Shipra (from Sanskrit Kshipra) is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

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 ...

state of Central India. The river rises in the North of Dhar district and flows north across the Malwa Plateau to join the Chambal River at the MP-Rajasthan boundary in Mandsaur district. It is one of the sacred rivers in

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

. The holy city of Ujjain is situated on its east bank. Every 12 years, the Ujjain Simhastha takes place on the city's elaborate riverside ghats, as do yearly celebrations of the river goddess Kshipra. There are hundreds of Hindu shrines along the banks of the river Shipra. With this reference, the word Shipra is used as a symbol of "purity" (of soul, emotions, body, etc.) or "chastity" or "clarity". The Puranas, or ancient Hindu texts, also suggest that the Shipra originated from the heart of

Varaha Varaha (, , "boar") is the avatar of the Hinduism, Hindu god Vishnu, in the form of a wild boar, boar. Varaha is generally listed as third in the Dashavatara, the ten principal avatars of Vishnu. In legend, when the demon Hiranyaksha steals ...

, Lord Vishnu's incarnation as a boar. Also on the banks of the Shipra is Sage Sandipani’s

ashram An ashram (, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions, not including Buddhism. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (< Lord Krishna, Lord Vishnu's eighth incarnation, had studied.

Hydrology

Shipra is a perennial river. Earlier there used to be plenty of water in the river. Now the river stops flowing a couple of months after the

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

. Narmada Shipra Sihastha Link Pariyojana, Mundla Dosdar - a project linking Shipra River to River Narmada was commenced in 2012 and completed in 2015 successfully. The project lifts water from the Narmada river using electricity, and then transports it to the source of Kshipra river through pipes. The link project is the first phase of the Rs 8000-crore Narmada-Malwa Link project. Under the project, Narmada would be connected to the Kshipra, Gambhir, Kalisindh, and Parwati rivers.

References

External links

Holly Bath in Shipra River Ujjain at Somvarti Amavasya
(India News). Published on 5 December 2013. {{Coord, 22.900, N, 75.983, E, display=title, region:IN_type:river_source:GNS-enwiki Geography of Malwa Rivers of Madhya Pradesh Geography of Ujjain