13. The river Vitastā or Jhelum and its present status

The Vedic Vitastā is known as Jhelum. The Jhelum rises in a spring at Verinag at an altitude of 4900 m in the south-eastern part of the Kashmir valley. It flows northwards from its source to Wular Lake and further down south–westwards. The river flows through the Kashmir Valley and forms a 200m deep profane with almost vertical walls through Pir Panjal Range below Baramula. A number of tributaries notably the Lider, the Sind and the Pohru, which rise in Kashmir, join the main river. The river takes a sharp barrette swing southward and the Kṛṣṇagaṅgā joins at on its right bank at Muzaffarabad. Thereafter, it forms the India-Pakistan boundary for 170km and emerges at the Patwar Plateau near Mirpur. After fringing the outlying spurs of the Salt Range, it advances on the plains near the city of Jhelum about 402 km from source. About 322km lower, it joins the Chenāb at Trimmu. The river is accessible for about 160 km out of a total length of 724 km. The average annual flow of water in the river Maṅglā is 27,890 million cubic metre. The drainage area up to the Indo-Pakistan border is 34,775 sq. km.^[1]