Chandra River The River Chandra is one of the two rivers which merge to form the Chenab in the Lahaul region of Himachal Pradesh. It rises in the snows lying at the base of the main Himalayan range in the Lahaul and Spiti district. The beautiful Chandra Tal lake has formed at its source. It flows for a considerable distance along the base of this range in a southeasterly direction before turning completely and taking a southwesterly course in the Spiti Valley. It flows on to merge with the Bhaga River downstream of Keylong.

Chandra River. (Download Realplayer)

The Chandra river in its upper course, enroute to Kunzum La Credit: Karamjeet Singh

The upper and middle catchments of this river are made up of a topography that has been carved out by glacial action. The entire area is a vast cold desert that receives little or no rain as it lies in the rain-shadow of the Pir Panjal range lying towards the south. Many small snow-fed tributaries join the Chandra at different places.

Describing its course, Harcourt (1871) states, "the river Chandra passes through a totally barren land where there are no signs of life, the solemn mountains clad in eternal snow lying on its either flanks. No villages adorn its banks, no attempts at cultivation, no human life is met with and nothing greets the eye but the never ending monotonous cliffs, which are lapped by the fierce stream as it rushes in wild fury against its banks".

Koksar is the only important human settlement along this river.