The Parang River (), also called Para River () and Pare Chu () is an upstream tributary of the Sutlej River, that originates in the Indian state of

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...

and ends in Himachal Pradesh again, but flows through

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu ...

and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

before doing so. The origin of the river is near the Parang La pass in the Spiti subdistrict. After its circuitous journey, it joins the Spiti River near Sumdo in Himachal Pradesh and the combined river then joins Sutlej.: "... the Para River which, after passing through a small part of Tibet, later enters Spiti and joins the Spiti River."

Name

The name "Para River", which becomes ''Pare Chu'' in Tibetan, is based on the shepherds' ground of ''Para'' in Karab-Bargyok (in the Tibetan part of its course). In

Kinnauri Kinnauri, also known as Kanauri, Kanor, Koonawur, Kanawari or Kunawar (Takri: 𑚊𑚮𑚝𑚵𑚤𑚯/𑚊𑚝𑚵𑚤𑚯/𑚊𑚝𑚵𑚤/𑚊𑚱𑚝𑚭𑚦𑚰𑚤/𑚊𑚰𑚝𑚦𑚤, Tibetan:ཀིནཽརཱི), is a Sino-Tibet ...

, the river was called ''Parati''. The Tibetans and Ladakhis were more likely to call it by the name of locale above their own, as the "Rupshu river" or "Tsotso river", Tsotso being the name of the valley in West Tibet through which it flows. Henry Strachey regarded it as the western headwater of Sutlej River, and called it "Rupshu Sutlej" or "Tsotso Sutlej".

Course

Lahul-Spiti-Bashahr-Parang-River-in-a-map-of-Punjab-1907

The Parang River originates in

Spiti Spiti (pronounced as Piti in Bhoti language) is a high-altitude region of the Himalayas, located in the north-eastern part of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The name "Spiti" means "The middle land", i.e. the land between Tib ...

and ends in Spiti, taking a circuitous route through

and Ngari Khorsum (West Tibet). British geographer Alexander Cunningham wries: Interestingly, Spiti River flows by the Parang Pass only 10 km to its west. The Parang River joins it about 80 km downstream at Sumdo, near the Tibet border. Cunningham states that the Spiti and Parang rivers are roughly equal in volume. But Parang is only a "very large rushing torrent" while Spiti is very deep rapid river. After the union of the two at Sumdo (the old Chang-Razing), the combined river flows south for about , where it joins the Sutlej.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{citation , last=Strachey , first=Henry , title=Physical Geography of Western Tibet , publisher=William Clows and Sons , location=London , date=1854 , url=https://archive.org/details/physicalgeograp00stragoog , via=archive.org , ref={{sfnref, Strachey, Physical Geography of Western Tibet, 1854

External links

* Th
Para River basin
marked on OpenStreetMap. Rivers of Himachal Pradesh Rivers of Ladakh Rivers of Tibet Indus basin