TheJhelum River[a] is a major river inSouth Asia, flowing throughIndia andPakistan, and is the westernmost of the five major rivers of thePunjab region. It originates atVerinag and flows through the Indian-administered territory ofJammu and Kashmir, into Pakistan-administeredAzad Kashmir, then the Pakistani province ofPunjab. It is atributary of theChenab River and has a total length of about 725 kilometres (450 mi).[6]
APakistani author, Anjum Sultan Shahbaz, recorded some stories of the name Jhelum in his bookTareekh-e-Jhelum:
'Many writers have different opinions about the name of Jhelum. One suggestion is that in ancient days Jhelumabad was known as Jalham. The word Jhelum is reportedly derived from the words Jal (pure water) and Ham (snow). The name thus refers to the waters of a river (flowing beside the city) which have their origins in the snow-cappedHimalayas.[7]
A passenger traversing the river precariously seated in a small suspended cradleCirca 1900
The river Jhelum was originally recognized by the name Vitasta. The river was calledHydaspes (Greek:Ὑδάσπης) by theancient Greeks.
Alexander III of Macedon and his army crossed the Jhelum in BCE 326 at theBattle of the Hydaspes River, where he defeated an Indian king,Porus. According toArrian (Anabasis, 29), he built a city "on the spot whence he started to cross the river Hydaspes", which he namedBukephala (orBucephala) to honour his famous horseBucephalus, buried in present-dayJalalpur Sharif. It is thought that ancient Bukephala was near the site of modernJhelum.[citation needed] According toGujrat district historian Mansoor Behzad Butt, Bukephalus was buried in Jalalpur Sharif, but the people ofMandi Bahauddin, a district close to Jehlum, believed that theirtehsilPhalia was named after Alexander's dead horse, saying that the namePhalia was a distortion ofBucephala.
The waters of the Jhelum are allocated toPakistan under the terms of theIndus Waters Treaty. India is working on ahydropower project on a tributary of Jhelum river to establish first-use rights on the river water over Pakistan as per theIndus Waters Treaty.[11]
The creation of the Jhelum river according to Hindu theology
According to Hindupuranas, the goddessParvati was requested by the sageKashyapa to come toKashmir to purify the land from the evil practices and impurities of thepishachas living there. Parvati assumed the form of a river in thenetherworld. Her consortShiva struck with his spear near the abode of Nila, (Verinag spring). With this stroke of the spear, Parvati emerged from the netherworld. He excavated a ditch measuring onevitasti using the spear,[12] through which the river, originating from the netherworld, came out, and so he gave her the nameVitástā.[13]
Theancient Greeks also regarded the river as agod, as they did most mountains and streams. The poetNonnus in theDionysiaca[14] calls theHydaspes atitan-descended god, the son of the sea-godThaumas and the cloud-goddessElektra, the brother ofIris, goddess of therainbow, and half-brother to theharpies, the snatching winds. Since the river is in a foreign country, it is not clear whether they named the river after the god, or whether the godHydaspes was named after the river.
The river Jhelum rises from Verinag spring at the foot of thePir Panjal in the southeastern Kashmir Valley administered by India. It is joined by its tributaries
The river has rich power generation potential in India. Water control structures are being built as a result of theIndus Basin Project, including the following:
Mangla Dam, completed in 1967, is one of the largestearth-fill dams in the world, with a storage capacity of 5,900,000 acre-feet (7.3 km3)
Karot Hydropower Project is an under-construction[when?] concrete-core rockfill gravity large dam in Pakistan, with a planned installed capacity of 720 MW.
Rasul Barrage, constructed in 1967, has a maximum flow of 850,000 ft³/s (24,000 m³/s).
Trimmu Barrage, constructed in 1939 some 20 km from Jhang Sadar at the confluence with the Chenab, has maximum discharge capacity of 645,000 ft³/s (18,000 m³/s).
Victoria Bridge,Haranpur, constructed in 1973, approximate 5 km fromMalakwal nearChak Nizam village. Its length is 1 km, mainly used byPakistan Railways, but there is a passage for light vehicles, motorcycles, cycles and pedestrians on one side.
Uri Dam with 480 MW Hydroelectric station is located inBaramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir.[16]
Uri Dam II with 240 MW Hydroelectric station is also located in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir.[17]
^(a particular measure of length defined either as a long span between the extended thumb and little finger, or as the distance between the wrist and the tip of the fingers, and said to be about 9 inches
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