TheSutlej River[a] is a major river inAsia, flowing throughChina,India andPakistan, and is the longest of the five major rivers of thePunjab region. It is also known asSatadru;[3] and is the easternmosttributary of theIndus River. The combination of the Sutlej and Chenab rivers in the plains ofPunjab forms thePanjnad, which finally flows into the Indus River atMithankot.
In India, theBhakra Dam is built around the river Sutlej to provide irrigation and other facilities to the states of Punjab,Rajasthan andHaryana.
The source of the Sutlej is west of thecatchment area ofLake Rakshastal inTibet, as springs in anephemeral 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 260 kilometres (160 mi) under the Tibetan nameLangqên Zangbo (Elephant River orElephant Spring) to theShipki La pass, entering India inHimachal Pradesh state. It then has its mainknee heading west-southwest for about 360 kilometres (220 mi) to meet theBeas River nearHarike,Tarn Taran district,Punjab state.Ropar Wetland inPunjab state is located on the Sutlej river basin. Evidence suggestsIndus Valley civilisation also flourished here. Ungti Chu and Pare Chu rivers which drain the southeastern part ofLadakh are tributaries of Sutlej river.[8][9]
Continuing west-southwest, the Sutlej enters Pakistan about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) east ofBhedian Kalan,Kasur District,Punjab province, continuing southwest to water the ancient and historical formerBahawalpur princely state.[citation needed] Few centuries ago, Sutlej river was merging with theGhaggar river to discharge in to the Arabian sea. In approx. 1797 BC, the course of the Sutlej river moved towards the north to join theBeas river.[10]
About 17 kilometres (11 mi) north ofUch Sharif, the Sutlej unites with theChenab River, forming thePanjnad River, which finally flows into the Indus river about 100 kilometres (62 mi) west of the city ofBahawalpur. The area to the southeast on the Pakistani side of the Indian border is called theCholistan Desert and, on the Indian side, theThar Desert.[citation needed]
The Indus then flows through agorge nearSukkur and the fertile plains region ofSindh, forming a large delta region between the border ofGujarat, India and Pakistan, finally terminating in theArabian Sea near theport city ofKarachi, Pakistan. During floods, Indus river water flows into the Indian part of theGreat Rann of Kutch. Thus Gujarat state of India is also a riparian state of the Indus river as theRann of Kutch area lying west ofKori Creek in the state is part of theIndus River Delta.[11]
In the Chaitra-Ratha Parva ofAdi Parva ofMahābhārata, when sageVasishtha wanted to commit suicide he saw the river named Haimāvata (whose source is Himavat), flooded and full of crocodiles and other aquatic monsters. So he jumped into the river. The river thinking that Vasishtha was 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, Vasishtha landed on dry land and was unharmed.[12]
Langqên Zangbo (Tibetan:གླང་ཆེན་གཙང་པོ,Wylie:glang chen gtsang po;Chinese:朗钦藏布;pinyin:Lǎngqīn Zàngbù) is a river inNgari,Tibet,China. The nameLangqên, Tibetan for "elephant", is because of a valley that resembles an elephant trunk. This river is the main source of the Sutlej, a tributary ofIndus River. It entersIndia atShipki La pass. The source is south ofGangdise Range, in Ngari Prefecture. Its course is mainly in theZanda County. The river drains an area of 22,760 km2 (8,790 sq mi), and covers a length of 309 km (192 mi). The drop in height is 3,256 m (10,682 ft). Historically, the river was the centre of theZhangzhung Kingdom until its fall in the 8th century AD.
Sutlej is anantecedent river, which existed before the Himalayas andentrenched itself while they were rising. The Sutlej, along with all of the Punjab rivers, is thought to have drained east into theGanges prior to 5mya.[13]
There is substantial geologic evidence to indicate that prior to 1700 BC, and perhaps much earlier, the Sutlej was an important tributary of theGhaggar-Hakra River (thought to be the legendarySarasvati River) rather than the Indus, with various authors putting the redirection from 2500 to 2000 BC,[14] from 5000 to 3000 BC,[15] or before 8000 BC.[16] Geologists believe thattectonic activity created elevation changes which redirected the flow of Sutlej from the southeast to the southwest.[17][citation needed] If the diversion of the river occurred recently (about 4000 years ago), it may have been responsible for the Ghaggar-Hakra (Saraswati) drying up, causingdesertification ofCholistan and the eastern part of the modern state ofSindh, and the abandonment ofHarappan settlements along the Ghaggar. However, the Sutlej may have already beencaptured by the Indus thousands of years earlier.[citation needed]
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 aboveRampur.[18] This would be similar to, but on a much smaller scale than, the exhumation of rocks by the Indus River inNanga Parbat, Pakistan. The Sutlej River also exposes a double invertedmetamorphic gradient.[19]
There has been a proposal to build a 214-kilometre (133 mi) long heavy freight and irrigation canal, to be known as theSutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) to connect the Sutlej andYamuna rivers.[20] 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 theSupreme Court of India. To augment nearly 100tmcft (some 2.832 × 1012 L) water availability for the needs of this link canal,Tso Moriri 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.[8]
The Upper Sutlej Valley, calledLangqên Zangbo inTibet, was once known as theGaruda Valley by theZhangzhung, the ancient civilization of westernTibet. The Garuda Valley was the centre of their empire, which stretched many miles into the nearbyHimalayas. The Zhangzhung built a towering palace in the Upper Sutlej Valley calledKyunglung, the ruins of which still exist today near the village ofMoincêr, southwest ofMount Kailash (Mount Ti-se). Eventually, the Zhangzhung were conquered by theTibetan Empire. The Sutlej River also formed the eastern boundary of theSikh Empire under MaharajahRanjit Singh.Parganah Hakkarah
Today, the Sutlej Valley is inhabited by nomadic descendants of the Zhangzhung, who live in tiny villages ofyak herders.[citation needed]
The Sutlej was the main medium of transportation for the kings of that time. In the early 18th century, it was used to transportdevdar woods forBilaspur district,Hamirpur district, and other places along the Sutlej's banks.[citation needed]
Of four rivers (Indus, Sutlej,Brahmaputra andKarnali/Ganges) mythically flowing out of holyLake Manasarovar, the Sutlej is actually connected by channels that are dry most of the time. Earlier the river was also called Shutudri or Zaradros river.[21]
^Mughal, M. R. Ancient Cholistan. Archaeology and Architecture. Rawalpindi-Lahore-Karachi: Ferozsons 1997, 2004
^Valdiya, K. S., in Dynamic Geology, Educational monographs published by J. N. Centre for Advanced Studies, Bangalore, University Press (Hyderabad), 1998.
^* Clift et al. 2012. "U-Pb zircon dating evidence for a Pleistocene Sarasvati River and capture of the Yamuna River." Geology, v. 40.[1]
^K.S. Valdiya. 2013. "The River Saraswati was a Himalayan-born river". Current Science 104 (01).[2]
^Thiede, Rasmus; Arrowsmith, J. Ramón; Bookhagen, Bodo; McWilliams, Michael O.; Sobel, Edward R.; Strecker, Manfred R. (August 2005). "From tectonically to erosionally controlled development of the Himalayan orogen".Geology.33 (8):689–692.doi:10.1130/G21483AR.1.
^Grasemann, Bernhard; Fritz, Harry; Vannay, Jean-Claude (July 1999). "Quantitative kinematic flow analysis from the Main Central Thrust Zone (NW-Himalaya, India): implications for a decelerating strain path and the extrustion of orogenic wedges".Journal of Structural Geology.21 (7):837–853.Bibcode:1999JSG....21..837G.doi:10.1016/S0191-8141(99)00077-2.
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