6. The river Vipāṭ (Beas) and the Śutudrī (Sutlej) and its present status

In the Veda, there is a story about the rivers Vipāṭ and Śutudrī. There are so many important subject matters which are placed in the whole range of the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā. There are about twenty such dialogue hymns in this Saṃhitā. Among them the dialogue of Viśvāmitra and the rivers (Ṛgveda Saṃhitā, 3.33) are famous for their theme. In it, the poet, Viśvāmitra prays the rivers Vipāṭ and Śutudrī, which are in wave, to be sallow and thus facilitated him and his retinue to cross the rivers. At first, the rivers argued that they were flowing along the path appointed by the Lords. Finally, however the rivers surrendered to Viśvāmitra’s requests and satisfied him with a fordable passage. As a matter of fact, here a dialogue is found between the poet Viśvāmitra and the rivers Vipāṭ and the Śutudrī. Śatadru is a familiar river in the Purāṇic literature also. The Purāṇic name of the Indian river now called Sutlej.

The Beas river passes through northern Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. It is one of the five rivers, from which Punjab, meaning ‘five rivers’, gets its name. It is comparatively a small river which is only 460 km long but lies entirely within the Indian territory.

The Beas river originates near the Rohtang Pass, at a height of 4,062 m above sea level, on the southern end of the Pir Panjal Range close to the source of the Ravi. Fairly steep in its upper portion (24metres per km) it crosses the Dhaola Dhar range through a deep gorge 900m deep from Lorji to Talwara. On meeting the Shiwalik hills the river sweeps sharply northward, then bending round the base of the hills it takes a southerly direction and debouches on the plain near Pong. Thereafter, it takes a south-westerly direction and meets the Sutlej or Satluj river at Harike.^[1]

The Sutlej (Śutudri) rises from the Manasarovar-Rakas lakes near Darma Pass in western Tibet at a height of 4570 m within 80 km of the source of the Indus. Like the Indus, it takes a north westerly course up to the shipki La on the Tibet-Himachal Pradesh boundary. Here the river flows at an attitude of about 3,000m above sea level. It cuts deep gorges where it penetrates the great Himalaya and the other Himalayan ranges. In Nari Khorsan province of Tibet, it has created an extraordinary ravine, comparable to the Grand valley of Colorado; the channel here is 900 m deep. Its tributaries in Himachal Pradesh are short in length except the Spiti, which drains a large trans-Himalayan area and joins it at Namgia near the Shipki La. Before entering the Punjab plain, it cuts a gorge in Naina Devi Dhar, where the famous Bhakra dam has been constructed. After entering the plain at Rupnagar (Ropar) it turns westwards and is joined by the Beas at Harike. From near Ferozepur to Fazilka it forms the boundary between India and Pakistan for nearly 120 km. During its onward journey it receives the collective drainage of the Ravi, Chenāb and Jhelum rivers and about 70km further downstream, it joins the Indus a few kilometers above Mithankot. It flows for 1050 km in Indian territory out of its total length of 1450. It drains an area of 25,900 sq kms and its average annual flow at Rupnagar (Ropar) is 16,660million cubic metres.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Khuller, D.R., India, A Comprehensive Geography, p.80