Sharda River

The Sharda River, also called Kali River and Mahakali River, originates at Kalapani in the Himalayas at an elevation of 3,600 m (11,800 ft) in the Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand, India. It flows along Nepal’s western border with India and has a basin area of 14,871 km2 (5,742 sq mi). It joins Ghaghra River, a tributary of the Ganges.[1] It takes the name Kali River from the union of the two streams at Gunji as it flows through the hills. After Brahmadev Mandi near Tanakpur, it enters the Terai plains, where it is called Sharda River.[2]

It offers potential for hydroelectric power generation. The river is also proposed as source for one of the many projects in the Himalayan component of the Indian Rivers Inter-link project.[

It is named after Śāradā, which is another name for Saraswati, the goddess of learning.[citation needed] It is called Mahakali River in Nepali: महाकाली नदी, mahākālī nadī, शारदा नदी, shāradā nadī in Hindi, and Kali Gad (Hindi: काली गाड़, kālī gād) or Kali Ganga in Uttarakhand.[citation needed]

The sources of the Sharda river have seen much debate through history. The tradition believes that the river originates from a collection of springs near the Kalapani village. The Almora District Gazetteer states:

A remarkable collection of springs regarded as sacred by the Indians and erroneously considered by them as the source of the Kali river, though the headwaters of the latter lie 30 miles further north-west. The springs are in fact unimportant tributaries.[4]

In the British definition of 1911, the Sharda River is formed by the union of two headwaters: the Kalapani River that originates below the Lipulekh Pass and the Kuthi Yankti river that rises below the Limpiyadhura range.[2] But both the streams have been termed “Kali River” on different occasions.