Pragnya IAS · Map 42 · Relief & drainage
River map of India: major rivers
Draw the national drainage from memory: three Himalayan giants, the west-flowing pair and the east-flowing peninsular grid.
STUDY NOTE 1
The Himalayan three
Indus (through Ladakh to Pakistan), Ganga (Devprayag to the Bay via Bangladesh) and Brahmaputra (Tibet to the Bengal delta) are antecedent, perennial and snow-fed.
STUDY NOTE 2
The peninsular grid
Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri flow east across the plateau; Godavari is the longest peninsular river, the “Dakshin Ganga”.
STUDY NOTE 3
The west-flowing pair
Narmada and Tapi occupy rift valleys between the Vindhya-Satpura block and empty into the Gulf of Khambhat as estuaries, not deltas.
Map reading task
Sketch all seven rivers with source and mouth; mark which make deltas and which estuaries.
Map key · Reference locations
What does this major rivers of india lesson explain?
Indus (through Ladakh to Pakistan), Ganga (Devprayag to the Bay via Bangladesh) and Brahmaputra (Tibet to the Bengal delta) are antecedent, perennial and snow-fed.
UPSC map practice & Geography Optional connection
For UPSC Prelims, pair the location with its state, neighbouring relief and relevant geographic process. For GS I and Geography Optional Indian geography revision, use a simple labelled sketch to explain the relationship rather than replacing the answer with place names. These are Pragnya-authored exercises, not official UPSC previous-year questions.
References & map credits
Pragnya IAS explanations and practice are independently authored. The uploaded geography compilation informed topic selection only; its pages, illustrations, advertisements and personal watermarks are not republished. Licensed base data retain their original attribution. These lessons are educational references, not navigation, legal boundary or live hazard maps.