The Mahi (माही नदी) is a river in western

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It rises in

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

and, after flowing through the

Vagad Vagad (also known as Vagar) is a region in southeastern Rajasthan state of western India. Its boundaries are roughly defined by those of the districts of Dungarpur and Banswara. Major cities of the region are Dungarpur and Banswara. Geogra ...

region of

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

, enters

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

and flows into the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

. It is one of the relatively few west-flowing rivers in India, alongside the endorheic

Luni River The Luni is the largest river in the Thar Desert in Northwest India. It originates in Naga hills of the Pushkar valley of the Aravalli Range, near Ajmer, passes through the southeastern portion of the Thar Desert, and ends in the marshy lands of ...

, the

Sabarmati River The Sabarmati River is one of the major west-flowing rivers in India. It originates in the Aravalli Range of the Udaipur District of Rajasthan and meets the Gulf of Khambhat of the Arabian Sea after travelling in a south-westerly direction acr ...

, the Tapi River and the

Narmada River The Narmada River, previously also known as ''Narbada'' or anglicised as ''Nerbudda'', is the 5th longest river in India and overall the longest west-flowing river in the country. It is also the largest flowing river in the state of Madhya Prade ...

. Most peninsular rivers in India flow eastward into the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region. Many South Asian and Southe ...

or northward into the

Ganges River The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...

. It has given its name to the Mahi Kantha agency of

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

, and also to the mehwasis, marauding highlanders often mentioned in Arabian chronicles. The exact position of Mahi River origin is Minda Village, which is situated in Dhar district Madhya Pradesh. The Mahi river rises in the western Vindhya Range, just south of Sardarpur, and flows northward through Madhya Pradesh state. Turning northwest, it enters Rajasthan state and then turns southwest to flow through Gujarat state through the north of

Vadodara Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is a city situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district. The city is named for its abundance of banyan ...

city outskirts and enters the sea by a wide estuary before Khambhat after about a 360-mile (580-km) course. The silt brought down by the Mahi has contributed to the shallowing of the Gulf of Khambhat and the abandonment of its once-prosperous ports. The riverbed lies considerably lower than the land level and is of little use for irrigation. The river is worshipped by many people and has many temples and places of worship along its shore. It is popularly described as Mahisagar due to the vastness of the river. The newly formed Mahisagar district in

derives its name from this pious river. This river crosses the

Tropic of Cancer The Tropic of Cancer, also known as the Northern Tropic, is the Earth's northernmost circle of latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun ...

twice. The

ancient Greeks Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically re ...

called it Mais ().

Dams

Banswara Dam

Mahi Bajaj Sagar Dam is a dam across the Mahi River. It is situated 16 kilometres from Banswara town in Banswara district Rajasthan, India. The dam was constructed between 1972 and 1983 for the purposes of hydroelectric power generation and water supply. It is the second-largest dam in Rajasthan. It is named after Shri Jamnala Bajaj. It hosts many crocodiles and turtles. There are many islands within the catchment area of the dam, so Banswara also called popularly called as "City of Hundred Islands". The dam is easily accessible by road. The dam has an installed capacity of 140 MW. The Mahi river flowing into the Gulf of Khambhat is on the verge of extinction due to pollution and salinity. Fisherfolk and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) of Vadodara, Gujarat, blame the construction of bunds on the Mahi by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation for the situation. "The bunds constructed to collect water have stopped the surface movement of the river," say the NGO's. Consequently, the river is facing an intrusion of saline water from sea as there is no surface flow to push the seawater back during a low tide. "The groundwater in many areas might become saline due to this. in the past year 2016 around 600-800 turtles have died because of the excess salinity in the water. The Mahi river is in a very bad state now."

Kadana Dam

It was built in 1979 in the villages of Kadana, Tal: kadana Dist: Mahisagar District, Gujarat. It was constructed to provide irrigation, hydropower and flood protection.

Wanakbori dam (Weir)

The Wanakbori dam (weir) is established near Wanakbori village. The Wanakbori thermal power station uses the water of the river Mahi. There are eight units for the production of electricity.

References

Mahi-Bajaj-Sagar

External links

* ttp://guj-nwrws.gujarat.gov.in/showpage.aspx?contentid=1576&lang=English (Narmada, Water Resources, Water Supply and Kalpsar Department) {{Coord, 22, 16, N, 72, 58, E, display=title, region:IN_type:river_source:GNS-enwiki Geography of Malwa Rivers of Rajasthan Rivers of Gujarat Rivers of Madhya Pradesh Gulf of Khambhat Rivers in Buddhism