Chambal

Background and evolution

The ravines are not static. Each monsoon, runoff deepens and extends gullies headwards, swallowing farmland. Studies have estimated that ravines in the Chambal and neighbouring Yamuna basins cover several lakh hectares. Attempts to level them with machines have sometimes worsened erosion, and experts now favour watershed treatment, vegetation and controlled grazing.

The Chambal is one of the few large rivers of the Indian peninsula that flows north. It drains the Malwa plateau, whose volcanic and Vindhyan rocks slope gently towards the Ganga plain, and carries water from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan into the Yamuna. Because it rises on the northern side of the Vindhyas, it belongs to the Ganga system rather than to the west- or east-flowing peninsular rivers. Ujjain, one of India's ancient cities and a site of the Kumbh Mela, lies on its tributary, the Shipra.

In its lower course the river has cut deeply into soft alluvium, creating the famous Chambal ravines, a maze of gullies stretching for kilometres on both banks. These badlands were long associated with outlaws and with poor agricultural potential. In the twentieth century the river was harnessed for irrigation and power, while its lower stretch became one of India's most important wildlife refuges. This page uses the Chambal to study three themes together: ravine erosion, a cascade of dams and river conservation.