Which of the following rivers does not originate in India?
2011
Which of the following rivers does not originate in India?
Answer: C. Brahmaputra — ConceptA river's “origin” (or source) is the specific glacier, spring, or hill range where its very first waters emerge — not the country it is best known in…
- A.
Kaveri
- B.
Narmada
- C.
Brahmaputra
- D.
Ganga
Attempted by 3 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept
A river's “origin” (or source) is the specific glacier, spring, or hill range where its very first waters emerge — not the country it is best known in or the country it flows through the longest. To decide whether a river originates in India, locate its actual source point, not its course or popularity.
Application
Kaveri: rises at Talakaveri in the Western Ghats, Kodagu district, Karnataka — its source lies entirely within Indian territory.
Narmada: rises at Amarkantak on the Maikal range in Madhya Pradesh — again a source inside India.
Ganga: rises as the Bhagirathi at Gaumukh, the snout of the Gangotri Glacier in Uttarakhand — a source inside India.
Brahmaputra: begins as the Yarlung Tsangpo at the Angsi Glacier near Mount Kailash in Tibet (China). It flows for over a thousand kilometres through Tibetan territory before entering India through Arunachal Pradesh — so its source point lies outside India.
Cross-check
Restricting the comparison to the four rivers offered here: Kaveri, Narmada, and Ganga each have their entire source within India, while the Brahmaputra's source lies in Tibet — making it the one outlier among these four. (Several other Himalayan-fed rivers, such as the Kosi and the Ghaghara, also rise outside India, but none of those appear among the options here.)