The Sarayu (Kumaoni:Sarjyū) is a river that originates at a ridge south of Nanda Kot mountain in Bageshwar district in Uttarakhand, India. It flows through Kapkot, Bageshwar, and Seraghat towns before discharging into the Sharda River at Pancheshwar at the India—Nepal border. Sharda river (also known as Kali river) then flows into Ghaghara river in Sitapur District, Uttar Pradesh, India. Lower Ghaghara is also popularly known as Sarayu in India. Especially while it flows through the city of Ayodhya, the birth place of Hindu deity Rama. The river is mentioned various times in the ancient Indian epic of Ramayana.
Contents
1Hydrology
2Etymology
3Ramayana
4In fiction
5See also
6References
7External links
Hydrology
This section needs expansion with: towns and villages along course, direction of flow, tributaries, citations to topo maps. You can help by adding to it. (April 2013)
The Sarayu rises at Sarmul (or Sarmool), which is located in the extreme north of the district Bageshwar of Uttarakhand on the southern slope of a ridge of the Nanda Kot. It flows through the Kumaon Himalayas, passes by the towns of Kapkot, Bageshwar and Seraghat before flowing into the Sharda River at Pancheshwar.
Etymology
The name is the feminine derivative of the Sanskrit root सर् sar “to flow”; as a masculine stem, saráyu- means “air, wind”, that is, “that which is streaming”.
Ramayana
In the epic Ramayana, Sri Rama along with the residents of Ayodhya went to vaikunth lok from this river and became deities in heaven afterwards.
In fiction
Sarayu is also the name of the river that flows by the fictional town of Malgudi created by the Indian writer R. K. Narayan. Sarayu is the name given to the personification of the Holy Spirit in “The Shack” created by American Novelist William P. Young.
The Sarju flows to the lower 65 km in mainly southeastern direction. Much of the drainage of Gangoli region of Pithoragarh district flows into the river via Bhadrapatigad stream, which flows into it from the left. Similarly, several streams join it from right draining much of the Chaugarkha region situated in Almora district; notable ones being Gatgadh, Jalairgadh, Bhaurgadh, Alaknadi and Saniaungadh. About 55 km (34 mi) downstream from its confluence with Gomati in Bageshwar, it receives the Panar river from the right. A small river Jaingan gets merge into Sarju river at Seraghat in Almora-Pithoragarh border. About five Km further downstream, at 20 km (12 mi) above its mouth, Ramganga meets the left side on the Sarju at Rameshwar, situated at an elevation of 1,500 ft (460 m). Finally Sarju reaches at Pancheshwar at the Nepalese border to Sharda River after travelling a total of 130 km (81 mi).