5. The river Sindhu and its present status

Several rivers are personified and invoked as deities in the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā. One hymn (Ṛgveda Saṃhitā, 10.75) celebrates the Sindhu or Indus. The deified river occupy on important position in the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā. The whole of one hymn (Ṛgveda Saṃhitā, 10.75) celebrates the Sindhu or Indus as river god except the mantra fifth. In one hymn of the Atharvavedasaṃhitā, Indus or Sindhu river is considered the spouse of water or river. Indus is the king of all rivers. The stream of Indus gives us remedy for various diseases.^[1] The river Sindhu is assumed to be the branch of the heavenly Gaṅgā in the Purāṇas.

The Indus (Sanskrit Sindhu) is one of the largest drainage systems of the world along with its tributaries. It is believed that the name ‘India’ came from the river Indus. The Indus valley has been the cradle of one of the oldest civilizations in the world, i.e. ‘the Indus Valley Civilization.’ The mighty Indus river rises near Manasarovar Lake from the icecaps of the Kailas Range in Western Tibet (31^o15 N and 81^o40^o E) at an elevation of 5182 meter. It starts from its source and flows for a distance of 257 km in the North West direction in the transHimalaya region under name of singe khabab until it is joined by the Dhar. A short distance lower down, it enters India at an elevation of 4,206m and continues to flow in the same north-west direction between the Ladakh and the Zaskar Ranges. The silt of the river in this course is very gentle (about 30cm per km). Here, it encompasses the town of Leh and is joined by the Zaskar river. It is joined by the shyok at an elevation of about 2,700m about 50km before Skardu. The other Himalayan tributaries of the Indus river are—the Gilgit, Gortang, Dras, Shiger and Hunza. After passing through a 480 km long precedent and very deep chasm (5181 meters at Bunji north of Nanga Parbat), it takes a sharp southerly bend and reaches Attock at an attitude of about 610m. Here it ends its mountainous journey. It is joined by the Kabul river from Afghanistan. Thereafter, it flows through the Potwar plain and crosses the salt Range. Some of the important tributaries below Attock include the kurram, Toch and the Zhob Gomal. Just above Mithankat, about 805 km from the sea, at an elevation of 79m the Indus receives from Panjnad (panohnad), the accumulated waters of the five eastern tributaries—the Jhelum, the Chenāb, the Ravi, the Beas and the Sutlej. The river finally empties itself into the Arabian Sea, south of Karachi after forming a big delta. The total length of the Indus river from its source to its mouth is about 2880 km out of which only 709 km length falls in India.

The Indus has a total drainage area of 1,178,440 sq km out of which about 453,250 sq km lies in the Himalayan mountains and foothills, the rest lies in the Indus plain of India and Pakistan. As a result of partition, Indus drainage basin has been divided between India and Pakistan with major portion going to Pakistan and India has to content with only 321,290 sq km which is about 27.26 percent of the total drainage area. The average annual flow of water in the Indus river is 110,450 million cubic meters at Kalabagh.