The Koyna River (
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people
*Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece
See also
*
* ...
pronunciation:
">oːj(ə)naː is a tributary of the
Krishna River which originates in Mahableshwar, Satara district, western
Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. It rises near
Mahabaleshwar
Mahabaleshwar () is a small town and a municipal council in Satara district, Maharashtra, India. It is a place of pilgrimage for Hindus because Krishna river has its origin here. The British colonial rulers developed the town as a hill station ...
, a famous hill station in the
Western Ghats. Unlike most of the other rivers in Maharashtra which flow East-West direction, the Koyna river flows in North-South direction. The Koyna River is famous for the
Koyna Dam
The Koyna Dam is one of the largest dams in Maharashtra, India. It is a rubble-concrete dam constructed on Koyna River which rises in Mahabaleshwar, a hillstation in Sahyadri ranges. It is located in Koyna Nagar, Satara district, in the Weste ...
and the
Koyna Hydroelectric Project
The Koyna Hydroelectric Project is the largest hydroelectricity, hydroelectric power plant in India, just after Tehri Dam Project. It is a complex project with four dams including the largest dam on the Koyna River, Maharashtra hence the name Ko ...
. Koyna Hydroelectric Project is the 2nd largest completed
hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
project in India. The reservoir –
Shivasagar
The Shivsagar Lake is a reservoir in the state of Maharashtra, India. The lake was formed after the Koyna River was impounded by the Koyna Dam. It has a length of and depth of .
See also
* Koyna Hydroelectric Project
* Koyna Dam
* Koyna W ...
Lake, is a huge lake of 50 km in length.
Due to its electricity generating potential through
Koyna Hydroelectric Project
The Koyna Hydroelectric Project is the largest hydroelectricity, hydroelectric power plant in India, just after Tehri Dam Project. It is a complex project with four dams including the largest dam on the Koyna River, Maharashtra hence the name Ko ...
, Koyna river is known as the Life Line of Maharashtra
The river meets the
Krishna River, which is one of the three largest rivers in southern India by
Karad
Karad is a city in Satara district of Indian state of Maharashtra and it is 320 km (180.19 miles) from Mumbai and 159 km from Pune. It lies at the confluence of Koyna River and the Krishna River known as the "Priti sangam". The ...
at
Pritisangam
Pritisangam is a place where Krishna river and Koyna river meet each other. Both rivers originate from Mahabaleshwar and meet each other at Karad from front. This sangam is very rare in world where two rivers come from front and take a turn and ...
The river is just about 100 meters in width and is slow-flowing. It is an olive shade of green during the dry months and a bluish-brown in the
monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...
months attributed to much
algae
Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...
and aquatic plant life. The impounded water of the Koyna Dam though has submerged a significant amount of
Rain forest
Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainforest ...
of the
Western Ghats, it has helped a lot to the surrounding forest by supplying water all round the year. Hence a wide biodiversity of plants and animals is observed in the evergreen forest surrounding the river.
Geography and history
Mahabaleshwar is the source of five rivers namely
Krishna River, Koyna,
Venna (Veni),
Savitri, and
Gayatri
Gayatri (Sanskrit: गायत्री, IAST:Gāyatrī) is the personified form of the Gayatri Mantra, a popular hymn from Vedic texts. She is also known as Savitri, and bears the epithet of ''Vedamata'' (mother of the Vedas). Gayatri is ofte ...
. The source is at the Panchaganga temple in old Mahabaleshwar. The legendary source of the river is a spout from the mouth of a statue of a cow in the ancient temple of
Mahadev in Old Mahabaleshwar. Legend has it that Krishna is Lord Vishnu himself as a result of a curse on the
trimurti
The Trimūrti (; Sanskrit: त्रिमूर्ति ', "three forms" or "trinity") are the trinity of supreme divinity in Hinduism, in which the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction are personified as a triad of de ...
s by Savitri. Also, its tributaries Venna and Koyana are said to be Lord Shiva and Lord Brahma themselves. An interesting thing to notice is that 4other rivers including Koyna come out from the cow's mouth apart from Krishna and they all travel some distance before merging into Krishna. The biggest river
Krishna River that flows across Maharashtra,
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
and
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
.
See also
*
List of rivers of India
This is a list of rivers of India, starting in the west and moving along the Indian coast southward, then northward. Tributary rivers are listed hierarchically in upstream order: the lower in the list, the more upstream.
The overall discharge of r ...
*
Rivers of India
The rivers in India play an important role in the lives of its people. They provide potable water, cheap transportation, electricity, and the livelihood for many people nationwide. This easily explains why nearly all the major cities of India are l ...
*
Koyna Hydroelectric Project
The Koyna Hydroelectric Project is the largest hydroelectricity, hydroelectric power plant in India, just after Tehri Dam Project. It is a complex project with four dams including the largest dam on the Koyna River, Maharashtra hence the name Ko ...
*
Koyna Dam
The Koyna Dam is one of the largest dams in Maharashtra, India. It is a rubble-concrete dam constructed on Koyna River which rises in Mahabaleshwar, a hillstation in Sahyadri ranges. It is located in Koyna Nagar, Satara district, in the Weste ...
*
Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary Koyna may refer to:
* Koyna River, a river which originates in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra
* Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary, a wildlife refuge in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra
* Koynanagar, a town at the site of the Koyna Dam
* Koyna Dam, a dam ...
*
List of power stations in India
The total installed power generation capacity in India as on July 31, 2022 is 404,132.95 MW with sector wise & type wise break up as given below.
For the state wise installed power generation capacity, refer to States of India by installed powe ...
*
List of conventional hydroelectric power stations
This article lists hydroelectric power stations that generate power using the conventional dammed method. This list includes power stations that are larger than in maximum net capacity, and are operational or under construction. Those power sta ...
* Other rivers originating at Mahabaleshwar (Panchganga)
Gayatri River
The Gayatri River is a tributary of the Krishna River in western Maharashtra, India. It rises in Panchaganga temple in old Mahableshwar, a hill station in the Western Ghats.
The river meets the Krishna River, which is one of the three larges ...
,
Krishna River,
Savitri River
Savitri River is one of the 5 rivers which originate from Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra state in India.It originates at Savitri point near Mahabaleshwar and flows through the bankot village and directly goes to Arabian sea Raigad district a ...
and
Venna River
The Venna River rises in Mahabaleshwar, and is a tributary of the Krishna River in Satara district of western Maharashtra, India. It rises near Mahableshwar, a famous hill station in the Western Ghats.
The river meets the Krishna River and ...
External links
References
Rivers of Maharashtra
Tributaries of the Krishna River
Rivers of India
{{India-river-stub