🏞️ Rivers of Maharashtra

About this map & the PYQ quiz

A district-aware 2D map of Maharashtra showing every major river and its tributaries with names visible directly on the path. Rivers are colour-coded by drainage basin: purple for the Godavari system, teal for the Krishna system, amber for the Tapi system, and sky-blue for the west-flowing Konkan rivers. Drag the map to pan, scroll the wheel (or use the +/− buttons) to zoom. Below the map is the MPSC PYQ Rivers Quiz — every question is taken from a real MPSC paper between 2010 and 2025, with the exam and year tagged on every question.

Godavari basin (purple). The Godavari rises at Brahmagiri, Trimbakeshwar (Nashik) and flows ~668 km through the state before crossing into Telangana. Its main tributaries inside Maharashtra are Pravara, Mula, Darna, Kadwa, Manjira (Beed → Telangana), Purna (Ajanta → Nanded) and Sindphana. In east Vidarbha, the Wardha and Wainganga join at Sironcha to form the Pranhita, which then meets the Godavari. The Painganga, with Adan, Pus and Arunavati, joins the Wardha at Wadhona.

Krishna basin (teal). The Krishna rises at Mahabaleshwar (Satara) and exits to Karnataka after ~282 km in the state. Its biggest tributary, the Bhima (Bhimashankar → Solapur), itself carries the Mula-Mutha, Indrayani, Pavna, Bhama, Ghod, Nira and Sina. The Koyna joins the Krishna at Karad's Preeti Sangam. Down south, the Panchganga (5-river confluence at Kolhapur), Warna, Dudhganga, Yerla and Hiranyakeshi keep adding water to the Krishna.

Tapi basin (amber). The Tapi is one of only three major peninsular rivers that flow west. It enters from MP (Multai) and runs through Jalgaon, Dhule and Nandurbar before exiting to Gujarat. Its main Maharashtra tributaries are Purna (Akola–Buldhana cotton belt), Girna, Panzhra, Bori and Aner.

Konkan west-flowing rivers (sky-blue). Fourteen short rivers rise in the Sahyadri and tumble down to the Arabian Sea — Damanganga, Vaitarna (with Pinjal, Surya, Tansa), Ulhas (with Bhatsa), Patalganga, Amba, Kundalika, Savitri (born at Mahabaleshwar but flowing west), Vashishti, Shastri, Kajli, Muchkundi, Gad, Karli, and Terekhol on the Goa border. These rivers are short and steep — perfect for hydroelectric projects (Bhira, Bhivpuri, Khopoli, Tillari) — but their estuaries and creeks dominate the Konkan coastal economy.

Base map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. River polylines are coarse (suitable for MPSC-level conceptual revision) and not survey-grade. River facts compiled from Central Water Commission, NIH Roorkee and standard Maharashtra geography references.

Why the drainage system is a top MPSC topic

The drainage of Maharashtra is the single most-tested Geography sub-topic in MPSC preliminary papers. In the last decade at least one rivers-related question has appeared in every combined preliminary examination — Group B, Group C, PSI and Gazetted Civil Services included. The reasons are structural. Maharashtra is drained by six major river systems that together define its agricultural zones, its hydro power capacity, its drinking-water infrastructure and its administrative boundaries. Roughly 92 percent of the state drains east through the Godavari, Krishna and their tributaries into the Bay of Bengal; the remaining 8 percent drains west through the Tapi and the fourteen short Konkan rivers into the Arabian Sea. Knowing which district falls into which drainage basin lets you answer nearly every state-geography question that references agriculture, dams or water disputes.

The MPSC also frequently asks about specific confluences and sangams that carry religious and cultural significance. The Preeti Sangam at Karad (where Koyna joins Krishna), the Bhima-Krishna confluence at Kudalasangama (in neighbouring Karnataka but originating in Maharashtra), the Wardha-Wainganga confluence at Sironcha (which becomes the Pranhita), the Panchganga confluence at Kolhapur (where five streams — Kasari, Kumbhi, Tulsi, Bhogavati and Saraswati — merge) and the Godavari's own point of origin at Brahmagiri near Trimbakeshwar are all recurring PYQ material.

Rivers, dams and the state's water disputes

Maharashtra has more large dams than any other Indian state (2,000+ of every size and 60+ major reservoirs). The mapping between rivers and their principal dams is a favourite MPSC pairing question: Koyna → Krishna basin (Satara); Jayakwadi (Nathsagar) → Godavari (Aurangabad); Bhandardara / Wilson Dam → Pravara (Ahmadnagar); Ujani → Bhima (Solapur); Manjara → Manjra (Beed); Khadakwasla & Panshet → Mutha (Pune); Warna / Chandoli → Warna (Sangli); Girna → Girna (Nashik/Jalgaon); Hatnur → Tapi (Jalgaon); Upper Vaitarna & Tansa → Konkan rivers (Mumbai's primary drinking-water sources). Every one of these has appeared in a MPSC prelim in the last ten years.

Inter-state water disputes are the political-geography half of the drainage topic. The Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal (KWDT-I under Justice Bachawat, 1969 and KWDT-II under Justice Brijesh Kumar, 2010) apportions the Krishna between Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal award (1980) similarly partitions the Godavari across five states. Within Maharashtra, the Krishna-Marathwada Stabilisation Project, the Kolhapur-style bandharas and the Tembhu, Takari and Mhaisal lift-irrigation schemes all reflect the state's attempts to move water from the surplus western basins to the deficit Marathwada districts.