Koshi, Nepal — Towns & Travel Guide

What is Koshi known for?

The Saptakoshi takes its title from the seven upper tributaries that meet north of the Chatra Gorge, among them the Tamur River out of the Kanchenjunga area, the Arun River and the Sun Koshi. Downstream the Kosi River is the third-largest tributary of the Ganges by water discharge, behind only the Ghaghara and the Yamuna. Three countries share it.

China, Nepal and India each hold part of the basin, and the water that leaves the Himalayas eventually branches into distributaries in Bihar before joining the Ganges near Kursela.

Where is Koshi?

The Kosi River crosses China, Nepal and India, draining the northern slopes of the Himalayas in Tibet and the southern slopes in Nepal. Seven upper tributaries give the Saptakoshi its name, and they converge at a major meeting of waters north of the Chatra Gorge, below which the river carries that single title. The Tamur River rises in the Kanchenjunga area.

Arun River water comes from Tibet, as does the Sun Koshi, and the Sun Koshi in turn takes in the Dudh Koshi, the Likhu Khola, the Tamakoshi River, the Bhote Koshi and the Indravati. Spelling shifts between Kosi and Koshi from one tributary to the next. Then the plain.

The Saptakoshi crosses into Bihar, in India, where it splits into distributaries before rejoining the Ganges near Kursela in the Katihar district. By water discharge the Kosi ranks third among the Ganges tributaries, behind the Ghaghara and the Yamuna. That is the measure of the basin the region shares its name with, a catchment that begins on Himalayan ground in Tibet and ends in the plains of Bihar.

Nothing in the record fixes a boundary for Koshi itself, and the river is the only geography the sources attach to the name.

What is Koshi like?

Naming is most of what the sources record here, and the pattern is dense: the Saptakoshi is called that for its seven upper tributaries, one title covering the whole gathering. The element repeats downward. Dudh Koshi, Bhote Koshi, Tamakoshi River and Sun Koshi all carry it, while the Likhu Khola, the Arun River and the Indravati do not.

Nepali is the language attached to the region in the record. Sun Kosi and Sun Koshi appear as the same river under two spellings, which is the ordinary condition of names in a basin this wide. The basin is shared.

China, Nepal and India each hold part of it, so the water that begins on Himalayan ground in Tibet reaches the Ganges near Kursela in the Katihar district only after crossing two borders. The Kanchenjunga area supplies the Tamur River at one end of that chain. Saptakoshi is the name below the confluence, and Koshi the one the region answers to.

Beyond the names and the water, the record holds nothing about festivals, crafts, or the life of the settlements along the Chatra Gorge. The Indravati and the Likhu Khola appear only as names on that list.

What is the history of Koshi?

No dates attach to Koshi. What the record gives instead is a physical account: the Saptakoshi gathering seven upper tributaries north of the Chatra Gorge and running on to meet the Ganges near Kursela. The distributaries in Bihar are part of the same account, as is the ranking of the Kosi against the Ghaghara and the Yamuna.

Names are the only inheritance recorded. Sun Koshi, Dudh Koshi, Bhote Koshi and Tamakoshi River carry the same element forward.

What is the climate of Koshi?

The Himalayas are the only climatic agent the sources name for Koshi, and their part is in the water they release: the Arun River and the Sun Koshi both descend from Tibet. No temperature record exists here. Chatra Gorge separates a mountain catchment from a plains one, and the two halves of the basin cannot share a single description.

Whatever falls on the Kanchenjunga area reaches Bihar through the Tamur River and the Saptakoshi. Snow, rain and season go unrecorded in the sources.

How do you get to Koshi?

No road or line is recorded. The sources name no airport, no highway and no operator for Koshi, so the only routes they describe are the valleys themselves: the Arun River, the Tamur River and the Sun Koshi above the Chatra Gorge. Below the gorge the Saptakoshi runs toward Bihar and its distributaries, reaching the Ganges near Kursela in the Katihar district.

Two international borders sit in that line, since the water crosses from China through Nepal into India. Kanchenjunga water enters at the Tamur River.