Chambal River - WikiHQ

The Chambal River is a tributary of the Yamuna River in Central and Northern India, and thus forms part of the drainage system of the Ganges. The river flows north-northeast through Madhya Pradesh, briefly flowing through Rajasthan, then forming the boundary between Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh before turning southeast to join the Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh state.

The Chambal finds mention in ancient Hindu scriptures. The Hindu epic Mahabharata refers to the Chambal River as Charmanyavati: originating from the blood of thousands of animals sacrificed by the King Rantideva.

History

Vedic era

During the Vedic era, the ancient name of Chambal river was Charmanvati, meaning the river on whose banks leather is dried. In due course of time, this river became famous as the river of ‘charman’ (skin) and was named as Charmanvati.

Chambal area was part of Shakuni's kingdom and the dice-game played thereabouts. After the attempted disrobing of Draupadi (the daughter of Drupada) she cursed anyone who would drink the water of the Charmanwati river. Thus it is believed that due to the curse by Draupadi, have helped the Chambal to survive unpolluted by man, and its many animal inhabitants to thrive relatively untouched. The Chambal remains one of India's most pristine rivers.

Chambal

Basin

The Chambal is a rainfed catchment with a total drained area up to its confluence with the Yamuna of . The drainage area resembles a rectangle up to the junction of the Parvathi and Banas Rivers with the Chambal flowing along its major axis. The Chambal Basin lies between latitudes 22° 27' N and 27° 20' N and longitudes 73° 20' E and 79° 15' E. On its south, east and west, the basin is bounded by the Vindhyan mountain ranges and on the north-west by the Aravallis. Below the confluence of the Parvathi and Banas, the catchment becomes narrower and elongated. In this reach, it is bounded by the Aravalli mountain ranges on the North and the Vindhyan hill range on the south.

Course

thumb|Chambal River near Kota, Rajasthan

The long Chambal River originates from the Bhadakla Falls in Janapav Hills on the northern slopes of the Vindhyan escarpment near Mandav, south-west of Mhow in Indore District, Madhya Pradesh at an elevation of about . The river flows first in a northerly direction through Madhya Pradesh for about and then in a generally north-easterly direction for through Rajasthan. Then it flows for another between Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and a further between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. It flows for about before joining the Yamuna River in Jalaun District at an elevation of , to form a part of the greater Gangetic drainage system.

From its source to its junction with the Yamuna, the Chambal has a fall of about . Of this, around is within the first reach from its source. It falls for another in the next , where it enters the gorge past the Chaurasigarh Fort. During the next of its run from the Chaurasigarh Fort to Kota city, the bed falls by another . For the rest of its run, the river passes through the flat terrain of the Malwa Plateau and later the Gangetic Plain with an average gradient of 0.21 m/km.

According to Crawford (1969), the Chambal river valley is part of the Vindhyan system which consists of massive sandstone, slate and limestone, of perhaps pre-Cambrian age, resting on the surface of older rocks.

Hillocks and plateaus represent the major landforms of the Chambal valley. The Chambal basin is characterised by an undulating floodplain, gullies and ravines. According to Heron (1953), the eastern pediplain, occurring between the Vindhyan plateau and the Aravalli hill range, contains a thin veneer of Quaternary sediments, reworked soil and river channel fills. At least two erosional surfaces can be recognised within the pediplain are the Tertiary age. The Vindhyan upland, the adjoining Chambal valley and the Indo-Gangetic alluvial tract (older alluvium) are of Pleistocene to Sub-recent age. Badland topography is a characteristic feature of the Chambal valley, whereas kankar has extensively developed in the older alluvium.

Dams

thumb|Gandhisagar Dam on Chambal river.

thumb|Bridge with National Highway 3 on Chambal river

In a stretch of , from km 344 to km 440 from its source, the Chambal flows through a deep gorge, while lower down, there are wide plains. The Gandhi Sagar Dam is located near the center of this reach. As there is a deep gorge immediately upstream of the dam, the reservoir has a large storage capacity despite its comparatively low height. For the next , the river flows through the Kundal Plateau, and the Rana Pratap Sagar Dam is constructed at the lower end of this. The topography permits fairly good storage upstream of the dam. Further down, the Jawahar Sagar Dam is located in the middle of the Kota gorge. The Kota Barrage is located near Kota town, where the river emerges from the gorge section into the plateau. The total area draining the Kota Barrage is .

Rana Pratap Sagar dam is a dam located 52 km downstream of Gandhi Sagar dam on across the Chambal River near Rawatbhata in Chittorgarh district in Rajasthan. It was completed in the year 1970 and it is the second in the series of Chambal Valley Projects. It is 54 meters high. The power house is located on the left side of the spillway and consists of 4 units of 43 MW each, with firm power generation of 90 MW at 60% load factor. The total catchment area of this dam is 24,864 km2, of which only 956 km2 are in Rajasthan. The free catchment area below Gandhi Sagar dam is 2,280 km2. The live storage capacity is 1,566 MCM. The vegetation consists of ravine, thorn forest, a sub-type of the Northern Tropical Forests (Sub-group 6B/C2 of the revised classification of Champion & Seth, 1968). This sub-type typically occurs in less arid areas with 600–700 mm rainfall. Limited examples of Saline/Alkaline Babul Savannah (5E/8b), a type of Northern Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest, also occurs. Evergreen riparian vegetation is completely absent, with only sparse ground-cover along the severely eroded river banks and adjacent ravine lands.

Thorny bushes or small trees commonly found in this area include Capparis deciduas, Capparis sepiaria, Balanites aegyptiaca, Acacia senegal, Vachellia nilotica, V. leucophloea, Neltuma juliflora, Butea monosperma, Maytenus emarginata, Tamarix sp., Salvadora persica, S. oleoides, Crotalaria medicaginea, C. burhia, Clerodendrum phlomidis, Calotropis procera, Xanthium strumarium and Leptadenia pyrotechnica associated with climbers such as Maerua oblongifolia, Pergularia daemia, Ceropegia bulbosa, herbs e.g., Argemone mexicana, Farsetia hamiltonii, Tephrosia purpurea, Cleome viscosa, Tribulus terrestris, Glinus lotoides, Sericostoma pauciflorum, Rivea sp., Ipomoea sp., Pedalium murex, Sesamum mulayanum, Lepidagathis sp, Boerhavia diffusa, Chrozophora sp., and grasses like Cyprus sp., Fimbristylis sp., Brachiaria sp., Cenchrus sp., Dichanthium sp., etc.

References

External links

Chambal Basin (Department of Irrigation, Government of Rajasthan)
Chambal Valley Project
Chambal River in 1949
Chambal River - Origin Tributaries Dams Flora | Fauna