Tuesday, October 8, 2024
Andhra Pradesh

Land

Mountains and Rivers

Mountains in andraThe state is dotted with hill ranges from the north to the south, running erratically down the middle of the country dividing it into western and eastern or coastal Andhra. These hills form integral geographical entities of Andhra life and history. In the north, there are Simhachalam and Annavaram hills, in the middle country there are the Srisailam hill ranges and in the south are the Tirumalai-Tirupati hills. 

Nearly 75% of the state territory, is covered by the basins of three big rivers - Godavari, Krishna and Pennar and their tributaries. In addition, there are 17 short rivers like Sarada, Nagavali, Musi and other streams. The two great perennial rivers of the state, Godavari and Krishna spring from the Western Ghats in Maharashtra and flow eastward and joins the Bay of Bengal. The Godavari enters the state of Andhra Pradesh direct from Maharashtra, but the Krishna first goes to Karnataka where it flows for a considerable distance before entering Andhra Pradesh.

Besides these two big rivers, there are the Tungabhadra, the Pennar and many other small rivers and rivulets. Pennar originates in the Karnataka plateau. Like all the peninsular rivers and even those which arise in central India, like the Narmada, Sone and Chambal, all these are rain fed rivers as there is no snow below the Himalayas. Andhra Pradesh has considerable topographical variations with dense forest in the north east, flat paddy lands in the coastal plains, several noteworthy beaches along the Bay of Bengal and the stark boulder-strewn region around Hyderabad.