GODAVARI

 Godavari — The Dakshina Ganga

Among India's great rivers, the Godavari has a special distinction. At about 1,465 kilometres, it is the longest river of peninsular India. Rising in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra, it travels across the Deccan, gathers the waters of numerous tributaries and finally reaches the Bay of Bengal through the fertile plains of Andhra Pradesh.

For centuries, people have called her Dakshina Ganga — the Ganga of the South.

From a sacred spring

The Godavari rises near Trimbakeshwar in Maharashtra, close to Nashik. Its source lies in the Brahmagiri hills, a region deeply associated with Shiva and one of the twelve Jyotirlingas.

From these relatively modest beginnings, the river begins a remarkable journey eastward.

What starts as a stream in the Western Ghats eventually becomes one of India's great river systems.

A river that gathers rivers

The Godavari does not travel alone.

Along its course it receives many important tributaries, including the Purna, Pranhita, Manjira, Maner, Indravati and Sabari.

The Pranhita is particularly significant, carrying the combined waters of the Wardha and Wainganga systems into the Godavari.

By the time the river reaches Andhra Pradesh, it has become immense.

A river of kingdoms and temples

The Godavari has witnessed the rise and fall of dynasties and sustained generations of farmers.

Its basin touches regions associated with the Satavahanas, Chalukyas, Kakatiyas and later kingdoms of the Deccan.

It is also a sacred river.

Nashik, Bhadrachalam, Rajamahendravaram and the Godavari delta are all associated with important religious traditions.

At Bhadrachalam, the river flows beside the great temple of Sri Rama. At Rajamahendravaram, the Godavari becomes part of the cultural heart of Andhra.

Every twelve years, the Pushkaram festival brings pilgrims to the river's banks in enormous numbers.

The Godavari harnessed

The Godavari is also one of India's great stories of water management.

As the river travels across the Deccan, numerous dams and irrigation projects have been constructed to store and distribute its waters.

Among the important projects are:

• Gangapur Dam in Maharashtra
• Jayakwadi Dam in Maharashtra
• Sriram Sagar Project in Telangana
• Kaddam Project in Telangana
• Sripada Yellampalli Project in Telangana
• Polavaram Project in Andhra Pradesh

Some major projects are on tributaries rather than the main river itself, but together they form part of the enormous Godavari river system.

The man who transformed the delta

Perhaps the most remarkable chapter in the modern history of the Godavari belongs to Sir Arthur Cotton.

In the nineteenth century, he recognised the enormous irrigation potential of the river and played a leading role in developing the Dowleswaram Barrage.

The waters of the Godavari could now be distributed across the delta through an extensive irrigation network.

A river that had periodically brought devastating floods could also become a source of extraordinary agricultural prosperity.

The Godavari delta became one of India's great rice-growing regions.

And finally, the sea

Near the coast, the Godavari divides into several distributaries and spreads across the plains before entering the Bay of Bengal.

Here the river creates a vast and fertile delta—one of the richest agricultural landscapes in India.

After travelling nearly 1,465 kilometres, the Godavari finally gives herself to the sea.

But her journey does not really end there.

The water that began as a sacred spring in the Brahmagiri hills has nourished forests, fields, villages, cities, temples and countless lives along the way.

Perhaps that is why the ancient Indian imagination never regarded a river as merely water.

A river gives without asking.
It gathers without discrimination.
It travels without turning back.
And in giving itself to the ocean, it completes its journey.

The Godavari is therefore more than the longest river of peninsular India.

She is a river of geography, civilisation, faith and life — the Dakshina Ganga.