Krishna River is a perennial river that flows across four states in south India – Maharastra, Karnataka, Telanagana and Andhra Pradesh. The very name of Krishna river reminds of the Prakasham Barrage in Vijayawada; the famous Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar dams. The river faces lots of pollution from all sides since it is perennial and flowing river, the impact of pollution is felt in few places and doesn’t look to be alarming. But the need to preserve the water body is there to empower agriculture in the four states
Religion World will look at the rivers that call for immediate attention, because they have been polluted beyond repair. But the effort is to look at the river, its history, its use and how it was been brought to the state it is now. Our effort to write about these rivers is to enlighten the readers that they need attention and they can once again turn into lifeline for human race in their part. Today we bring, river flowing through Vijayawada, Krishna River.
Krishna River:
Krishna River is the fourth largest river in the country after Ganga, Godhavariu and Narmada. The 1300 Kilometers long Krishna River or Krishnaveni is one of the longest rivers in Peninsular India. It is a major source of irrigation for Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Origin & Flow
The Krishna river’s source is at Mahabaleswar near the Jor village in the extreme north of Wai Taluka, Satara District, Maharashtra in the west and empties into the Bay of Bengal at Hamasaladeevi (near Koduru) in Andhra Pradesh, on the east coast. It flows through the state of Karnataka before entering Telangana State. The delta of this river is one of the most fertile regions in India and was the home to ancient Satavahana and Ikshvaku Sun Dynasty kings.
Krishna River originates at Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra. It is believed that Krishna Bai Temple in the Old Mahabaleshwar is the birth place of river Krishna. Krishna Bai Temple is an ancient Shiva shrine where a stream comes out of the mouth of a cow . This stream further cascades to become the Krishna River. Krishna Bai Temple is near to Panchaganga Temple in Mahabaleshwar. The rustic look of this age-old shrine looks more beautiful during the monsoon.
The river flows quickly, causing much erosion in June and August. During this time, Krishna takes fertile soil from Maharashtra, Karnataka and western Andhra Pradesh towards the delta region.
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The river has a number of tributaries but Tungabhadra is the principal tributary. Other tributaries include the Mallaprabha, Koyna, Bhima, Ghataprabha, Yerla, Warna, Dindi, Musi and Dudhganga. Leaving Mahabaleswar behind, the Krishna takes the form of the Dhom lake in Panchgani, a popular hill station just 17 km from Mahabaleswar. Crisscrossing its way through Wai, Narsobachi and Wadi (near Kolhapur) in Maharashtra, the river enters Karnataka at Kurundwad, 60 km from Kolhapur. In Karnataka, the river passes through the Belgaum, Bijapur and Gulbarga districts, covering a total distance of 220 km. The Krishna enters Andhra Pradesh near Deosugur in Raichur district and meanders through Mehbubnagar, Kurnool, Guntur and Krishna districts. The river merges into the Bay of Bengal at Hamasaladeevi. Two dams, Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar are constructed across the Krishna River. Nagarjuna Sagar Dam is world’s tallest masonry dam (124 meters).
It causes heavy soil erosion during the monsoon floods. It flows fast and furious, often reaching depths of over 75 feet (23 m). Ironically, there is a saying in Marathi: “Shant vaahate Krishnamaai” which means “quiet flows Krishna”. This term is used to describe that a person should be as quiet as Krishna.
Krishna and a few of his tributaries begin their journey in the Western Ghats. The Panchaganga Temple is 4,500 years-old temple where Krishna river along with Venna, Koyna , Gayatri and Savitri rivers flow out of the mouth of cow (goumukh). Though these rivers branch out, later they join Krishna River.
Krishna river flows two major cities: Sangli, the Turmeric City of Maharashtra and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh are the two big cities located on the banks of Krishna River. Other important places that the river flows through Mahabaleswar in Maharastra, Srisailam and Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh, and Nagarjuna Sagar in Telangana.
Tributaries & Dams
Krishna river has many tributaries: Venna River, Koyna River, Dudhganga River, Bhima River Ghataprabha River, Malaprabha River, Tungabhadra River, Musi River and Dindi River are the major tributaries of River Krishna. Tungabhadra River (which originates in Koodli of Chikmagalur) and Bhima River (which originates in Bhimashankar Hills) are the two largest tributaries of Krishna River.
Alamatti Dam in North Karnataka, Srisailam Dam in Telangana, Nagarjuna Sagar Dam in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Prakasam Barrage at Vijayawada are some of the famous dams built on Krishna River.
Krishna Basin
Krishna Basin extends over an area of 258,948 square kilometers which is nearly 8% of total geographical area of the country. The basin lies in the states of Andhra Pradesh (113,271 km2), Karnataka (76,252 km2) and Maharashtra (69,425 km2). Most part of this basin comprises rolling and undulating country except the western border which is formed by an unbroken line of ranges of the Western Ghats. The important soil types found in the basin are black soils, red soils, Laterite and lateritic soils, alluvium, mixed soils, red and black soils and saline and alkaline soils. An average annual surface water potential of 78.1 km³ has been assessed in this basin. Out of this, 58.0 km³ is utilizable water. Culturable area in the basin is about 203,000 km2, which is 10.4% of the total culturable area of the country. In 2009 October heavy floods occurred, isolating 350 villages and leaving millions homeless, which is believed to be first occurrence in 1000 years. The flood resulted in heavy damage to Kurnool, Mahabubnagar, Guntur, Krishna and Nalagonda Districts.
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Temples on the Banks
This river is revered by Hindus as sacred. The river is also believed to remove all sins of people by taking a bath in this river. The centre of attraction is the Krishna Pushkaram fair which is held once in twelve years on the banks of the Krishna river. There are many pilgrimage places in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on the course of the river.
The first holy place on the river Krishna is “Dakshin Kashi Wai”, known for the Mahaganpati Mandir and Kashivishweshwar temple. It has seven ghats along the river. Temples like Dattadeva temple, which is revered by the people of Maharashtra, are located on the banks of Krishna at Nrusinha Waadi and Audumbar near Sangli. Also, located on the banks of the river Krishna are the Sangameshwar Shiva temple at Haripur, goddess Durga temple in Vijayawada and Ramling temple near Sangli, Mallikarjuna temple (Srisailam), Amareshwara Swamy temple (Amaravati (state capital)), Dattadeva temple, Sangameshwara Shiva temples at Alampur in Telangana, Ramling temple, etc. as well as, villages such as Jihe.
Ecological issues
Most of the years, the river water is not joining the sea due to full utilisation of water mainly in agriculture. The river receives the waste from the large number of cities and the river basin population has increased to 80 million enhancing pollution load many folds into the river. Adequate average and minimum continuous environmental flows to the sea are not taking place in most of the years constricting salt export and leading to formation of saline and sodic alkaline soils in the lower reaches of the river basin. High alkalinity water is discharged from the ash dump areas of many coal fired power stations into the river which further increases the alkalinity of the river water whose water is naturally of high alkalinity since the river basin is draining vast area of basalt rock formations. The following are the few coal fired power stations located in the river basin
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