Karamana river is a river flowing through the Thiruvananthapuram

Thiruvananthapuram

Thiruvananthapuram , formerly known as Trivandrum, is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala and the headquarters of the Thiruvananthapuram District. It is located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland...

 city (also known as Trivandrum), Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. The river starts from the southern tip of the Western Ghats

Western Ghats

The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...

 at Agastyar Koodam

Agastya Mala

Agastya Mala is a peak within Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala in the Western Ghats of South India. The mountain lies on the border between the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu...

. The river flows 68 km westward and merges into the Arabian Sea

Arabian Sea

The Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui in northeastern Somalia and Kanyakumari in India...

 at Panathura area near Kovalam

Kovalam

Kovalam is a beach town on the Arabian Sea in Thiruvananthapuram city, Kerala, India. It is located around 13 km from the down town of Trivandrum.-Etymology:...

. The river gets its name from Karamana, a suburb of Trivandrum city, through which it flows.

Dams

The Karamana river has the distinction of having two dams on it despite its relatively short length. These are the Peppara Dam

Peppara

The Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary constitutes the catchments of the Peppara Dam on the Karamana River near Thiruvananthapuram, India.The Peppara Dam was commissioned in 1983 to augment the drinking water supply to Thiruvananthapuram city and suburban areas. Considering the ecological significance of...

 meant for irrigation on the upper reach of the river, and the Aruvikkara Dam

Aruvikkara

Aruvikkara is a village in Thiruvananthapuram district in the state of Kerala, India.It is located on the banks of the Karamana River 15 km from Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the state of Kerala in South India. The reservoir and garden makes it a tourist spot...

, meant for irrigation as well as drinking water supply to the city of Trivandrum.

Tributaries and Distributaries

The best-known tributary of the Karamana river is Killiyar, which joins it at Pallathukadavu after cutting through the city of Trivandrum. Killiyar has its origins in the village of Panavoor

Panavoor

Panavoor is a village in Thiruvananthapuram district in the state of Kerala, India.-Demographics: India census, Panavoor had a population of 20021 with 9671 males and 10350 females....

, in Nedumangad Taluk. Killiyar runs parallel to the TS Road for most of the Nedumangad-Trivandrum route.

Bridges

The Karamana river has several bridges across it. The largest is at Karamana itself, where the NH-47 crosses it. Other important bridges are at Thrikkunnapuram, Mangattu Kadavu, Kundamon Kadavu, Vellaikadavu, Aruvikkara (on the dam),Maruthoor kadavu, Aryanad and a low bridge near Malamukal. The latter makes the river unusable for navigation. Some of the bridges provide spectacular views of the river.

Diversion at Karamana

It is reported that, in 1820, the Karamana river was diverted from its original location at Karamana to the present location in order to facilitate the construction of a bridge at the current location