Kaveri River
India's Kaveri or Cauvery River, 760 kilometers long, was originally called the Daksina Ganga, or "southern Ganges," and the whole of its course is holy to Hindus. It rises in Coorg District toward the southern end of the Western Ghats and flows across southern Karnataka and northern Tamil Nadu states in a southeasterly direction, to empty into the Bay of Bengal from a wide delta, which forms the richest agricultural land in Thanjavur District. Its chief mouth there, to the north, is called the Coleroon or Kolladam, and a second one to the south is Kaveri. The river is fed by a number of tributaries, including the Bavani, and is a major source of hydroelectric power.
Its drainage basin has been estimated at 71,740 square kilometers. In its tortuous course, the river creates three famous islands. One is Seringapatam, near Mysore City, the ruined capital of Tipu Sultan (1753–1799); a second is Sivasamudram, the site of an ancient city and the celebrated Falls of the Cauvery, a succession of rapids and broken cascades; and the third is Srirangam, 3 kilometers outside the city of Tiruccirappalli, the site of an important ancient temple dedicated to Vishnu. The only traditional form of navigation on the river was in basketwork coracles covered with buffalo hides. Ptolemy mentions the Kaveri River as Khaberos, and another ancient Sanskrit name was Ardhajahnavi.
Further Reading
Gough, Kathleen. (1981) Rural Society in Southeast India. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
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