Rivers 

The major rivers in the Himalayan group are the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra. These rivers are generally snow fed and have reasonable flow throughout the year. During the monsoon months (June to September), the Himalayas receive very heavy rainfall and the rivers carry the maximum amount of water, causing frequent floods. Himalayan rivers discharge about 70% of their inflow into the sea. This includes about 5% from central Indian rivers. They join the Ganga and drain into the Bay of Bengal.

The Deccan Rivers
The Peninsular rivers are generally rain-fed and, therefore, fluctuate greatly in volume. A very large number of them are non-perennial. Peninsular rivers contribute 30 percent of the total outflow in India. The major Deccan rivers are the Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, Pennar, Mahanadi, Damodar, Sharavati, Netravati, Bharathapuzha, Periyar, Pamba, Narmada and Tapti. 

The Coastal Rivers
The coastal rivers, especially on the west coast, are short and have limited catchment areas. Most of these are non-perennial as well. 

The Rivers of the Inland Drainage Basin
The rivers on the inland drainage basin consists of those in Western Rajasthan which are very few and short lived, like the Sambhar which is lost in the desert sands, and the Loni that drains into the Rann of Kutch.

The Main Rivers in India

Name	Length (km)	Originates from	Ends in	Passes through
Ganga (Bhagirati)	2,507	Gaumukh	Bay of Bengal	Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal
Yamuna (Jamuna)	1370	Garhwal in Yamunotri	Bay of Bengal	Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh
Brahmaputra	2,850	Chemayung-Dung glacier, between lake Manasarovar and Mount Kailash	Bay of Bengal	North Eastern states of India
Kaveri (Dakshina Ganga" or Ganges of the south)	765	Hills of Coorg, Karnataka	Bay of Bengal	Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
Godavari	1,465	Trimbakeshwar near Nasik Hills in Maharashtra	Bay of Bengal	South-easterly direction, through Maharastra and Andhra Pradesh
Krishna	900	Near Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra	Bay of Bengal	Maharastra, Karnataka  and Andhra Pradesh
Narmada	1,300	Amarkantak hill in Madhya Pradesh	Arabian Sea	Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat
Tapti	724	Pachmari, Madhya Pradesh	Arabian Sea	Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat
Gomti	805	Himalaya Range of Nepal	Bay of Bengal	Uttar Pradesh
Ghaghara		Shivalik mountain range of Himachal Pradesh	Disappears into the Thar Desert	Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan
Mahanadi	860	Satpura Range	Bay of Bengal	Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Maharashtra