River Kabini is a tributary of the:
- (a)Cauvery
- (b)Narmada
- (c)Tapi
- (d)Godavari
Correct — A, Cauvery.
The Kabini (also spelt Kabani, and called the Kapila in Karnataka) rises in Wayanad district of Kerala, flows east across the state line, and meets the Cauvery at Tirumakudalu Narasipura in Mysuru district. It joins on the Cauvery's right bank.
The idea to carry away: the Cauvery basin spans Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and the Kabini is the Kerala-born stream feeding it. Its dam near Beechanahalli in H.D. Kote taluk and its backwaters beside Nagarhole make it a familiar name in Karnataka's river system.
- (b)Narmada — The Narmada rises at Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh and flows west through a rift valley to the Gulf of Khambhat. Its tributaries are central Indian streams such as the Hiran, Banjar, Sher and Shakkar; it is the right answer when the question names the Tawa, its largest tributary.
- (c)Tapi — The Tapi rises near Multai in Betul district, Madhya Pradesh, and runs west to the Gulf of Khambhat, roughly parallel to the Narmada. Its basin lies in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Choose the Tapi when the named tributary is the Purna, Girna or Panjhra.
- (d)Godavari — The Godavari rises at Trimbak near Nashik and flows east to the Bay of Bengal as the longest peninsular river. It drains the northern Deccan, far north of Cauvery country. It is the parent river of the Pranhita, Manjra, Indravati and Sabari.
Peninsular rivers fall into two groups: the east-flowing ones (Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery) that cross the Deccan to the Bay of Bengal, and the west-flowing ones (Narmada, Tapi) that run through rift valleys to the Arabian Sea.
A tributary belongs to whichever system it drains into, regardless of where it rises. The Kabini starts in Wayanad, on the plateau side of the Western Ghats, so it drains east to the Cauvery rather than west to the sea like most Kerala rivers.
The Cauvery is an inter-state river shared by Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, and the Kabini is the main channel through which Kerala's Wayanad plateau contributes to it. Karnataka's Kabini reservoir is one of the four basin reservoirs whose storage figures in Cauvery water-sharing.
The river also matters in wildlife geography: its backwaters lie between Nagarhole and Bandipur inside the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, and the temple town of Nanjangud stands on its bank.
- The Kabini forms in Wayanad district, Kerala, where the Panamaram and Mananthavady rivers meet; it is also written Kabani and called Kapila in Karnataka.
- It flows east into Karnataka and joins the Cauvery on the right bank at Tirumakudalu Narasipura (T. Narasipura) in Mysuru district.
- Kabini, Bhavani and Pambar are the east-flowing rivers of Kerala; most Kerala rivers drain west into the Arabian Sea.
- The Kabini Dam stands near Beechanahalli in H.D. Kote taluk of Mysuru district, and its backwaters border Nagarhole (Rajiv Gandhi) National Park.
- Kabini, KRS, Harangi and Hemavathi are the four Karnataka reservoirs in the Cauvery basin whose storage is tracked in Cauvery water-sharing.
- Other Cauvery tributaries include the Harangi, Hemavati, Shimsha and Arkavati in Karnataka and the Bhavani, Noyyal and Amaravati in Tamil Nadu.
- The Narmada's main tributaries are the Tawa, Hiran, Banjar and Sher; the Tapi's are the Purna, Girna and Panjhra.
- The Godavari's main tributaries are the Pranhita, Manjra, Indravati and Sabari, plus a Purna distinct from the Tapi's Purna.
Tributary sets of the four rivers named in the options; the Kabini belongs to the Cauvery.
- Because the Kabini rises in Kerala it looks like a west-flowing Kerala river; Wayanad sits east of the Ghat crest, and the river drains to the Cauvery.
- The same river appears as Kabini, Kabani or Kapila; a different spelling in the stem is not a different river.
- Two different rivers are named Purna: one joins the Tapi, the other the Godavari, so a Purna pairing needs its context before it can be judged.
- Hemavati, Harangi and Kabini belong to the Cauvery; pairing any of them with the Krishna's Tungabhadra or Bhima mixes two basins.
The fact appears in several shapes: a direct 'X is a tributary of' stem like this one, the reverse 'which river has a tributary named Kabini', a match-the-pairs list where Kabini-Kaveri is one of the correct pairs, or a 'NOT correctly matched' set where a Cauvery tributary sits among Godavari and Krishna pairs.
Spellings shift between Cauvery and Kaveri, Kabini and Kabani; the pairing itself does not.
CDS_GK_2024_II_Q862024Same fact in reverse: the stem gives the tributary Kabini and asks for the parent river, keyed Kaveri. Its distractors are Godavari, Krishna and Mahanadi, each an east-flowing Deccan river, whereas the UKPSC set mixes in the west-flowing Narmada and Tapi.
NDA_GAT_2024_II_Q1382024Kabini-Kaveri appears as one of the two correct pairs in a four-pair matching list; the mark also depends on knowing Bhavani is a Kaveri (not Krishna) tributary and Bhima a Krishna (not Mahanadi) tributary. Same fact, three extra pairings to verify.
UPPSC_2023_PRE_GSI_Q492023Same device, different tributary: a NOT-correctly-matched set where Hemavathi-Kaveri is a correct pair and Pranhita-Mahanadi is the mismatch (Pranhita joins the Godavari). It tests the Cauvery's tributary list rather than the Kabini itself.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Kabini river rises in which one of the following states?
- (a)Karnataka
- (b)Kerala
- (c)Tamil Nadu
- (d)Andhra Pradesh
Answerb — The Kabini forms in Wayanad district of Kerala from the Panamaram and Mananthavady rivers.Karnataka (a) is where it flows and meets the Cauvery, not where it rises. Tamil Nadu (c) receives the Cauvery downstream and is home to the Bhavani and Amaravati. Andhra Pradesh (d) drains to the Godavari, Krishna and Penna, outside the Cauvery basin.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following (Tributary – River) pairs is NOT correctly matched?
- (a)Hemavati – Cauvery
- (b)Tawa – Narmada
- (c)Girna – Tapi
- (d)Kabini – Godavari
Answerd — The Kabini joins the Cauvery, not the Godavari, so (d) is the mismatch.The Hemavati is a left-bank Cauvery tributary from the Western Ghats in Karnataka (a is correct); the Tawa is the Narmada's largest tributary (b is correct); the Girna joins the Tapi in Maharashtra (c is correct).
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Kabini meets the Cauvery at which one of the following places?
- (a)Srirangapatna
- (b)Tirumakudalu Narasipura
- (c)Hogenakkal
- (d)Mettur
Answerb — The confluence is at Tirumakudalu Narasipura (T. Narasipura) in Mysuru district.Srirangapatna (a) is an island town on the Cauvery upstream of the junction. Hogenakkal (c) is the falls on the Karnataka–Tamil Nadu border and Mettur (d) is Tamil Nadu's Stanley Reservoir dam; each lies well downstream of where the Kabini arrives.