira,
Ganeriwala, and
Rakhigarhi. Only 90 to 96 of the over 800 known Indus Valley sites have been discovered on the Indus and its tributaries. The
Sutlej, now a tributary of the Indus, in Harappan times flowed into the
Ghaggar-Hakra River, in the watershed of which were more Harappan sites than along the Indus (S.P. Gupta 1995: 183).
Most scholars believe that settlements of
Gandhara grave culture of the early
Indo-Aryans flourished in Gandhara from 1700 to 600 BCE, when
Mohenjo Daro and
Harappa had already been abandoned. The name ''Indus'' is a Latinization of ''Hindu'', in turn the
Iranian variant of ''Sindhu'', the name of the Indus in the
Rigveda.
Sanskrit ''sindhu'' generically means "river, stream", probably from a root ''sidh'' "to keep off"; ''sindhu'' is attested 176 times in the Rigveda, 95 times in the plural, more often used in the generic meaning. Already in the Rigveda, notably in the later hymns, the meaning of the word is narrowed to refer to the Indus river in particular, for example in the list of rivers of the
Nadistuti sukta. This resulted in the anomaly of a river with masculine gender: all other
Rigvedic rivers are female, not just grammatically, being imagined as
goddesses and compared to cows and mares yielding milk and butter.
The Indus has formed a natural boundary between the Indian hinterland and its frontier with Afghanistan and
Iran. It has been crossed by the armies of
Alexander the Great - Greek forces retreated along the southern course of the river at the end of the Indian campaign. The Indus plains have also been under the domination of the
Persian empire and the
Kushan empire. The
Muslim armies of
Muhammad bin Qasim,
Mahmud of Ghazni and
Babur also crossed the river to strike into the inner regions of
Gujarat,
Punjab and
Rajputana.
The word
"India" is a reference to the Indus River.
Geography
Tributaries
Geology
The Indus River feeds the Indus submarine fan located in the
Arabian Sea, which is the second largest sediment body on the Earth at around 5 million cubic kilometers of material eroded from the mountains. Studies of the sediment in the modern river indicate that the
Karakoram Mountains in northern Pakistan are the single most important source of material, with the Himalaya provide the next largest contribution, mostly via the large rivers of the Punjab (i.e., the Ravi, Jhellum, Chenab and the Sutlej). Analysis of sediments from the Arabian Sea by marine geologists
Peter Clift and Jerzy Blusztajn has demonstrated that prior to five million years ago the Indus was not connected to these Punjab Rivers which instead flowed east into the Ganges and were captured after that time. Earlier work, also by Peter Clift, showed that sand and silt from western Tibet was reaching the Arabian Sea by 45 million years ago, implying the existence of an ancient Indus River by that time. The delta of this proto-Indus river has subsequently been found in the Katawaz Basin, on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Most recently the Indus was paralleled by the ancient
Saraswati River, which the
Rigveda suggests flowed from the
Himalaya between the
Sutlej and the
Yamuna Rivers, close to modern day
Chandigarh. Reportedly the Saraswati river was totally dried by 1900 BCE as confirmed by archeological hydrological radio carbon datings .
Climate
The Indus delta is one of the driest in the
Indian subcontinent, lying just to the west of the
Thar Desert of
Rajasthan - and rainfall is extraordinarily erratic owing to the passage of
cyclones from the Arabian Sea. The
Punjab plains, however, receive considerable rainfall from the summer monsoon: at
Abbottabad the average annual rainfall is around 1,200 millimetres (47 in.) and at Murree around 1,700 millimetres (67 in.) with as much as 730 millimetres (28 in.) in July and August alone. The upper basin of the Indus receives 10 - 20 millimetres (4-8 in.) of rainfall (higher in the west) in the winter months owing to northwestern winds. Higher elevations in Kashmir and the
Northern Areas receives a large amount of precipitation in the form of snow, but the lower valleys are extremely dry and quite warm in the summer. Annual temperatures fall below freezing in the northern mountainous regions in the winter, while exceeding 38 °C (100 °F) in the plains of Punjab and Sindh in the summer.
Jacobabad, which is one of the hottest spots in the world, lies to the west of the river in Sindh.
Wildlife
Accounts of the Indus valley from the times of Alexander's campaign indicate a healthy forest cover in the region, which has now considerably receded. The Mughal Emperor Babar writes of encountering rhinoceroses along its bank in his memoirs (the BaberNameh). Extensive
deforestation and human interference in the ecology of the
Shivalik Hills has led to a marked deterioration in vegetation and growing conditions. The Indus valley regions are arid with poor vegetation. Agriculture is sustained largely due to irrigation works.
The
Blind Indus River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor) is a sub-species of Dolphins found only in the Indus River. It formerly also occurred in the tributaries of the Indus river.
Palla fish (''
Hilsa ilisha'') of the river is a delicacy for people living along the river. The population of fishes in the river is moderate, with Sukkur, Thatta and Kotri being the major fishing centres - all in the lower Sindh course. But damming and irrigation has made fish farming an important economic activity. Located southeast of
Karachi, the large delta has been recognised by conservationists as one of the world's most important ecological regions. Here the river turns into many marshes, streams and creeks and meets the sea at shallow levels. Here marine fishes are found in abundance, including
pomfret and
prawns.
Economy
The Indus is the most important supplier of water resources to the
Punjab and
Sindh plains - it forms the backbone of agriculture and food production in Pakistan. The river is especially critical as rainfall is meagre in the lower Indus valley. Irrigation canals were first built by the peoples of the Indus valley civilization, and later by the engineers of the
Kushan Empire and the
Mughal Empire. Modern irrigation was introduced by the
British East India Company in 1850 - the construction of modern canals accompanied with the restoration of old canals. The British supervised the construction of one of the most complex irrigation networks in the world. The
Guddu Barrage is 1,350 metres (4,450 ft) long - irrigating
Sukkur, Jacobabad,
Larkana and
Kalat. The
Sukkur Barrage serves over 20,000 square kilometres (5,000,000 acres).
After the partition, a water control treaty signed between
India and
Pakistan in 1960 guaranteed that Pakistan would receive water from the Indus River independent of upstream control by
India.
[1] The project,
Indus Basin Project, consisted primarily of the construction of two main dams, the
Mangla Dam built on the
Jhelum River and the
Tarbela Dam constructed on the Indus River, together with their subsidiary dams.
[2] The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority undertook the construction of the Chashma-Jhelum link canal - linking the waters of the Indus and Jhelum rivers - extending water supplies to the regions of
Bahawalpur and
Multan. Pakistan constructed the
Tarbela Dam near Rawalpindi - standing 2743 metres (9,000 ft.) long and 143 metres (470 ft.) high, with a 80 kilometre (50 miles) long reservoir. The
Kotri Barrage near
Hyderabad is 915 metres (3,000 ft) long and provides additional supplies for Karachi. The
Taunsa Barrage near
Dera Ghazi Khan produces 100,000 kilowatts of electricity. The extensive linking of tributaries with the Indus has helped spread water resources to the valley of
Peshawar, the
Northwest Frontier Province. The extensive irrigation and dam projects provide the basis for Pakistan's large production of crops such as
cotton,
sugarcane and
wheat. The dams also generate electricity for heavy industries and urban centres.
People
The Indus River near Skardu, Pakistan
The inhabitants of the regions through whom the Indus river passes and forms a major natural feature and resource are diverse in ethnicity, religion, national and linguistic backgrounds. On the northern course of the river in Kashmir live the
Buddhist people of
Ladakh, of
Tibetan stock, with
Kashmiris who practise both
Islam and
Hinduism. As it descends into
Northern Areas of
Pakistan, the Indus river forms a distinctive boundary of ethnicity and cultures - upon the western banks the population is largely
Pashtun,
Balochi, and of other
Iranic stock, with close cultural, economic and ethnic ties to
Iran and Afghanistan. The eastern banks are largely populated by peoples of
Indo-Aryan stock, such as the
Punjabis, the
Sindhis and the
Seraikis. In northern Punjab and the NWFP, ethnic
Pashtun tribes live alongside
Punjabi peoples. In the southern portion of the Punjab province, the
Serakai peoples speak a distinctive tongue and practise distinctive traditions. In the province of Sindh, peoples of
Sindhi,
Gujarati,
Punjabi and
Urdu-speaking
Mohajir backgrounds form the local populations. Upon the western banks of the river live the
Balochi and
Pashtun peoples of
Balochistan.
Modern issues
Due to its location and vast water resources, the Indus is a strategically vital resource for Pakistan's economy and society. After the
partition of India in 1947, the use of the waters of the Indus and its five eastern tributaries became a major dispute between India and Pakistan. The irrigation canals of the Sutlej valley and the Bari Doab were split - with the canals lying primarily in Pakistan and the headwork dams in India - disrupting supply in some parts of Pakistan. The concern over India building large dams over various Punjab rivers that could undercut the supply flowing to Pakistan, as well as the possibility that India could divert rivers in the time of war, caused political consternation in Pakistan. Holding diplomatic talks brokered by the World Bank, India and Pakistan signed the
Indus Waters Treaty in 1960. The treaty gave India control of the three easternmost rivers of the Punjab,
Sutlej,
Beas and the
Ravi, while Pakistan gained control of the three western rivers,
Jhelum,
Chenab and the Indus. India retained the right to use of the western rivers for non irrigation projects. (See discussion regarding a recent dispute about a hydroelectric project on the Chenab (not Indus) known as the Baghlighar project).
Hindu pilgrimage to holy sites alongside the river has been a source of conflict between the nations. Pakistan does generally allow Indian citizens to visit the country for religious purposes, However, owing to the volatile nature of bilateral relations, most pilgrimage and religious ceremonies are performed by Hindus in Kashmir.
There are concerns that extensive deforestation, industrial pollution and
global warming are affecting the vegetation and wildlife of the Indus delta, while affecting agricultural production as well. There are also concerns that the Indus river may be shifting its course westwards - although the progression spans centuries. On numerous occasions, sediment clogging owing to poor maintenance of canals has affected agricultural production and vegetation. In addition, extreme heat has caused water to evaporate, leaving salt deposits that render lands useless for cultivation.
References
1. Tarabela Dam
2. Indus Basin Project
★
★ World Atlas, Millennium Edition, pg 265.
★ Jean Fairley, "The Lion River", Karachi, 1978
External links
★
Blankonthemap The Northern Kashmir WebSite
★
Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law See 'Indus River'. Peace Palace Libray
★
Northern Areas Development Gateway
★
The Mountain Areas Conservancy Project
★
Indus River watershed map (World Resources Institute)
★
Indus Treaty
★
Baglihar Dam issue
★
Indus
★
Indus Wildlife
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