A tributary of the River Ganges, the Karmanasa River traces its conception in the Kaimur district, Bihar and is known to continue its journey to Uttar Pradesh. In its path, this river is known to touch the UP districts like Chandauli, Varanasi, Sonbhadra, and Ghazipur. The river name indicates something that destroys all religious merit and this has endowed the river with vital religious importance. 

History

Originating at least 350 m on Kaimur Range, the Karmanasa River flows towards a north west direction through Mirzapur and joins Ganga, in close proximity to Chausa, while forming a boundary between UP and Bihar. Recently, the State Archaeology Department in UP recovered iron made artefacts that are dated within 1200 - 1300 BC, at the site named Raja Nal Ka Tila, in the river valley to the north of the Sonbhadra district. This has definitely backed the realm of history related to iron artefact making trends in India. Way back in antiquarian era, this river acted as a barrier between the Aryan colonies and the non-submissive aboriginal eastern tribal groups. This river formed the eastern bounds of Awadh. This river also formed the western bounds of the Sena Dynasty. Sher Shah Suri defeated Humayun, the Mughal ruler at the Chausa battle on June 1593 along the Karmanasa riverbank and assumed the title of Farid al-Din Sher Shah Suri.

Course

The Karmanasa River arises at a height of apparently 350 meters and it flows from the Kaimur Range in Bihar to the UP where it meets the river Ganga, quite close to Chausa. The length of this river being 192 km, features 116 km in UP and remaining 76 km forming boundary for UP and Bihar. The drainage area in totality is 11,709 sq km. Two dams namely Latif Shah bund and the Nuagarh dam, are built across the river. Additionally, there is the Chandraprabha dam.

Tributaries

The prime tributaries of Karmanasa River are Chandraprabha, Durgavati, Nadi, Karunuti and the Khajuri. Reaching the plains through a number of leaps, Karmanasa has two falls in the form of Devdari and Chhanpathar, which form important tourist attractions due to their height and exotic natural beauty. The Chhanpathar Falls has a height of 100 ft and the Devdari Falls with a height of 190 ft lies at the edge of the Rohtas Plateau. But, the administration of the Chandrauli district claims that the Devdari Falls belong on Chandraprabha River.

Religious Significance

There are countless legends about this river. One of the mythological legend states that, Vishwamitra, a renowned Indian sage through meditation was gifted the power of creating a totally new universe. As he set out in his attempts, Lord Indra was angered, though Vishwamitra continued his work and took to creating people, Indra came over to stop this development and Vishwamitra’s first human creation named Trishanku landed up being suspended in mid-air. The river Karmanasa is known to be born from the saliva of Trishanku.