Krishna River
The
River Krishna (meaning "dark"
(feminine) in
Sanskrit, also called as Krishnaveni) is one of the longest
rivers of
India (about 1300 km in length). It originates at
Mahabaleswar in
Maharashtra, passes through
Sangli and meets the sea in the
Bay of Bengal at
Hamasaladeevi in
Andhra Pradesh. It flows through the states of Maharashtra,
Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
The traditional source of the river is a spout from the mouth of a statue of a cow in the ancient temple of
Mahadev in
Mahabaleshwar. Legend has it that Krishna is Lord Vishnu himself as a result of a curse on the trimurtis by Savitri. Also, its tributaries Venna and Koyana are said to be Siva and Brahma themselves. An interesting thing to notice is that 4 other rivers come out from the cow (bull's) mouth apart from Krishna and they all travel some distance before merging into Krishna. The rivers are Koyana, Venna(Veni), Savitri and Gayatri.
Its most important tributary is the
Tungabhadra River, which is itself formed by the
Tunga and
Bhadra rivers that originate in the
Western Ghats. Other tributaries include the
Koyna,
Bhima,
Malaprabha,
Ghataprabha,
Yerla,
Warna,
Dindi,
Musi and
Dudhganga rivers.
Two big
dams have been constructed on the river, one at
Srisailam called
Srisailam Dam and the other at Nagarjuna Hill. The latter, the
Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, is considered to be the largest earth dam in the world with a natural reservoir spanning tens of square kilometres.
Temples like Ganapati Temple of
Sangli, Sangameshwar Shiva Temple at Haripur and Ramling Temple are located on the banks of river Krishna near
Sangli. Out of these, Ganapati Temple of Sangli is one of the most beautiful temples of Lord Ganesha.
Popular pilgrim spots like Audumber and Narsobawadi are located on the banks of river Krishna near
Sangli in Maharashtra state.More pilgrim spots especially that of Srisailam, one of the twelve jyotirlingas which also has a shrine for one of the shaktipeethasis on the river. Nagarjuna konda was a Buddhist centre under
Acharya Nagarjuna and once was a centre for buddhist learning.
Amaravati near
Guntur City also a buddhist and a Hindu site dedicated to Siva, the international
Kalachakra festival was celebrated here with the presence of
Dalai Lama.
Vijayawada on its banks has a rich and great temple on the hill of Indrakeeladri a temple of
Goddess Kanaka Durga.
Three tributaries meet Krishna river near Sangli. Warana river meets Krishna river near Sangli at Haripur. This spot is also known as Sangameshwar. Panchaganga river meets Krishna river at Narsobawadi near Sangli. These places are considered among the holiest in
Hindu mythology. It is said that Lord Dattatraya spent some of his days at Audumber on the banks of river Krishna.
