Introduction
We, the human beings, look upon nature as our friend and helper in the struggle for experience. The most valuable gifts of nature are mountains and rivers. Numberless are the pro ducts that we get from them throughout the year. Our country is rich in rivers and mountains. Our rivers feed us like our mothers and our mountains guard us like our fathers.
Our prominent rivers and mountains
In India, there is a net of rivers spreading from north to south and cast to west. It is very difficult to enumerate all the rivers and their tributaries. The Ganga, the Yamuna, the Godavari, the Ravi, the Jhelum and the Brahmaputra are the main rivers of India. The Himalayas, the Satpura, the Vindhyachal, and the Western and the Eastern Ghats are prominent among the mountains of India. The Himalayas is the king of the mountains and the Ganga is the queen of the rivers. The Himalayas mountain range in the north of India from west to east. The Ganga originates from the place ‘Gangotri’ in the Himalayas and mingles with the see-water at Calcutta after covering a journey of thousands of miles. The Ganga is more than a river of Indians. It is a Goddess worshipped by Indians with a spirit of devotion. It has inspired countless poets and authors who have eulogized it in their works ad dressing it as ‘Mother’.
How our rivers serve us
Our rivers serve us in many ways. They provide us clean water to drink and to wash. They irrigate our fields and gardens and help us in our farming. If there had not been rivers in India, Indians, perhaps, would have died of starvation. Our prominent cities are specially worth-seeing and worth-living Our rivers serve us by yielding fish. Fish is the chief diet of the people of Bengal. The deficiency of food grains is compensated by fish. in many States of India.
Electricity and navigation
River water is now being used to generate electric power. This is the most important and useful service which the rivers are rendering to us. In some States of India, rivers used for navigation. In this way, rivers help us in the commerce and trade. It is through the rivers that heavy logs of wood are brought from the high mountains to plains.
Rivers and religious sentiments
Our rivers dominate our sentiments of religion. Every year, month and day, lakhs of Indians flock on the banks of the holy rivers to have holy dips. According to their belief, they wash off their sins in the holy streams. Haridwar, Allahabad and Varanasi and so many others are the well-known religious centers situated on the banks of rivers. These pilgrim centers are the great source of the national income through the Railway Department. Besides this rivers give us light and delight by producing before us true natural beauty. The freshness of the stream of water, its sparkling in the sunlight, its rippling silveriness in the moonlight and many more such scenes refresh us, inspire us and take us to another world full of beauty and purity. Sometimes. cur rivers cause us havoc when they are flooded during the rains. They render many poor people homeless and ruin our green crops.
How our mountains serve us ?
Our mountains provide us many kinds of fruits like apple, plum, cherry and strawberry. They are God-given defense against attackers and intruders. They serve us as health resorts during the summer season when the plains are very hot. Wild life is found in plenty in the foot-hills of some mountain rages. Our mountains give us fuel and teak wood for other purposes. They give us herbs for preparing medicines. Thinkers, philosophers and sages, when they renounce the world, go to the mountains in search of peace. calm and undisturbed atmosphere of the mountains provides such persons sufficient scope for spiritual meditation.
Conclusion
Our mountains and rivers are a source of health and wealth. They have made our history and culture. The Ganga and the Himalayas are as famous as the moon and the sun in the world.