Beas River

Etymology

Rig-veda calls the river Vipāś, which means unfettered, Müller, Max. India: what Can it Teach Us?: A Course of Lectures Delivered Before the University of Cambridge (1883) in later Sanskrit texts it's been called Vipāśā विपाशा. Yāska identifies it with Argrikiya.

According to legends,Veda Vyasa, the author of the Indian epic Mahabharata, is the eponym of the river Beas; he is said to have created it from its source lake, the Beas Kund.{{cite book | access-date = 2009-05-29}}

According to other legends, before Veda Vyasa, the Vipasa river was known as Saraswati. Rishi Vashishta, the great-grandfather of Vyasa tried to jump into this river from an overlooking hillock, to sacrifice his soul. He tied himself with several cords to drown himself. However, the river altered form to become a sandbed, saving him. And in this course, the cords got broken, so Vashishta named the river Vipasa, which means cord-breaker. On account of this incident, the great Rishi opted to settle near the river, and made it a residence for some years. Thereby, it became known as Vashisht (after Vashishta). We can find Vashishta Brahmarishi Temple in this village.

Ancient Greeks called it Hyphasis (). Plinius called it Hypasis, an approximation to the Vedic Vipāś. Other classical names are Hynais, Bipasis, Bibasis.

In modern times, the river has also been called Bias or Bejah.

History

The Beas River marks the easternmost border of Alexander the Great's conquests in 326 BC. It was one of the rivers that created problems in Alexander's invasion of India. His troops mutinied here in 326 BC, refusing to go any further in Mukerian. Alexander shut himself in his tent for three days, but when his men did not change their desires he gave in, raising twelve colossal altars to mark the limit and glory of his expedition. The exact location and fate of these altars are unknown, although one historian has suggested that they were later reused to create some of the Pillars of Ashoka.

According to the Kavyamimansa of Rajasekhara, the kingdom-territories of the Gurjara-Pratihara monarch Mahipala I extended as far as the upper course of the river Beas in the north-west.

2014 Beas River Tragedy resulted in 24 engineering students and one tour operator drowned when the flood gates of the Larji dam were opened.

During 2023 monsoon, flooding in Beas caused substantial damages in the state of Himachal Pradesh. Damage to the state is estimated to be $1B, the loss of life is over 400, and little government relief is available to assist with social costs and recovery.

Course

Present course

The river rises 4361 m above sea-level on the southern face of Rohtang Pass in Kullu. It traverses the Mandi District and enters the Kangra District at Sandhol, 590 m above sea-level. During its lower course the Beas is crossed by numerous ferries, many of which consist of inflated skins (darais). Near Reh in Kangra District it divides into three channels, which reunite after passing Mirthal, 300 m above sea-level. On meeting the Sivalik Hills in Mukerian, the river sweeps sharply northward, forming the boundary with Kangra District. Then bending round the base of the Sivalik Hills, it takes the southerly direction, separating the districts of Gurdaspur and Hoshiapur. After touching the Jalandhar district for a short distance, the river forms the boundary between Amritsar and Kapurthala. Finally the Beas joins the river Sutlej at the south-western boundary of Kapurthala district of Punjab after a total course of 470 km. The chief tributaries are Bain, Banganga, Luni and Uhal. The Sutlej continues into Pakistani Punjab and joins the Chenab River at Uch near Bahawalpur to form the Panjnad River; the latter in turn joins the Indus River at Mithankot.

The water of the Beas river is allocated to India under the terms of the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan. The mean annual flow is 14.203 million acre feet (MAF).

Historical course

Historically, the Beas River flowed from its present-day junction with the Sutlej to Lahore and Montgomery districts, after which it joined the Chenab near Shujabad before the Chenab turns westward. By 1245, the Beas river occupied the former bed of the Chenab river that passed by Dipalpur. The Beas River formerly used to run from Kasur to Chunian and then Shergarh in Okara. The old Beas river flowed south of the site of Harappa. The flow of the Beas river, which ran through the high-bar of the Bari Doab, shifted between 1750 and 1800, with it being captured by the Sutlej river, after many previous changes to its flow throughout the preceding centuries.

Dams

In the 20th century, the river was developed under the Beas Project for irrigation and hydroelectric power generation purposes. Listed upstream to downstream:

• Pandoh Dam (Beas Satluj Link Project I), 990 MW, 41 MCM, in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh, diverts Beas River water to the Sutlej River through a system of tunnels and channels, connecting the two rivers for power generation.
• Pong Dam (Beas Dam / Maharana Pratap Sagar), 396 MW, 8570 MCM, in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, it's an earth-fill dam built for water storage, irrigation, and hydroelectric power generation, completed in 1974.
• Shahnehar Barrage/Headwork, 207 MW, 4.64 MCM live capacity, just downstream of Pong Dam in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh was completed in 1983.
  • Shahnehar Canal, takes off from the Shahnehar barrage to supply water for irrigation needs and four cascading power houses at the canal drops before releasing water further downstream in the Beas river.
• Harike Barrage, 45 km northeast of Ferozepur in Ferozepur district of Punjab near Pakistan border, barrage is located at the confluence of the Beas and Sutlej rivers for diverting water into following canals for irrigation in Rajasthan and Punjab.
  • Indira Gandhi Canal
  • Ganga Canal (Rajasthan)

Pollution

On 17 May 2018, countless number of fishes and other aquatic animals were found dead in Beas river due to release of molasses from a sugar mill situated on its shore at Kiri Afgana village in Gurdaspur district. Locals have noted that the river color has changed to rust brown and dead fishes were floating in the river. Punjab Pollution Control Board have ordered the closure of the factory and an enquiry has been initiated. Besides sealing, the sugar mill has been charged a fine of Rs. 25 lakh for this negligence.

Gallery

File:Delay on the road - Upper Beas River near Manali.jpg|Delay on the road — Upper Beas River near Manali, Himachal Pradesh, Manali. File:Beasriverhp.jpg|Beas River in Himachal Pradesh File:Beas River at Pathankot 6069.jpg|Beas River in Pathankot File:Bridge across the Beas River, south of Dharamsala.jpg|Bridge across the Beas River, south of Dharamsala File:View from top of Kangra Fort overlooking Beas river.jpg|View from top of Kangra Fort overlooking Baner Khad. File:Beas River at Nehru Kund, Manali (2).jpg|Beas River seen from Nehru Kund, Manali

Notes

References

References

1. ''The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province and Kashmir''. Sir James McCrone Douie. 1916, p. 25
2. "About District".
3. (5 March 2007). "Hydrology and water resources of India". Springer.
4. "Signs of hope as population of endangered Indus River dolphin jumps in Pakistan". WWF.
5. Pratap Chandra Roy Mahabharata Adi Parva Page 407.
6. "Imperial Gazetteer2 of India, Volume 7, page 138 – Imperial Gazetteer of India – Digital South Asia Library".
7. ''Travels into Bokhara'', Lieut. Alex. Burnes FRS, London, John Murray, 1834, page 6
8. (1833). "The Empire and Expeditions of Alexander the Great".
9. Pal, Ranajit. (2006). "An altar of Alexander now standing near Delhi". Scholia : Studies in Classical Antiquity.
10. Kavyamimansa of Rajasekhara, ch. XVII, P. 94
11. Rama Shankar Tripathi. (1989). "History of Kanauj: To the Moslem Conquest". Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
12. (2023-07-09). "At least 9 dead as heavy rains wreak havoc in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand".
13. Srishti Jaswal. (25 September 2023). "‘Climate change killed my family’: Unusual monsoon hammers India’s Himachal". [https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/25/climate-change-killed-my-family-unusual-monsoon-hammers-indias-himachal Al Jazeera English website] Retrieved 25 September 2023.
14. "The Indus Waters Treaty 1960".
15. "Pages 261 and 291, The Ravi- Beas Water Tribunal Report (1987)". Central Water Commission.
16. Krishnan, M. S.. (1956). "Geology of India and Burma". Higginbothams.
17. Mahmood, Amjad. (19 April 2021). "The tuber territory of Okara". Dawn.
18. "Agriculture (Flora & Fauna)".
19. (Dec 6, 2012). "Encyclopedia of Prehistory". Springer Science & Business Media.
20. Gilmartin, David. (Apr 14, 2020). "Blood and Water: The Indus River Basin in Modern History". University of California Press.
21. (August 2025). "Infrastructure built in the post independence period". Govt of Punjab.
22. "Developmental History of Beas Project". Bhakra Beas Management Board.
23. "India: National Register of Large Dams 2009". Central Water Commission.
24. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/356745394_Status-quo_of_the_different_canal_systems_of_Punjab_India Status quo of different canal systems of punjab], researchgate, acsessed 19 May 2025.
25. "Water Resources Projects in Indus Basin".
26. (2018-05-17). "Molasses leak from sugar factory kills thousands of fish in Beas". The Times of India.
27. (2018-05-19). "Water Pollution: In Punjab's Beas River, Hundreds Of Fish Die Due To Fluid Released From A Sugar Mill {{!}} News". NDTV-Dettol Banega Swachh India.