Mahanadi River
Mahanadi (Hindi: महानदी, Odia: ମହାନଦୀ) is a major river in East Central India. The river flows through the states of Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
Origin
It rises from a place Sihawa, 6 kms from Farsiya village 442 metres above sea level south of Nagri town in Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh.[1][2]
Course
For the first 80 kms of its course, the Mahanadi flows in a northerly direction and drains the Raipur district and touches eastern portions of Raipur city.
After being joined by the Seonath River, the river flows in an easterly direction through the remaining part of its journey. It is joined by the Jonk River and Hasdeo Rivers here before entering into Odisha after covering about half of its total length.
Near the city of Sambalpur, it is dammed by the largest earthen dam in the world, the Hirakud Dam. A composite structure of earth, concrete and masonry, the dam measures 24 kms including the Dykes. It spans two hills; the Lamdungri on the left and the Chandili Dunguri on the right. It also forms the biggest artificial lake in Asia, with a reservoir holding 743 square kms at full capacity, with a shoreline of over 640 kms.
After the formation of Chhattisgarh State, the major portion of Mahanadi basin now lies in Chhattisgarh. Presently, only 154 square kms basin area of Hasdeo River in Anuppur District lies in Madhya Pradesh.
Before the construction of the dam in 1953, the Mahanadi was about a mile wide at Sambalpur and carried massive amounts of silt, especially during the monsoon. Today, it is a rather tame river after the construction of the dam and is joined by the Ib, Ong, Tel and other minor streams. It then skirts the boundaries of the Baudh district and forces a tortuous way between ridges and ledges in a series of rapids until it reaches Dholpur, Odisha. The rapids end here and the river rolls towards the Eastern Ghats, forcing its way through them via the 64 kms long Satkosia Gorge. The Satakosia Gorge ends at Badamul of Nayagarh. Dense forests cover the hills flanking the river here. The river enters the Odisha plains at Naraj, about 11 kms from Cuttack, where it pours down between two hills that are a mile apart. A barrage has been constructed here to regulate the river's flow into Cuttack.
The river traverses Cuttack district in an east-west direction. Just before entering Cuttack, it gives off a large distributary called the Kathjori. The city of Cuttack stands on the spit separating the two channels. The Kathjori then throws off many streams like the Kuakhai, Devi and Surua which fall into the Bay of Bengal after entering Puri district. The Kathjori itself falls into the sea as the Jotdar.
Other distributaries of Mahanadi include the Paika, Birupa, Chitroptala river, Genguti and Lun. The Birupa then goes on to join the Brahmani River at Krushnanagar and enters the Bay of Bengal at Dhamra. The Mahanadi proper enters the sea via several channels near Paradeep at False Point, Jagatsinghpur. The combined Delta of the Mahanadi's numerous distributaries and the Brahmani is one of the largest in India.
It drains an area of around 141,600 square kms and has a total course of 858 kms[3].
Tributaries
- Birupa River
- Brahmani River
- Chitroptala River
- Devi River
- Genguti River
- Hasdeo River
- Ib River
- Jonk River
- Kathjori River
- Kuakhai River
- Lun River
- Ong River
- Paika River
- Seonath River
- Surua River
- Tel River
