River
Mahanadi
860 km from source to mouth · India.
IndiaFlows into Bay of Bengal
In numbers
Length
860km
Average flow
2,100m³/s
Basin
142,000km²
Drop
507m
from 507 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
860 km of river and 25 stops on the way: 15 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 507 m
- 114 kmRājim14,090 people
- 114 kmNawāpāra29,315 people
- 199 kmLālbāndha Tank0.4 km²
- 224 kmShivnath Rivertributary
- 234 kmKharod10,193 people
- 237 kmSeorīnārāyan9,707 people
- 254 kmHasdeo Rivertributary
- 313 kmMand Rivertributary
- 393 kmHīrākūd Reservoir501 km²
- 395 kmBurla46,698 people
- 395 kmHīrākud30,207 people
- 408 kmSambalpur189,366 people
- 462 kmBinika15,765 people
- 475 kmOng Rivertributary
- 487 kmSonepur20,770 people
- 491 kmTel Rivertributary
- 534 kmMahanadi Bridge, Boudh
- 537 kmBaud20,424 people
- 566 kmAthmallik12,298 people
- 649 kmKantilo9,181 people
- 689 kmBānki17,521 people
- 699 kmAnshupa Lake1.2 km²
- 735 kmCuttack610,189 people
- 737 kmSecond Mahanadi Rail Bridge
- 823 kmParādīp Garh85,868 people
- 860 kmBay of Bengalat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Odisha, India
At the mouth it carries 2,100 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.2 seconds. It drops from 507 m to 0 m, 0.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 142,000 km², about the size of TJ. 33.7 million people live in it. Highest water: September; lowest: from February to May. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (18% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- CuttackLargest city on its banks · 610,189 people
- Biju Patnaik International Airport (BBI)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 25 km from the cityCar hire at CCU airport (Kolkata)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From November to FebruaryThe best months to visit
Mahanadi, month by month
Highest water: September
Lowest water: from February to May. Best months to visit: from November to February.
From about 210 m³/s in the lowest month to 9,700 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Mahanadi: the basin in numbers
135,524 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 33.7millionpeople live in the basin
- 251/km²people per km²
- 344maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,343mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 26.2°Caverage air temperature
- 3%protected areas
- 0.8%covered by lakes
- 15km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 33% Forest
- 50% Cropland
- 6% Pasture
- 6% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Mahanadi: what you find on the way
- 13Weirs
- 2Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Mahanadi in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
3mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lālbāndha Tankkm 2020.4km²
- Hīrākūd Reservoirkm 400501km²
- Anshupa Lakekm 7111.2km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (3)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Besaraid Dongar3.6 km away
- Chherikotri Dongri12 km away
- Lashkar Dongri14 km away
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Mahanadi in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (5)
Also: Mand River, Shivnath River, Tel River, Hasdeo River, Ong River
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q271044) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit