Chenab River
The Chenab River, one of the five great rivers that give Punjab its name (in Persian panj means "five" and ab means "river"), has a total length of 1,087 kilometers. It rises in Lahul, Kashmir, south of Ladakh, and then flows through Kashmir, and south into Pakistan. In the upper reaches it is called the Chandra. After leaving the mountains it follows a southwesterly course, and becomes navigable at Aknur. It joins with the Jhelum near Jhang Maghiana, and here the Emerson (or Trimmu) Barrage has been built. Further downstream to the west of Bahawalpur the Chenab joins with the Sutlej River at the Panjnad Barrage, the two then forming the Panjnad River. This soon joins with the Indus River to the northeast of Chachran. Ancient names for the Chenab were Asikni and Chandrabhaga. Classical Greek writers rendered these names as Akesines, and Sandabaga or Sandabal.
The Chenab Canal, opened in 1887, is the largest canal in Pakistan. It irrigates extensive lands lying just to the south of the Chenab River. In 1892 the Chenab Colony was formed, an irrigated tract of land that quickly became a rich and thickly populated agricultural area of over a million hectares.
Further Reading
Eglar, Zekiye. (1960). A Punjabi Village in Pakistan. New York: Columbia University Press.
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