Which of the following peninsular rivers falls into the Arabian Sea?

Correct — C. Sabarmati is the west-flowing river on this list. It rises in the Aravalli hills of Rajasthan, runs south-west across Gujarat past Ahmedabad and empties into the Gulf of Khambhat, which is an arm of the Arabian Sea.

Mahanadi, Krishna and Godavari all run east across the Deccan to the Bay of Bengal, which is what the peninsula's tilt makes most of its large rivers do.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Mahanadi river — Mahanadi rises in the Chhattisgarh highlands and drains east into the Bay of Bengal through its Odisha delta, where the Hirakud dam impounds it.
• (b)
  Krishna river — Krishna rises near Mahabaleshwar in the Western Ghats and, despite starting close to the west coast, flows east across the Deccan to the Bay of Bengal.
• (d)
  Godavari river — Godavari, the longest of the peninsular rivers, rises at Trimbakeshwar in Nashik district and also reaches the Bay of Bengal.

The Western Ghats run close to the west coast and act as the peninsula's main water divide. The land slopes east from them, so the large peninsular rivers — Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri — flow east and build deltas on the Bay of Bengal.

The west-flowing exceptions are worth listing: Narmada, Tapi, Mahi, Sabarmati and Periyar. Narmada and Tapi run through rift valleys, which is why they form estuaries rather than deltas.

Key facts

• West-flowing peninsular rivers include the Narmada, Tapi, Mahi, Sabarmati and Periyar.
• The Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri all flow east into the Bay of Bengal.
• The Sabarmati rises in the Aravalli range and drains into the Gulf of Khambhat.
• Narmada and Tapi flow through rift valleys and end in estuaries rather than deltas.

Common traps

• Krishna rises near the west coast at Mahabaleshwar, which suggests a westward course it does not take.
• Reading 'peninsular' as meaning southern, and so ruling out the Sabarmati as too far north.

No directly related past PYQ was found.