Indus River

The Indus, near Skardu

The Indus River is one of the seven sacred rivers of Hindus. Now the river flows through China (Tibet), into Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of Pakistan. It was an important river of Ancient India. The name of India and now the Republic of India is based on the Indus. The river flowed from Sinhkabab, that is, the mouth of a lion. The river itself they described in Sanskrit as the Sindhu. The ancient Greeks called it Sinthus, the Romans Sindhus, the Chinese Sintow and the Persians Abisindh.

It was Pliny who first called it Indus and the name stuck. The Indus in turn gave it name to India.

River basin

Over 60% of the total area of the Indus basin is in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, India-Administered Kashmir, has about 15%, Tibet has about 10% and the Republic of India and Afghanistan each have about 7% of the Indus basin catchment area. The Indus water system of rivers comprises the main Indus and its major tributaries: the Kabul River and Kurram River on the right bank, and the Jhelum River, Chenab River, Ravi River, Beas River and the Sutlej on the left. The first two join the Indus soon after it debouches from the mountains, and the others lower down in the plains. The whole of the Beas and the head reaches of the Ravi and Sutlej are in the Republic of India, while those of the Chenab and Jhelum lie mostly in the disputed Kashmir state. The entire basin covers an area of about 384,000 square miles of open land, of which 204,000 lie in Pakistan. In addition, there are about 29,000 square miles which lie outside the Indus basin but are dependent on the Indus river system for their water requirements and irrigation supplies. But for the Indus waters, the fate of agriculture in Pakistan would have been very uncertain. Even now when Pakistan is being rapidly industrialised, it cannot do without its water resources, for a very big percentage of its existing and proposed industry has to draw upon the agriculture produce for its raw materials. Almost all of the basin in Pakistan receives an overall rainfull of less than 15 inches, 60% of its area receiving less than 10 inches, while, 16% receives less than 5 inches. The rainfull is not evenly distributed throughout the year but is concentrated during the monsoons.

Course

Rising in western Tibet, the Indus runs at first across a high plateau, then the ground falls away and the river, dropping rapidly, gathering momentum and rushing north-west, collects the waters from innumerable glacier-fed streams, and runs north-west between the world's greatest mountain ranges, the Karakoram and the Himalayas. In Kashmir it crosses the United Nations cease-fire line and, in Baltistan District, enters Pakistani Kashmir or Pakistan-Administered Kashmir. From here on it is Pakistan's river; Pakistan's first town on the upper Indus, Skardu, at 7,500 feet above sea-level, stands on a bluff near the junction of the Indus and one of its great right-bank tributaries, the Shigar. The majority of the people live in Skardu town; others inhabit small and scattered villages along the Indus and Shigar valleys, or tiny hamlets high on the surrounding mountains beside tributary streams or springs.

Economy

Walnuts grow along the Indus near Skardu, and poplars and apples; there are delicious melons and nectarines and apricots in the valley of Shigar, but it is difficult to send them "down-country" because they are easily spoilt in transit. Potatoes, maize and other crops need unremitting attention; the patchwork of fields must be fed by small water-channels led off from the upper streams of the Indus, sometimes for hundreds of yards. This means endless, back-breaking work in moving boulders to dam icy water, in continually checking, adjusting and repairing the flimsy clay dykes. Strong winds funnel along the river, and the fine soil blows away and must be replaced. At this height, the growing season is short, and everyman, woman and child is pressed into service. Below Skardu, the Karakorams and Himalayas close in towards the Indus.

Tributaries

The confluence of the Indus (green water to the left) and Zanskar (brown water to the right) rivers.

In a brief widening of its valley, the clear, jade-green Gilgit River foams down to meet it from the Hindu Kush. These mountains stand across the Indus's path, and the river is forced to turn to the south-west. The Astor joins it from the east. Reinforced, the Indus twists and swirls down a trough between the Hindu Kush to the west, and the huge rampart of Nanga Parbat to the east. In all these upper reaches of the Indus, narrow alluvial fans spill down the occasional cracks in the mountain rock. Good soil is rare here, and perched on their mud platforms, the few villages have to fight an endless battle against erosion by wind and climate. Some villages never see the sun in winter, others are so scorched in summer that the inhabitants must migrate to the uplands. Every village lives under threat. Appalling storms are commonplace, especially where the Indus begins to reach the monsoon area. Sometimes, in the high mountains, a glacier will slide across a tributary river and hold it back to form a lake; when the ice-dam breaks it releases a great gush of water and reaches high up the cliffs in the Indus narrows. A landslide from the foothills of Nanga Parbat has even been known to block the Indus itself, temporarily, and the destruction downstream, through, was catastrophic. Avalanches of mud and boulders suddenly poured down the mountainside, overwhelming people and crops in their path. Most terrible of all are the earthquakes. This is a geologically unstable area, and there have been many earthquakes, the most recent being in the autumn of 2005, also known as the Kashmir Earthquake.

Dams

The Indus is dammed to provide for irrigation and for hydro-electricity.

The largest dam on the Indus is Tarbela Dam. When it was built 100,000 people had to leave their homes.

The Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) Project is one of the main drainage systems in the delta. The project is sponsored by the World Bank.

Other websites

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Indus River

• Blankonthemap The Northern Kashmir WebSite
• All About Indus River Pakistan
• Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law See Indus River. Peace Palace Libray
• Northern Areas Development Gateway
• The Mountain Areas Conservancy Project
• Indus River watershed map (World Resources Institute)
• Indus Treaty
• Baglihar Dam issue
• Indus
• Indus Wildlife