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 China's Xizang Autonomous Region to the north, and by the Uttarakhand districts of Pithoragarh district, Pithoragarh and Bageshwar district, Bageshwar to the eas ...
in
Garhwal region of the
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 ...
n
state
State most commonly refers to:
* State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory
**Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country
**Nation state, a ...
of
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...
.
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 Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...
. 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 at
Govindghat.
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, aɳɖɐʋᵊ IAST: Pāṇḍava) is a group name referring to the five legendary brothers, Yudhishtira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva, who are central figures of the Hindu epic ''Mahabhara ...
, 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