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Where Rivers Begin: asked and not asked.
UPSC has asked 19 of these 26. 11 came more than once. 7 have not come yet. Lock the repeated ones first, then read the rest.
First, the concept
Himalayan rivers start from glaciers and flow all year. Peninsular rivers start from plateaus and hills and depend on rain.
Amarkantak is one source point for two rivers: the Narmada flows west, the Son flows north. The Western Ghats feed the big east-flowing rivers: Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri.
UPPCS asks a river with its source, or asks which river starts from a given place.
🔁 Asked again and again (11)
Tap a year to open that solved question.
Himalayan rivers
- Indus · Near Lake Mansarovar, Tibet (Bokhar Chu glacier) 40 times:202620262025202520242023
- Brahmaputra (Tsangpo) · Chemayungdung glacier, near Mansarovar 8 times:202620172016201120081990
- Chenab · Chandra and Bhaga meet at Tandi (Lahaul) 6 times:202120192019201920082006
- Sutlej · Rakas Tal near Mansarovar, Tibet 5 times:20262021201419971982
- Ghaghara and Kosi · Rise in the Himalaya of Tibet and Nepal; the Kosi is the 'Sorrow of Bihar' 4 times:2024202419841982
Rivers from the central highlands
✅ Asked once (8)
Himalayan rivers
Rivers from the central highlands
- Betwa and Ken · Vindhyan ranges of Madhya Pradesh; flow north into the Yamuna
- Mahi · Vindhyas, Dhar (Madhya Pradesh); crosses the Tropic of Cancer twice
- Luni · Near Pushkar (Ajmer); ends in the Rann of Kutch 2008
❌ Not asked by UPSC yet (7)
Items marked 'asked in UPPCS' have already come in the UP state exam, so examiners do use them.
Himalayan rivers
- Yamuna · Yamunotri glacier, Uttarakhand asked in UPPCS
- Jhelum · Verinag spring, Kashmir
- Beas · Beas Kund near Rohtang
Rivers from the central highlands
- Sabarmati · Aravalli, Udaipur (Rajasthan) asked in UPPCS
Peninsular rivers
- Kaveri · Talakaveri, Brahmagiri hills, Kodagu (Karnataka) asked in UPPCS
- Mahanadi · Sihawa, Dhamtari (Chhattisgarh) asked in UPPCS
- Bhima · Bhimashankar (Maharashtra)
⚠️ Narmada and Son both start at Amarkantak but flow in different directions. The Godavari starts in Maharashtra, not Andhra Pradesh. The Mahanadi starts in Chhattisgarh, not Odisha.
'Asked' is checked against the solved UPSC questions on this site. 'Not asked yet' does not mean it will surely come.