The Wardha is a tributary of which of the following rivers?

Correct — C. The Wardha belongs to the Godavari system.

It rises in the Satpura range in Betul district, Madhya Pradesh, and flows south-east across Vidarbha. It meets the Wainganga, and the combined stream is called the Pranhita, a major left-bank tributary of the Godavari.

So the Wardha reaches the Godavari through the Wainganga and the Pranhita rather than joining it directly — the question asks for the system, not the immediate confluence.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Mahanadi river — Mahanadi rises in Chhattisgarh and drains east through Odisha to the Bay of Bengal, fed by the Seonath, Hasdeo and Tel. Its basin does not reach into the Wardha's Vidarbha catchment.
• (b)
  Narmada river — Narmada runs west through the rift valley between the Vindhyas and the Satpuras to the Gulf of Khambhat. The Wardha rises on the southern side of the Satpuras and flows the opposite way.
• (d)
  Tapi river — Tapi is the real trap: it also rises in Betul district, close to the Wardha's source, but it runs west to the Arabian Sea while the Wardha runs south-east into the Godavari basin.

Peninsular drainage splits on one line. The Western Ghats and the Satpura crest send a few rivers west to the Arabian Sea and send most of the rest east to the Bay of Bengal.

The Godavari is the largest of the east-flowing peninsular rivers, called the Dakshin Ganga. It rises at Trimbakeshwar in Nashik district, Maharashtra.

Its Vidarbha limb is the Wainganga-Wardha pair, which unite as the Pranhita. Learn tributaries as systems rather than as isolated names.

Key facts

• The Wardha and the Wainganga join to form the Pranhita, which flows into the Godavari.
• The Godavari rises at Trimbakeshwar, Nashik district, Maharashtra, and empties into the Bay of Bengal.
• The Godavari is the largest peninsular river of India, often called the Dakshin Ganga.
• The Wardha rises in the Satpura range in Betul district, Madhya Pradesh, as does the west-flowing Tapi.

Common traps

• Naming the river the Wardha meets directly instead of the system it belongs to.
• Placing the Wardha in the Tapi basin because both rivers rise in Betul district.
• Assuming a Maharashtra river must be a Krishna tributary when Vidarbha drains to the Godavari.

No directly related past PYQ was found.