Which one of the following Peninsular rivers has longest course length?
- (a)Godavari
- (b)Krishna
- (c)Narmada
- (d)Cauvery
Correct — A, Godavari.
The Godavari is the longest river of Peninsular India. It rises near Trimbakeshwar in Nashik district, Maharashtra, and runs about 1,465 km eastward across the Deccan before entering the Bay of Bengal through a delta in Andhra Pradesh.
Among the options, the Krishna at about 1,400 km is the nearest rival, the Narmada at about 1,312 km leads the west-flowing rivers, and the Cauvery at about 800 km is far shorter.
The idea to carry away: Godavari is the longest Peninsular river overall; Narmada is the longest west-flowing one. Keeping those two superlatives apart decides this question.
- (b)Krishna — The Krishna, at about 1,400 km, is the second-longest Peninsular river and finishes roughly 65 km short of the Godavari. It rises at Mahabaleshwar in Satara district, Maharashtra, and also reaches the Bay of Bengal in Andhra Pradesh, which makes the two easy to blur.
It is the right answer when the question asks for the Peninsular river fed by the Bhima and the Tungabhadra, or for the river rising at Mahabaleshwar.
- (c)Narmada — The Narmada, about 1,312 km, flows west through a rift valley between the Vindhya and Satpura ranges into the Gulf of Khambhat. It holds a genuine superlative, but a narrower one than the stem asks for: two east-flowing rivers in this list are longer.
It is the right answer to longest west-flowing river of Peninsular India, and to questions on the Amarkantak source or the Dhuandhar falls at Bhedaghat.
- (d)Cauvery — The Cauvery is the shortest of the four at about 800 km. It rises at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri hills of Kodagu district, Karnataka, and builds a delta in Tamil Nadu. Its prominence comes from near-perennial flow and inter-state water sharing, not from length.
It is the right answer to which Peninsular river stays nearly perennial because its upper basin gets south-west monsoon rain and its lower basin north-east monsoon rain.
Peninsular rivers are old, flow over hard plateau rock with gentle gradients, and are mostly rain-fed. The Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery rise in the Western Ghats and flow east across the width of the plateau to the Bay of Bengal; the Mahanadi does the same from the Chhattisgarh plateau.
The Narmada and Tapi instead flow west through rift valleys into the Arabian Sea. Because the eastward slope of the plateau is long, the east-flowing rivers typically run the longest courses, and the Godavari heads that list.
The lengths, sources, tributaries and outlets of the major Peninsular rivers are core physical geography, set out in the drainage chapter of NCERT Class 11 India: Physical Environment. The same figures underpin the Godavari's epithet Dakshin Ganga and its usual description as India's second-longest river after the Ganga, by course within the country.
For a UKPSC paper the contrast with Himalayan rivers matters too: the Ganga system in the state is glacier-fed and youthful, while these Peninsular rivers are rain-fed and mature.
- The Godavari is about 1,465 km long, rising near Trimbakeshwar in Nashik district, Maharashtra, and entering the Bay of Bengal in Andhra Pradesh.
- The Godavari basin is the largest among the Peninsular rivers, spanning roughly 3.1 lakh square km, close to a tenth of India's area.
- Major Godavari tributaries include the Pranhita (formed by the Wardha, Wainganga and Penganga), the Indravati, the Manjra and the Sabari.
- The Krishna is about 1,400 km long, rising at Mahabaleshwar; the Bhima and the Tungabhadra are its main tributaries.
- The Narmada is about 1,312 km long, rising at Amarkantak and flowing west through a rift valley into the Gulf of Khambhat.
- The Cauvery is about 800 km long, rising at Talakaveri in Kodagu district, Karnataka, and ending in a delta in Tamil Nadu.
- The Mahanadi runs about 851 km east from the Chhattisgarh plateau; the Tapi runs about 724 km west from Multai into the Gulf of Khambhat.
- The Godavari is often called Dakshin Ganga and is usually ranked second in India after the Ganga by course length within the country.
Lengths rounded from NCERT Class 11 India: Physical Environment; the Godavari and the Krishna each rise in Maharashtra's Western Ghats.
- Reading 'longest Peninsular river' as 'longest west-flowing Peninsular river' and picking the Narmada; the stem carries no direction qualifier, so the Godavari stands.
- Holding one rounded figure of 'about 1,400 km' for the Godavari and the Krishna alike; the gap is only about 65 km, so the two numbers must be fixed separately.
- Letting the Cauvery's fame from perennial flow and water disputes stand in for size; at about 800 km it is barely more than half the Godavari's length.
- Swapping the sources: Mahabaleshwar belongs to the Krishna and Trimbak to the Godavari, though each sits in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra.
The fact appears as a direct pick of the longest Peninsular river, as an ordering of four or five rivers by length, or as the narrower superlative of the longest west-flowing river, where the Narmada replaces the Godavari.
It also arrives indirectly: matching each river to its source, its outlet or its tributaries, or asking which river carries the epithet Dakshin Ganga.
HPSC_2021_PRE_GSII_Q202021Same fact set, the relative lengths of Peninsular rivers, but asked as a four-river ordering that brings in the Tapti and Mahanadi; this UKPSC item asks for a single longest river from a different four.
UPSC_2002_GS1_Q892002Uses the same east-flowing rivers, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery among them, but orders them by latitude from north to south rather than by length; the Godavari lying north of the Krishna does not tell you which is longer.
UPSC_2013_GS1_Q152013Covers the Narmada distractor from a different angle: the structural reason it flows west through a rift valley, rather than its length. It supplies the feature that separates the Narmada from the east-flowing rivers compared here.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following is the longest west-flowing river of Peninsular India?
- (a)Tapi
- (b)Narmada
- (c)Mahi
- (d)Sabarmati
Answerb — The Narmada, about 1,312 km, is the longest west-flowing river of the Peninsula. The Tapi (about 724 km), the Mahi (about 580 km) and the Sabarmati (about 370 km) also flow west into the Gulf of Khambhat, but each is far shorter. - practice — not a real PYQ
Arrange the following Peninsular rivers in descending order of their course length: Godavari, Krishna, Narmada, Cauvery.
- (a)Godavari, Krishna, Narmada, Cauvery
- (b)Krishna, Godavari, Narmada, Cauvery
- (c)Godavari, Narmada, Krishna, Cauvery
- (d)Narmada, Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery
Answera — Godavari (about 1,465 km), then Krishna (about 1,400 km), then Narmada (about 1,312 km), then Cauvery (about 800 km). Option b puts the Krishna ahead of the Godavari; options c and d place the Narmada above east-flowing rivers that are longer than it. - practice — not a real PYQ
The Godavari river rises near which one of the following places?
- (a)Mahabaleshwar
- (b)Trimbakeshwar
- (c)Amarkantak
- (d)Talakaveri
Answerb — The Godavari rises near Trimbakeshwar in Nashik district, Maharashtra. Mahabaleshwar is the source of the Krishna, Amarkantak of the Narmada (and the Son), and Talakaveri of the Cauvery. - practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following is NOT a tributary of the Godavari?
- (a)Indravati
- (b)Pranhita
- (c)Manjra
- (d)Tungabhadra
Answerd — The Tungabhadra joins the Krishna, not the Godavari. The Indravati, the Pranhita and the Manjra are tributaries of the Godavari.