Shivanasamudra Falls

Shivanasamudra Falls is a cluster of waterfalls on the borders of Malavalli, Mandya and Kollegala, Chamarajanagara, in Karnataka, India, situated along the river Kaveri. The falls form the contour between the districts of Chamarajanagara and Mandya. The Bharachukki Falls in Kollegala, with a height of 69 metres, and the Gaganachukki Falls in Malavalli, with a height of 90 metres, collectively form the Shivanasamudra Falls. Shivanasamudra Falls is home to one of the first hydro-electric power stations in Asia, which was set up in 1902. The project was designed by Dewan Sir. Sheshadri Iyer and Chief Engineer Sir M. Visvesvaraya. The Shivanasamudra Falls is on the Kaveri River after the river has found its way through the rocks and ravines of the Deccan Plateau and drops off to form waterfalls. The island town of Shivanasamudra divides the river into twin waterfalls. This creates the fourth largest island in the course of the river. A group of ancient temples is located here and there likely was a village. This is a segmented waterfall. Segmented waterfalls occur where the water flow is broken into two or more channels before dropping over a cliff, resulting in multiple sides by side waterfalls. It has an average width of , a height of , and an average volume of . The maximum recorded volume is . It is a perennial waterfall. The time of best flow are the monsoon season of July to October. A common misconception about these waterfalls is that the left segment is called Gaganachukki and the right segment is called Bharachukki. In reality the Bharachukki falls are a few kilometers to the south-west of the Gaganachukki falls. This is due to the Kaveri river itself splitting a few kilometers to the south into western and eastern branches. The western branch results in the twin waterfalls of Gaganachukki, whereas the eastern branch results in the Bharachukki falls. The Gaganachukki waterfalls are best viewed from the Shivanasamudra watch tower. Most of the pictures showing the twin waterfalls are taken from that location.