The Vrishabhavathi River is a minor river, a tributary of the

Arkavathy The Arkavati is an important mountain river in Karnataka, India, originating at Nandi Hills of Chikkaballapura district. It is a tributary of the Kaveri, which it joins at 34 km south of Kanakapura, Ramanagara District called Sangama ...

, that flows through the south of the Indian city of

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. The river was once so pristine that the water from it was used for drinking and used by the famous Gali Anjaneya temple but is now highly polluted due to pollutants from industrial, agricultural and domestic sources.

Etymology

Vrishabhavathi is derived from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

word ''Vrishabha'' which refers to a bull. The river is believed to originate at the feet of the monolithic Nandi statue at the Big Bull Temple in

Basavanagudi Basavanagudi is a residential and commercial locality in the Indian city of Bangalore. It is located in South Bangalore, along the borders of Jayanagar. The name "Basavanagudi" refers to the Bull Temple, which contains a monolith statue of the N ...

, hence giving it the name ''Vrishabhavathi''.

Course

Basavanagudi Boulder Inscription Colour English

The origin of the river is near the Dakshinamukha Nandi Tirtha or the Kadu Malleshwara Temple in

Malleswaram Malleshwara (also referred as Malleshwaram) is a northwest neighborhood and one of the zones of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike in Bengaluru, India. It was planned in 1889 after the great plague of 1898, developed as a suburb in 1892 and h ...

, and it flows through major areas like Nayandahalli, Rajarajeshwari Nagar and

Kengeri Kengeri is a suburb in Bangalore city. It is located on the western corridor along Mysore Road, bordered by Nagarbhavi to the north and Rajarajeshwari Nagar to the east. History The name Kengeri comes from the Kannada words Tengu coconut and K ...

. The river can be seen near the Mantri Mall Malleswaram, Magadi Road and

Mysore Road State Highway 17 (SH-17) is a state highway connecting the cities of Bangalore and Mysore in the south Indian state of Karnataka. The highway has a total length of . It was built and maintained by the Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limi ...

metro stations. The river culminates in a reservoir named after itself Vrishabhavathi Reservoir near

Bidadi Bidadi is a town situated on the Bengaluru – Mysuru expressway and is part of the Ramnagar in the state of Karnataka. The town is located 32 km from Bangalore towards Mysuru and is connected by both rail and bus to Bengaluru City. It ...

. It joins Arkavathy River near

Kanakapura Kanakapura is a town in the Ramanagara district of Karnataka on the banks of the Arkavathi river and the administrative center of the taluk of the same name. Previously belonged to Bangalore Rural District. It was formerly the largest constit ...

as a tributary. The river has a basin area of and passes through 96 out of the 198 wards in Bangalore. A smaller stream of the river originates near

Bugle Rock Bugle Rock () is a massive rock in the Basavanagudi area of South Bangalore, in the state of Karnataka. It is an abrupt rise above the ground of peninsular gneiss as the main rock formation and with an assessed age of about 3,000 million years. ...

, and joins the main river near Mysore Road.

Religious significance

There are several temples throughout the course of the river. Some of the well-known temples along the banks on the Vrishabhavathi are Dodda Ganesha and the Dodda Basava Temple, Gali Hanumantha Temple, Gavi Gangadhareshwara temple and the

Kadu Malleshwara Temple The Kadu Malleshwara Temple kn, ಕಾಡು ಮಲ್ಲೇಶ್ವರ is a 17th-century A.D. Hindu temple dedicated to the Shiva located in the Malleshwara locality of Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. The word 'Kadu' means forests, here referri ...

. The Gali Hanumantha Temple is over 600 years old, constructed in 1425 by Sri

Vyasaraya Vyāsatīrtha (. 1460 – 1539), also called ''Vyasaraja'' or ''Chandrikacharya'', was a Hindu philosopher, scholar, polemicist, commentator and poet belonging to the Madhwacharya's Dvaita order of Vedanta. As the patron saint of the Vijay ...

of Channapattana who was a Rajaguru of

Vijayanagara Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana and Mahar ...

. The temple was constructed on the confluence of two rivers – Vrishabhavathi and Paschimavahini. The Ishwara Temple at Kengeri dates back to 1050 AD.

Pollution and current concerns

The river is highly polluted due to pollutants from industrial, agricultural and domestic sources. It is said to be dark, smelly and frothy due to "untreated or badly treated domestic sewage that goes into the river." In 2005, the then

Chief Minister of Karnataka The Chief minister (India), chief minister of Karnataka, formerly known as the chief minister of Mysore, is the Head of government, chief executive officer of the Government of Karnataka, government of the India, Indian state of Karnataka. As pe ...

Dharam Singh Dharam Narayan Singh (25 December 1936 – 27 July 2017) was an Indian senior congress politician who served as the 17th Chief Minister of Karnataka from 28 May 2004 to 28 January 2006 and Member of the Lok Sabha from Bidar Lok Sabha constitu ...

proposed to remodel the

river valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ...

to include widening of the river, and adopt measures to prevent inundation.

References

Rivers of Karnataka Geography of Bangalore Rivers of India {{India-river-stub