Peninsular River · East-flowing

Indravati

Godavari south branch
🏔️ Eastern Ghats, Kalahandi district, Odisha → Godavari River, Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border
535 kmTotal Length
41,665Basin km²
SeasonalFlow Type
3States
Wild Water BuffaloFlagship Species

About the Indravati

The Indravati is Chhattisgarh's most important river and one of central India's wildest, flowing through the remote Bastar tribal heartland with minimal infrastructure or settlement on its banks for hundreds of kilometres. The river creates Chitrakote Falls — India's widest waterfall, called the "Niagara of India" — where the full river drops 30 metres in a 300-metre-wide horseshoe, most spectacular during the monsoon season. The surrounding Indravati National Park is one of the most remote and least-visited major protected areas in India.

The Indravati basin is the heartland of the Gond, Halba, and Muria tribal peoples who have maintained extraordinary cultural and ecological traditions in the Bastar forest for millennia. The Indravati National Park shelters one of the last viable central Indian populations of wild water buffalo — the ancestor of domestic buffalo — alongside tigers, gaur, and sloth bears. The river also drains through Kanger Valley National Park, home to Tirathgarh Falls and the remarkable blind fish of Kotumsar Cave.

States along this river
OdishaChhattisgarhMaharashtra
Length (vs Ganga, 2525 km)
535 km — 21% of India's longest river
Key tributaries

Narangi · Bodinara · Kotri

Wildlife along this river
Wild Water Buffalo 🐃Bengal Tiger 🐯Bastar Hill Myna 🐦Gaur 🐂Sloth Bear 🐻
Best time to explore
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
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