This Jhelum River, westernmost of the five in the Punjab that drain into the Indus River in Pakistan. The Jhelum rises from a deep spring at Vernag, in the Indian-held sector of Jammu And Kashmir State. The river meanders north-westward from the northern slope of the Pir Panjal Range through the Vale of Kashmir, past Anantnag and Srinagar, to Wular Lake. It emerges from the lake, which controls its flow, near Sopur and crosses the Pir Panjal in a 7,000-ft (2,100-m) gorge with almost perpendicular sides. At Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Kashmir, it joins the Kishanganga River and then bends southward, forming part of the border between Azad Kashmir (east) and Northwest Frontier Province, Pakistan (west).
Near Mangala, the Jhelum River breaks through the Siwalik Range into
alluvial plains that are dissected into terraces and lake deposits known as
Karewas. Pleistocene glacial deposits (10,000-2,500,000 years old) eroded
by the river have yielded fossil mammals and remains of human habitation.
At Jhelum town the river turns southwestward along the Salt Range to Khushab,
where it again bends south to join the Chenab River near Trimmu. The
total length of the Jhelum is about 450 mi (725 km).
The lower course of the Jhelum has been developed for irrigation and the
production of hydroelectric power. The Mangla Dam and Reservoir irrigates
about 3,000,000 ac (1,200,000 ha) and has a potential hydroelectric capacity of
upto 1,000,000 kw. The upper Jhelum Canal leaves the river at Mangla and
runs eastward to the Chenab River at Khanki, while the lower Jhelum Canal
starts at Rasul. Both canals are used for irrigation.
Bridges at Jhelum town carry the main road and railway between Lahore and
Rawalpindi. There are also road and rail bridges at Malakwal and Khushab.
Jhelum town, on the right bank of the river, is said to lie opposite the
site of Bucephala of Alexander the Great (4th Century
BC). The river itself is believed to be the Hydaspes mentioned by Arrian,
Alexander’s historian, and the Bidaspes of Ptolemy. It is known as the
Vitastaa in Sanskrit, the Bihat (Wihat, Bhiatab) in Muslim writings, and the
Veth in Modern Kashmiri.
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