Sutlej

Coordinates: 29°23′23″N 71°3′42″E / 29.38972°N 71.06167°E / 29.38972; 71.06167
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Sutlej River
)
For other uses, see Sutlej (disambiguation).

Sutlej
View of Sutlej River
Path of the Sutlej
Location
CountryChina, India, Pakistan
StateTibet, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab (India), Punjab (Pakistan)
CitiesVehari, Jallah Jeem, Bahawalpur
Physical characteristics
SourceManasarovar-Rakas Lakes
 • locationTibet
 • coordinates30°50′39″N 81°12′17″E / 30.84417°N 81.20472°E / 30.84417; 81.20472
 • elevation4,575 m (15,010 ft)
Ropar[1]
 • average500 m3/s (18,000 cu ft/s)
Discharge 
 • locationPanjnad, Confluence of Chenab (71 km upstream of mouth)
 • average2,946.66 m3/s (104,060 cu ft/s)[2] 63.613 km3/a (2,015.8 m3/s)
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • left
Spiti, Beas, Chenab

The Satluj River (

Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as Satadru.[3] It is the easternmost tributary of the Indus River. The Bhakra Dam is built around the river Sutlej to provide irrigation and other facilities to the states of Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana
.

The waters of the Sutlej are allocated to India under the

Rajasthan canal.[4] The mean annual flow is 14 million acre feet (MAF) (roughly 1.727 × 1013 L) upstream of Ropar barrage, downstream of the Bhakra dam.[5] It has several major hydroelectric points, including the 1,325 MW Bhakra Dam, the 1,000 MW Karcham Wangtoo Hydroelectric Plant, and the 1,500 MW Nathpa Jhakri Dam.[6][unreliable source?] The drainage basin in India includes the states and union territories of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Ladakh and Haryana.[7][8]

Course

The source of the Sutlej is west of the

Indus Valley civilisation also flourished here. Ungti Chu and Pare Chu rivers which drain the southeastern part of Ladakh are tributaries of Sutlej river.[9][8]

Continuing west-southwest, the Sutlej enters Pakistan about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) east of

Beas river.[10]

About 17 kilometres (11 mi) north of Uch Sharif, the Sutlej unites with the Chenab River, forming the Panjnad River, which finally flows into the Indus river about 100 kilometres (62 mi) west of the city of Bahawalpur. The area to the southeast on the Pakistani side of the Indian border is called the Cholistan Desert and, on the Indian side, the Thar Desert.[citation needed]

The Indus then flows through a

port city of Karachi, Pakistan. During floods, Indus river water flows into the Indian part of the Great Rann of Kutch. Thus Gujarat state of India is also a riparian state of the Indus river as the Rann of Kutch area lying west of Kori Creek in the state is part of the Indus River Delta.[11]

Puranic Mention and Etymology

In the Chaitra-Ratha Parva of

Mahābhārata, when sage Vasishṭha wants to commit suicide he saw the river named Haimāvata (whose source is Himavat), flooded and full of crocodiles and other aquatic monsters. So he jumps into the river. The river thinking that Vasishṭha is a mass of unquenchable fire dilated itself and flew in a hundred different directions. Henceforth the river was named śatadra (or śatadru) which means the river of a hundred courses. So, Vasishṭha landed on dry land and was unharmed.[12]

Langqên Zangbo

Langqên Zangbo
朗钦藏布
Standard Tibetan)
Location
CountryChina
StateTibet
RegionNgari Prefecture
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationChina
Length309 km (192 mi)
Basin features
River systemSutlej

Langqên Zangbo (Tibetan: གླང་ཆེན་གཙང་པོ, Wylie: glang chen gtsang po; Chinese: 朗钦藏布; pinyin: Lǎngqīn Zàngbù) is a river in Ngari, Tibet, China. The name Langqên, Tibetan for "elephant", is because of a valley that resembles an elephant trunk. This river is the main source of the Sutlej, a tributary of Indus River. It enters India at Shipki La pass. The source is south of Gangdise Range, in Ngari Prefecture. Its course is mainly in the Zanda County. The river drains an area of 22,760 km2, and covers a length of 309 km. The drop in height is 3,256 m. Historically, the river was the centre of the Zhangzhung Kingdom until its fall in the 8th century AD.

Geology

See also: Ghaggar-Hakra River

Sutlej is an

mya.[13]

There is substantial geologic evidence to indicate that prior to 1700 BC, and perhaps much earlier, the Sutlej was an important tributary of the

Harappan settlements along the Ghaggar. However, the Sutlej may have already been captured by the Indus thousands of years earlier.[citation needed
]

There is some evidence that the high rate of erosion caused by the modern Sutlej River has influenced the local faulting and rapidly exhumed rocks above

metamorphic gradient.[19]

Sutlej-Yamuna Link

Main article: Sutlej Yamuna link canal

There has been a proposal to build a 214-kilometre (133 mi) long heavy freight and irrigation canal, to be known as the

Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) to connect the Sutlej and Yamuna rivers.[20] The project is intended to connect the Ganges, which flows to the east coast of the subcontinent, with points west, via Pakistan. When completed, the SYL would enable inland shipping from India's east coast to its west coast (on the Arabian sea) without having to round the southern tip of India by sea, vastly shortening shipping distances, alleviating pressures on seaports, avoiding sea hazards, creating business opportunities along the route, raising real estate values, raising tax revenue, and establishing important commercial links and providing jobs for north-central India's large population. However, the proposal has met with obstacles and has been referred to the Supreme Court of India. To augment nearly 100 tmcft (some 2.832 × 1012 L) water availability for the needs of this link canal, Tso Moriri lake/Lingdi Nadi (a tributary of Tso Moriri lake) waters can be diverted to the Sutlej basin by digging a 10 km=long gravity canal to connect to the Ungti Chu river.[8]

History

The Upper Sutlej Valley, called

Moincêr, southwest of Mount Kailash (Mount Ti-se). Eventually, the Zhangzhung were conquered by the Tibetan Empire. The Sutlej River also formed the eastern boundary of the Sikh Empire under Maharajah Ranjit Singh.Parganah Hakkarah

Today, the Sutlej Valley is inhabited by nomadic descendants of the Zhangzhung, who live in tiny villages of yak herders.[citation needed]

The Sutlej was the main medium of transportation for the kings of that time. In the early 18th century, it was used to transport

devdar woods for Bilaspur district, Hamirpur district, and other places along the Sutlej's banks.[citation needed
]

Of four rivers (

Karnali/Ganges) mythically flowing out of holy Lake Manasarovar, the Sutlej is actually connected by channels that are dry most of the time. Earlier the river was also called Shutudri or Zaradros river.[21]

Gallery

  • Sutlej Valley from Rampur c. 1857
    Sutlej Valley from Rampur c. 1857
  • Using inflated animal skins to cross the Sutlej River, c. 1905
    Using inflated animal skins to cross the Sutlej River, c. 1905
  • Sutlej River in Kinnaur Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India
    Sutlej River in
    Kinnaur
    Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India
  • Cattle grazing on the banks of the river in Rupnagar, Punjab, India
    Cattle grazing on the banks of the river in Rupnagar, Punjab, India
  • Satluj River near Shahkot, Punjab, India
    Satluj River near Shahkot, Punjab, India
  • Sutlej entering India from Tibet near Shipki La, c. 1856
    Sutlej entering India from Tibet near Shipki La, c. 1856

See also

References

  1. ^ "Sutlej valley". The Free Dictionary.
  2. ^ "Rivers Network". 2020. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
  3. ^ Asiatic Society of Bengal (1848). Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Volume 17, Part 1. p. 210, paragraph two.
  4. ^ "Bhakra Beas Management Board". wrmin.nic.in. Archived from the original on 31 August 2005.
  5. ^ "Page 290, The Ravi- Beas Water Tribunal Report (1987)" (PDF). Central Water Commission. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  6. ^ "Nathpa Jhakri Hydroelectric Power Project, India". power-technology.com. Retrieved 14 May 2011.
  7. ^ "Lower Sutlej basin area" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 September 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  8. ^ a b c "WRIS geo-visualization map". Archived from the original on 13 June 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  9. ^ "Upper Sutlej basin area" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 January 2018.
  10. ^ "Page 60, The Ravi- Beas Water Tribunal Report (1987)" (PDF). Central Water Commission. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  11. ^ "Evolution of the Delta, the LBOD outfall system and the Badin dhands - chapters 3 & 4" (PDF). Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  12. ^ Pratap Chandra Roy's Mahabharata Adi Parva, Chaitra-Ratha Parva Page:509
  13. S2CID 4427250
    .
  14. ^ Mughal, M. R. Ancient Cholistan. Archaeology and Architecture. Rawalpindi-Lahore-Karachi: Ferozsons 1997, 2004
  15. ^ Valdiya, K. S., in Dynamic Geology, Educational monographs published by J. N. Centre for Advanced Studies, Bangalore, University Press (Hyderabad), 1998.
  16. ^ * Clift et al. 2012. "U-Pb zircon dating evidence for a Pleistocene Sarasvati River and capture of the Yamuna River." Geology, v. 40. [1]
  17. ^ K.S. Valdiya. 2013. "The River Saraswati was a Himalayan-born river". Current Science 104 (01). [2]
  18. doi:10.1130/G21483AR.1
    .
  19. doi:10.1016/S0191-8141(99)00077-2
    .
  20. ^ http://india.gov.in/sectors/water_resources/sutlej_link.php Sutlej-Yamuna Link
  21. ^ "Sutlej River | river, Asia | Britannica".

External links

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