The Pyana (russian: Пья́на) is a river in

Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (russian: link=no, Нижегородская область, ''Nizhegorodskaya oblast''), is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Nizhny Novgorod. It has a population of 3,3 ...

and the Republic of Mordovia,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. It is a left tributary of the

Sura A ''surah'' (; ar, سورة, sūrah, , ), is the equivalent of "chapter" in the Qur'an. There are 114 ''surahs'' in the Quran, each divided into '' ayats'' (verses). The chapters or ''surahs'' are of unequal length; the shortest surah ('' Al-K ...

History and etymology

Pyana translates from Russian into ''drunken''. The original name of the river was likely Piana, and, like many other old Russian geographical names, might be of Uralic origin (compare Finnish ''pieni'' meaning ''small''). The most likely reason for the transformation of Piana to Pyana was the Battle on Pyana River. The battle was fought on 2 August 1377 between the

Blue Horde The eldest son of Genghis Khan, (who established the Mongol Empire) Jochi had several sons. When he died, they inherited their father's dominions as fiefs under the rule of their brothers, Batu Khan, as supreme khan and Orda Khan, who, although ...

Khan Khan may refer to: *Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan *Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name *Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...

Arapsha (Arab-Shah Muzaffar) and joint Russian troops under

Knyaz , or ( Old Church Slavonic: Кнѧзь) is a historical Slavic title, used both as a royal and noble title in different times of history and different ancient Slavic lands. It is usually translated into English as prince or duke, dependi ...

Ivan Dmitriyevich. Awaiting the battle, the Russian Army lost discipline with drunkenness being a norm. They were unexpectedly attacked from all sides and crushed by the Mongols, forcing retreat to and across the Pyana. Many soldiers, and the Knyaz himself, drowned while crossing it. This explanation is further supported by the original text of the chronicles of the battle, where the writer first calls the river Piana, then notes the ironical similarity of the words piana and pyana (in a sense of drunkenness) and further uses Pyana as the river name.

Geography and hydrology

The river is long, and has a drainage basin of .«Река ПЬЯНА»
Russian State Water Registry It freezes around November and thaws in April. The average discharge 65 km from its mouth is 25 m³/s and it can vary between 10 and 1,500 m³/s. River banks contain numerous

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, Dolomite (rock), dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathe ...

caves.Пьяна

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...

(in Russian) Pyana is remarkable by its shape: it runs to the north-west and then turns 180° south-east making a nearly closed loop (see map) before turning north and merging with the Sura.

Human activities

The towns of Perevoz and

Sergach Sergach (russian: Серга́ч) is a town and the administrative center of Sergachsky District in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Pyana River (Sura's tributary), southeast of Nizhny Novgorod, the administrative center of the obl ...

are located on the Pyana. The river is navigable in its lower reaches. On the river banks there is Ichalkovsky Natural Reserve of 936 ha area which is protected by the state since 1963. There is a

hydroelectric station 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 ...

near the village of Ichalkovo with the annual production of 600 MW. Its construction was started after World War II, but completed only in the 1990s.Каникулы для ГЭС
Nizhegorodskie News, 3 April 2007 (in Russian)

References

{{commonscat, Pyana River Rivers of Mordovia Rivers of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast