The Sutlej or Satluj River () is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
in northern
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 ...
and
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
. The Sutlej River is also known as ''Satadru''. It is the easternmost
tributary
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...
of the
Indus River
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...
. The
Bhakra Dam
Bhakra Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Sutlej River in Bhakra Village near Bilaspur in Bilaspur district, Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The dam forms the Gobind Sagar reservoir.
The dam, located at a gorge near the (now submerged ...
is built around the river Sutlej to provide irrigation and other facilities to the states of Punjab,
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...
and
Haryana
Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...
.
The waters of the Sutlej are allocated to India under the
Indus Waters Treaty
The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, arranged and negotiated by the World Bank, to use the water available in the Indus River and its tributaries. It was signed in Karachi on 19 September 1960 ...
between India and Pakistan, and are mostly diverted to irrigation canals in India like the
Sirhind Canal
The Sirhind Canal is a large irrigation canal that carries water from the Sutlej River in Punjab state, India. It is one of the oldest and biggest irrigation works in the Indus river system, and was inaugurated in 1882 CE. The canal begins at Ropa ...
, Bhakra Main Line and the
Rajasthan canal
The Indira Gandhi Canal (originally, Rajasthan Canal) is the longest canal in India. It starts at the Harike Barrage near Harike, a few kilometers downriver from the confluence of the Satluj and Beas rivers in Punjab state, and ends in irrigat ...
. The mean annual flow is 14 million acre feet (MAF) upstream of
Ropar barrage, downstream of the Bhakra dam. It has several major hydroelectric points, including the 1,325
MW Bhakra Dam
Bhakra Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Sutlej River in Bhakra Village near Bilaspur in Bilaspur district, Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The dam forms the Gobind Sagar reservoir.
The dam, located at a gorge near the (now submerged ...
, the 1,000 MW
Karcham Wangtoo Hydroelectric Plant
The Karcham Wangtoo Hydroelectric Plant is a run-of-the-river hydroelectric power station on the Sutlej River in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh state of India.
Etymology
The dam and power station are located between the villages of Ka ...
, and the 1,500 MW
Nathpa Jhakri Dam
The Nathpa Jhakri Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Sutlej river in Himachal Pradesh, India. The primary purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power production and it supplies a underground power station with water. Before reaching the power s ...
. The
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...
in India includes the states and union territories of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Ladakh and Haryana.
Course
The source of the Sutlej is west of the
catchment area
In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...
of
Lake Rakshastal
Lake Rakshastal (;Sanskrit: राक्षसताल; ) is a saltwater lake in Tibet Autonomous Region, China, lying just west of Lake Manasarovar and south of Mount Kailash. The Sutlej River (also known by the Tibetan name Langqen Zan ...
in
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 people, ...
, as springs in an
ephemeral
Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...
stream. Lake Rakshastal used to be part of the Sutlej river basin long ago and separated from the Sutlej due to tectonic activity. The nascent river flows at first west-northwest for about under the Tibetan name ''
Langqên Zangbo
The Sutlej or Satluj River () is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as ''Satadru''. It is the easternmost tributary of the In ...
'' (''Elephant River'' or ''Elephant Spring'') to the
Shipki La
__NOTOC__
Shipki La is a mountain pass and border post with a dozen buildings of significant size on the India-China border. The river Sutlej, which is called Langqên Zangbo in Tibet, enters India (from Tibet) near this pass. A spur road on ...
pass, entering India in
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 ...
state. It then has its main
knee
In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...
heading west-southwest for about to meet the
Beas River
The Beas River (Sanskrit: ; Hyphasis in Ancient Greek) is a river in north India. The river rises in the Himalayas in central Himachal Pradesh, India, and flows for some to the Sutlej River in the Indian state of Punjab. Its total length is ...
near
Harike
Harike is a village located in Patti Tehsil in Tarn Taran district of Punjab, India, Punjab state in India. The Postal Index Number, PIN code of Wakro is 143412. Harike is connected by two national highways, National Highway 54 (India), Nationa ...
,
Tarn Taran district
Tarn Taran district is one of the districts in the Majha region of Punjab, India. The main cities are Tarn Taran Sahib, Bhikhiwind, Khadur Sahib and Patti. The City of Tarn Taran is a holy place for Sikhs.
Tarn Taran district was formed in 2 ...
,
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
state.
Ropar Wetland
Ropar Wetland, also named Ropar Lake, is a man-made freshwater riverine and Lake, lacustrine wetland. The area has at least 9 mammal, 154 bird (migratory and local), 35 fish, 9 arthropod, 11 rotifer, 9 crustacean and 10 protozoan species, making ...
in
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
state is located on the Sutlej river basin. Evidence suggests
Indus Valley civilisation
The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900&n ...
also flourished here. Ungti Chu and Pare Chu rivers which drain southeastern part of
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 ...
are tributaries of Sutlej river.
Continuing west-southwest, the Sutlej enters Pakistan about east of
Bhedian Kalan
Bhedian Kalan ( ur, ) is a town and Union Councils of Pakistan, Union Council of the Kasur District in the Punjab (Pakistan), Punjab province of Pakistan. It is part of Kasur Tehsil and is located at an altitude of 187 metres (616 feet).
R ...
,
Kasur District
Kasur District ( Punjabi and ur, , translit=Zilā Qasūr), is a district located in Lahore Division of Punjab, Pakistan. It came into existence on 1 July 1976. Prior to its creation, it was a tehsil of the Lahore District.
The district capit ...
,
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
province, continuing southwest to water the ancient and historical former
Bahawalpur princely state. Few centuries ago, Sutlej river was merging with the
Ghaggar river
The Ghaggar-Hakra River is an intermittent river in India and Pakistan that flows only during the monsoon season. The river is known as Ghaggar in India, before the Ottu barrage, and as the Hakra in Pakistan, downstream of the barrage, ending ...
to discharge in to the Arabian sea. In approx. 1797 BC, the course of the Sutlej river moved towards north to join the
Beas river
The Beas River (Sanskrit: ; Hyphasis in Ancient Greek) is a river in north India. The river rises in the Himalayas in central Himachal Pradesh, India, and flows for some to the Sutlej River in the Indian state of Punjab. Its total length is ...
.
About north of
Uch Sharif
Uch ( pa, ;
ur, ), frequently referred to as Uch Sharīf ( pa, ;
ur, ; ''"Noble Uch"''), is a historic city in the southern part of Pakistan's Punjab province. Uch may have been founded as Alexandria on the Indus, a town founded by Alexand ...
, the Sutlej unites with the
Chenab River
The Chenab River () is a major river that flows in India and Pakistan, and is one of the 5 major rivers of the Punjab region. It is formed by the union of two headwaters, Chandra and Bhaga, which rise in the upper Himalayas in the Lahaul regi ...
, forming the
Panjnad River
The Panjnad River ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a river at the extreme end of Bahawalpur district in Punjab, Pakistan. The name ''Panjnad'' means "five rivers", from Persian ''panj'' ("five") and Sanskrit ''nadī́'' ("river").The Panjnad River is for ...
, which finally flows into the Indus river about west of the city of
Bahawalpur
Bahawalpur () is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. With inhabitants as of 2017, it is Pakistan's 11th most populous city.
Founded in 1748, Bahawalpur was the capital of the former princely state of Bahawalpur, ruled by the Abbasi fa ...
. The area to the southeast on the Pakistani side of the Indian border is called the
Cholistan Desert
The Cholistan Desert ( ur, ; Punjabi: ), also locally known as Rohi (), is a desert in the southern part of Punjab, Pakistan that forms part of the Greater Thar Desert, which extends to Sindh province and the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is ...
and, on the Indian side, the
Thar Desert
The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, is an arid region in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent, Subcontinent that covers an area of and forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan. It is the world's Li ...
.
The Indus then flows through a
gorge
A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...
near
Sukkur
Sukkur (; ) is a city in the Pakistani province of Sindh along the western bank of the Indus River, directly across from the historic city of Rohri. Sukkur is the third largest city in Sindh after Karachi and Hyderabad, and 14th largest ci ...
and the fertile plains region of
Sindh
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
, forming a large delta region between the border of
Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
, India and Pakistan, finally terminating in the
Arabian Sea
The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...
near the
port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
city of
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
, Pakistan. During floods, Indus river water flows in to Indian part of
Great Rann of Kutch
The Great Rann of Kutch (or Rann of Kutch seasonal salt marsh) is a salt marsh in the Thar Desert in the Kutch District of Gujarat, India. It is about 7500 km2 (2900 sq miles) in area and is reputed to be one of the largest salt de ...
. Thus Gujarat state of India is also a riparian state of Indus river as
Rann of Kutch
The Rann of Kutch (alternately spelled as Kuchchh) is a large area of salt marshes that span the border between India and Pakistan. It is located in Gujarat (primarily the Kutch district), India, and in Sindh, Pakistan. It is divided into t ...
area lying west of
Kori Creek
The Kori Creek is a tidal creek in the Kutch region of the Indian state of Gujarat. It lies just to the west of the Great Rann of Kutch area of India. This region belonging to India is a part of the Indus River Delta, which lies across Gujar ...
in the state is part of the
Indus River Delta
The Indus River Delta ( ur, سندھ ڈیلٹا, sd, سنڌو ٽِڪور), forms where the Indus River flows into the Arabian Sea, mostly in the southern Sindh province of Pakistan with a small portion in the Kutch Region of India. The delta co ...
.
Puranic Mention and Etymology
In the Chaitra-Ratha Parva of
Adi Parva The ''Adi Parva'' or ''The Book of the Beginning'' is the first of eighteen books of the Mahabharata. "Adi" ( आदि, Ādi) is a Sanskrit word that means "first".
Adi Parva traditionally has 19 parts and 236 adhyayas (chapters). The critical edi ...
of
Mahābhārata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
, when sage
Vasishṭha wants to commit suicide he sees the river named Haimāvata (whose source is Himavat), flooded and full of crocodiles and other aquatic monsters. So he jumps into the river. The river thinking that Vasishṭha is a mass of unquenchable fire dilated itself and flew in a hundred different directions. Henceforth the river was named śatadra (or śatadru) which means the river of a hundred courses. So, Vasishṭha landed on dry land and was unharmed.
Langqên Zangbo
''Langqên Zangbo'' (; ) is a river in
Ngari
Ngari Prefecture () or Ali Prefecture () is a prefecture of China's Tibet Autonomous Region covering Western Tibet, whose traditional name is Ngari Khorsum. Its administrative centre and largest settlement is the town of Shiquanhe.
History
Ngar ...
,
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 people, ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. The name ''Langqên'', Tibetan for "elephant", is because of a valley that resembles an elephant trunk. This river is the main source of the Sutlej, a tributary of
Indus River
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...
. It enters
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 ...
at
Shipki La
__NOTOC__
Shipki La is a mountain pass and border post with a dozen buildings of significant size on the India-China border. The river Sutlej, which is called Langqên Zangbo in Tibet, enters India (from Tibet) near this pass. A spur road on ...
pass. The source is south of
Gangdise Range, in Ngari Prefecture. Its course is mainly in the
Zanda County __NOTOC__
Zanda County () or Tsamda County () is a county in the Ngari Prefecture to the extreme west of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Its seat of power is at Tholing, the former capital of the Guge kingdom.
Zanda or Tsamda is said to me ...
. The river drains an area of 22,760 km
2, and covers a length of 309 km. The drop in height is 3,256 m. Historically, the river was the centre of the
Zhangzhung
Zhangzhung or Shangshung was an ancient culture and kingdom in western and northwestern Tibet, which pre-dates the culture of Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet. Zhangzhung culture is associated with the Bon religion, which has influenced the philosophies ...
Kingdom until its fall in the 8th century AD.
Geology
Sutlej is an
antecedent river An antecedent stream is a stream that maintains its original course and pattern despite the changes in underlying rock topography. A stream with a dendritic drainage pattern, for example, can be subject to slow tectonic uplift. However, as the upli ...
, which existed before the Himalayas and
entrenched itself while they were rising. The Sutlej, along with all of the Punjab rivers, is thought to have drained east into the
Ganges
The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
prior to 5
mya.
There is substantial geologic evidence to indicate that prior to 1700 BC, and perhaps much earlier, the Sutlej was an important tributary of the
Ghaggar-Hakra River
The Ghaggar-Hakra River is an intermittent river in India and Pakistan that flows only during the monsoon season. The river is known as Ghaggar in India, before the Ottu barrage, and as the Hakra in Pakistan, downstream of the barrage, ending ...
(thought to be the legendary
Sarasvati River
The Sarasvati River () is a deified river first mentioned in the Rigveda and later in Vedic and post-Vedic texts. It played an important role in the Vedic religion, appearing in all but the fourth book of the Rigveda.
As a physical river, i ...
) rather than the Indus, with various authors putting the redirection from 2500 to 2000 BC, from 5000 to 3000 BC, or before 8000 BC. Geologists believe that
tectonic activity created elevation changes which redirected the flow of Sutlej from the southeast to the southwest. If the diversion of the river occurred recently (about 4000 years ago), it may have been responsible for the Ghaggar-Hakra (Saraswati) drying up, causing desertification of
Cholistan
The Cholistan Desert ( ur, ; Punjabi: ), also locally known as Rohi (), is a desert in the southern part of Punjab, Pakistan that forms part of the Greater Thar Desert, which extends to Sindh province and the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is o ...
and the eastern part of the modern state of
Sindh
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
, and the abandonment of
Harappan settlements along the Ghaggar. However, the Sutlej may have already been
captured by the Indus thousands of years earlier.
There is some evidence that the high rate of erosion caused by the modern Sutlej River has influenced the local faulting and rapidly exhumed rocks above
Rampur. This would be similar to, but on a much smaller scale than, the exhumation of rocks by the Indus River in
Nanga Parbat
Nanga Parbat ( ur, ) (; ), known locally as Diamer () which means “king of the mountains”, is the ninth-highest mountain on Earth, its summit at above sea level. Lying immediately southeast of the northernmost bend of the Indus River in ...
, Pakistan. The Sutlej River also exposes a doubled inverted
metamorphic gradient
In geology, a metamorphic zone is an area where, as a result of metamorphism, the same combination of minerals occur in the bedrock. These zones occur because most metamorphic minerals are only stable in certain intervals of temperature and pressu ...
.
Sutlej-Yamuna Link
There has been a proposal to build a long heavy freight and irrigation canal, to be known as the
Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) to connect the Sutlej and
Yamuna
The Yamuna (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in List of major rivers of India, India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a ...
rivers. The project is intended to connect the Ganges, which flows to the east coast of the subcontinent, with points west, via Pakistan. When completed, the SYL would enable inland shipping from India's east coast to its west coast (on the Arabian sea) without having to round the southern tip of India by sea, vastly shortening shipping distances, alleviating pressures on seaports, avoiding sea hazards, creating business opportunities along the route, raising real estate values, raising tax revenue, and establishing important commercial links and providing jobs for north-central India's large population. However, the proposal has met with obstacles and has been referred to the
Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...
. To augment nearly 100
tmcft
Tmcft, (Tmc ft), (TMC), (tmc), is the abbreviation of thousand million cubic feet (1,000,000,000 = 109 = 1 billion), commonly used in India in reference to volume of water in a reservoir
or river flow.
Conversion
1 tmcft is equivalent to:
* ( ...
water availability for the needs of this link canal,
Tso Moriri
Tso Moriri or Lake Moriri () or "Mountain Lake", is a lake in the Changthang Plateau (literally: northern plains) of Ladakh in India. The lake and surrounding area are protected as the Tso Moriri Wetland Conservation Reserve.
The lake is at ...
lake/Lingdi Nadi (a tributary of Tso Moriri lake) waters can be diverted to the Sutlej basin by digging a 10 km long gravity canal to connect to the Ungti Chu river.
History
The Upper Sutlej Valley, called
Langqên Zangbo
The Sutlej or Satluj River () is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as ''Satadru''. It is the easternmost tributary of the In ...
in
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 people, ...
, was once known as the
Garuda
Garuda (Sanskrit: ; Pāli: ; Vedic Sanskrit: गरुळ Garuḷa) is a Hindu demigod and divine creature mentioned in the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain faiths. He is primarily depicted as the mount (''vahana'') of the Hindu god Vishnu. Garuda is a ...
Valley by the
Zhangzhung
Zhangzhung or Shangshung was an ancient culture and kingdom in western and northwestern Tibet, which pre-dates the culture of Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet. Zhangzhung culture is associated with the Bon religion, which has influenced the philosophies ...
, the ancient civilization of western
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 people, ...
. The Garuda Valley was the centre of their empire, which stretched many miles into the nearby
Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...
. The Zhangzhung built a towering palace in the Upper Sutlej Valley called
Kyunglung
Kyunglung (also Khyunglung, Qulong or Qulongcun) is a village in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Kyunglung Ngüka (, ) "Silver Palace of Garuda Valley", located southwest of Mount Kailash (), identified with palaces found in the upper Sutlej ...
, the ruins of which still exist today near the village of
Moincêr __NOTOC__
Minsar: "Minsar (Missar) – Ladakhi enclave in West Tibet close to Lake Manasarowar; during the Dogra-Tibet War (1841-2), the Dogras stored their supplies here." or Moincêr () is a village and the centre of a township in the Ngari Prefe ...
, southwest of
Mount Kailash
Mount Kailash (also Kailasa; ''Kangrinboqê'' or ''Gang Rinpoche''; Standard Tibetan, Tibetan: གངས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ; ; sa, कैलास, ), is a mountain in the Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It h ...
(Mount Ti-se). Eventually, the Zhangzhung were conquered by the
Tibetan Empire
The Tibetan Empire (, ; ) was an empire centered on the Tibetan Plateau, formed as a result of imperial expansion under the Yarlung dynasty heralded by its 33rd king, Songtsen Gampo, in the 7th century. The empire further expanded under the 38 ...
. Sutlej river also formed the eastern boundary of the
Sikh Empire
The Sikh Empire was a state originating in the Indian subcontinent, formed under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who established an empire based in the Punjab. The empire existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahor ...
under Maharajah
Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He s ...
.
Today, the Sutlej Valley is inhabited by nomadic descendants of the Zhangzhung, who live in tiny villages of
yak
The domestic yak (''Bos grunniens''), also known as the Tartary ox, grunting ox or hairy cattle, is a species of long-haired domesticated cattle found throughout the Himalayan region of the Indian subcontinent, the Tibetan Plateau, Kachin Sta ...
herders.
The Sutlej was the main medium of transportation for the kings of that time. In the early 18th century, it was used to transport
devdar
''Monoon longifolium'', the false ashoka, also commonly known by its synonym ''Polyalthia longifolia'', is an Asian small tree species in the family Annonaceae. It is native to southern India and Sri Lanka, but has been widely introduced els ...
woods for
Bilaspur district,
Hamirpur district, and other places along the Sutlej's banks.
Of four rivers (
Indus
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...
, Sutlej,
Brahmaputra
The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. It ...
and
Karnali/
Ganges
The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
) mythically flowing out of holy
Lake Manasarovar
Lake Manasarovar (Sanskrit: मानसरोवर), also called Mapam Yutso (;) locally, is a high altitude freshwater lake fed by the Kailash Glaciers near Mount Kailash in Burang County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The l ...
, the Sutlej is actually connected by channels that are dry most of the time. Earlier the river was also called as Shutudri or Zaradros river.
Gallery
Image:Sutlej Valley from Rampur ca. 1857.jpg, Sutlej Valley from Rampur c. 1857
File:Crossing the Sutlej near Simla upon inflated animal skins.jpeg, Using inflated animal skins to cross the Sutlej River, c. 1905
File:Kinnaur 392.jpg, Sutlej River in Kinnaur
Kinnaur is one of the twelve administrative districts of the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The district is divided into three administrative areas (Kalpa, Nichar (Bhabanagar), and Pooh) and has six tehsils. The administrative he ...
Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India
File:Satluj P012.JPG, Cattle grazing on the banks of the river in Rupnagar
Rupnagar (; formerly known as Ropar is a city and a municipal council in Rupnagar district in the Indian state of Punjab. Rupnagar is a newly created fifth Divisional Headquarters of Punjab comprising Rupnagar, Mohali, and its adjoining distr ...
, Punjab, India
File:Satluj river.JPG, Satluj River near Shahkot, Punjab, India
File:"Hungarung Pass in the Himalayas" (nowadays called Shipki La, where the Sutlej River enters India from Tibet), from the Illustrated London News, 1856.jpg, Sutlej entering India from Tibet near Shipki La
__NOTOC__
Shipki La is a mountain pass and border post with a dozen buildings of significant size on the India-China border. The river Sutlej, which is called Langqên Zangbo in Tibet, enters India (from Tibet) near this pass. A spur road on ...
, c. 1856
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 ...
*
List of rivers of Pakistan
This is a list of rivers wholly or partly in Pakistan, organised geographically by river basin, from west to east. Tributaries are listed from the mouth to the source. The longest and the largest river in Pakistan is the Indus River. Around two- ...
*
Cis-Sutlej states
The Cis-Sutlej states were a group of states in the modern Punjab and Haryana states of northwestern India during the 19th century, lying between the Sutlej River on the north, the Himalayas on the east, the Yamuna River and Delhi District on the ...
*
Sulemanki Headworks
Sulemanki Headworks is a headworks on the River Sutlej near Okara, in the Punjab province of Pakistan.
Sulemanki Headworks is used for irrigation and flood control.
Sulemanki Headworks is part of the Sutlej Valley Project completed between 1922 ...
*
Geology of the Himalaya
The geology of the Himalayas is a record of the most dramatic and visible creations of the immense mountain range formed by plate tectonic forces and sculpted by weathering and erosion. The Himalayas, which stretch over 2400 km between th ...
References
External links
Sutlej basinmarked on OpenStreetMap.
Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal is So Controversial?Wissurge,26 August 2020
{{Authority control
Tributaries of the Indus River
Indus basin
Rivers of Tibet
Rivers of Sindh
International rivers of Asia
Rivers of Himachal Pradesh
Rivers of Punjab, India
Rigvedic rivers
India–Pakistan border
Border rivers
Rivers of India
Rivers of Punjab (Pakistan)
Rivers in Buddhism
Rivers of Pakistan