The Hari River ( or ; ) or Herat River or Tejen River or Harirud 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 ...

flowing from the mountains of central

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

, where it forms the

Tejen Tejen (older spellings: Tedzhen, Tejend, Tejent) is an oasis city in the Karakum Desert, in Ahal Province of Turkmenistan. It lies along the M37 highway, between Dushak and Mary, by road southeast of Ashgabat. It has a population of approxima ...

oasis and disappears in the

Karakum Desert The Karakum Desert ( ; rus, Каракумы, p=kərɐˈkumɨ), also spelt and (; ), is a desert in Central Asia. The name refers to the shale-rich sand beneath the surface. It occupies about 70 percent, or roughly , of Turkmenistan. The po ...

. In its lower course, the river forms a northern part of the border between Afghanistan and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, and a southeastern part of the border between Turkmenistan and Iran. The name of the river derives from the

Old Persian Old Persian is one of two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of the Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as (I ...

word Harawaiah 'river rich in water'. In Turkmenistan, the Hari is known as the Tejen or Tedzhen river and passes close to the city of

. To the ancient Greeks, it was known as the Arius. In

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, it was known as the Tarius.

History

One theory suggests that the Rigvedic Sarayu and the Hari are the same river. A

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

monastery hand-carved in the bluff of the river Harirud existed in the first centuries during the prevalence of Buddhism. The artificial caves revealed testimony of daily life of the Buddhist monks.

Course

The river originates in the eastern part of

Ghor Province Ghōr, also spelled Ghowr or Ghur (), is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is located in the western Hindu Kush in central Afghanistan, towards the northwest. The province contains eleven Districts of Afghanistan, districts, en ...

in the Baba mountain range, part of the extensions of

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central Asia, Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and eastern Afghanistan into northwestern Pakistan and far southeastern Tajikistan. The range forms the wester ...

system, and follows a relatively straight course to the west. Some upstream from

Herat Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...

, the river meets the Jam River at the site of the

Minaret of Jam The Minaret of Jam (Pashto and ) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in western Afghanistan. It is located in a remote and nearly inaccessible region of the Shahrak District, Ghor Province, next to the Hari River. The or high minaret was built ent ...

, the second tallest ancient

minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...

in the world at . In western Afghanistan, the Hari Rud flows to the south of Herat. The valley around Herat with the

Paropamisus Mountains The Paropamisus Mountains
on www.ezilon.com (locally known as Selseleh-ye Safīd KūhIran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. Farther north it forms the south-eastern part of the border between Iran and Turkmenistan. The

Iran–Turkmenistan Friendship Dam The Iran–Turkmenistan Friendship Dam, or Doosti Reservoir Dam (, ), is a dam on the Hari river (Hariroud), which forms part of the international boundary between Iran and Turkmenistan (the Iran-Turkmenistan border). The dam was completed in 2 ...

is on the river.

Salma Dam The Salma Dam, officially named Afghan-India Friendship Dam, is an embankment dam located on the Hari River in Chishti Sharif District of Herat Province in western Afghanistan. It has a hydroelectric power station that produces 42 MW of electri ...

, a

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

and irrigation

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

project, is located on the Hari Rud in

Chishti Sharif District Chishti Sharif District, also known as Chisht District, is the most easterly district in Herat Province, Afghanistan, situated along the Hari River and one of its northern tributaries. It borders with Obe District to the west, Badghis Province ...

Herat Province Herat ( Dari: هرات) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the western part of the country. Together with Badghis, Farah, and Ghor provinces, it makes up the north-western region of Afghanistan. Its primary city a ...

in western

. The average annual discharge of the Hari Rud is about 55 m3/s, but during a spring flood in 1939 the discharge went up to 1090 m3/s. In 2000, the river dried up completely during a 10-month

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

Bridges

Pulkhatyn Bridge

An unused stone-bridge of five arches, this falls in the

Ahal Region Ahal Region (; from , also ) is one of five regions of Turkmenistan, provinces of Turkmenistan. It is in the south-center of the country, bordering Iran and Afghanistan along the Kopet Dag, Kopet Dag Range. Its area is and population 886,845 (20 ...

of Turkmenistan. It is about north of

. Pulkhatyn translates to "wealthy woman." In Turkmen lore, the custodian of the bridge was a woman who made a fortune by taxing all travelers;

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

had apparently refused to pay this fee and crossed further downstream.

References

External links