Pushpawati River flows through the
Valley of Flowers in
Chamoli district
Chamoli district is a district of the Uttarakhand state of India. It is bounded by the Tibet region to the north, and by the Uttarakhand districts of Pithoragarh and Bageshwar to the east, Almora to the south, Pauri Garhwal to the southwest, ...
in
Garhwal region of the
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...
.
Course
The Pushpawati rises from the Tipra Glacier, near
Rataban, in the central part of the Garhwal region in the
Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...
. It flows in a southerly direction to join the
Bhyundar Ganga near
Ghagharia. The combined stream is thereafter known as the
Lakshman Ganga. The latter merges with the
Alaknanda River
The Alaknanda is a Himalayan river in the Indian state of Uttarakhand and one of the two headstreams of the Ganges, the major river of Northern India and the holy river of Hinduism. In hydrology, the Alaknanda is considered the source stream ...
at
Govindghat
Govindghat is a town in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, India, located at the confluence of the Alaknanda and Lakshman Ganga rivers. It lies around roughly from Joshimath on NH58 at an altitude of . It is the roadhead on the way to Shree Badr ...
.
The Pushpawati drains the Valley of Flowers.
[
The glaciated upper valley of the Pushpawati is U-shaped. The river flows past thick glacial deposits. A number of glacier-fed streams join it in its upper reaches. It flows through a gorge in its lower reaches. The upper tracts are under permanent cover of snow. Alpine, sub-alpine and temperate vegetation is there in the middle and lower catchments of the river. Human habitation is very sparse.][
]
Mythology
According to legend, the Pandavas
The Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, IAST: Pāṇḍava) refers to the five legendary brothers— Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—who are the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. They are acknowledge ...
, during their years of exile, saw flowers floating down the river. They named it Pushpawati.[
]
Gallery
Image:Pushpawati_vof.jpg, A view of Pushpawati from the gorge crossing while entering the Valley of Flowers
Image:Pushpawati_bridge.jpg, A bridge over Pushpawati River, while entering into the Valley of Flowers
See also
* Valley of Flowers
* Gobindghat
References
{{coord missing, Uttarakhand
Rivers of Uttarakhand
Geography of Chamoli district
Rivers of India