The Yamuna River

The Taj Mahal wasn’t built beside the Yamuna by accident. Its still water was meant to double the monument, mirror and all.

The Yamuna, seen from the Taj Mahal at Agra. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 2.0. Source.

Map of the Yamuna river’s course and drainage basin. Map: Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source.

MCQ Questions

IndGeo0088

1,376 km

Total length, from the Himalayas to Prayagraj

The Yamuna is the Ganga’s largest tributary by length, flowing through 5 states before merging at the Triveni Sangam.

Source

6,387 m elevation, near Banderpoonch peak, Uttarkashi.

Confluence

Prayagraj

Joins the Ganga at the Triveni Sangam.

Cleanup Since 1993

Yamuna Action Plan

India’s first Japan-funded river cleanup project.

Through Delhi

22 km stretch

Just 2% of its length, but its most polluted section.

📑 Contents

Must Know

The Yamuna originates at the Yamunotri Glacier, near Banderpoonch peak in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, at about 6,387 metres elevation.
It’s the Ganga’s largest tributary, running about 1,376 km through Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh.
The river joins the Ganga at Prayagraj, at the Triveni Sangam.
Major tributaries include the Tons (its largest by water volume), Chambal, Betwa, Ken, and Hindon.
The Yamuna flows past several historically major cities, including Delhi, Agra, and Mathura.

The Taj Mahal, in Agra, sits on the Yamuna’s southern bank. Its placement wasn’t accidental: the calm river water reflects the monument, adding to its “floating tomb” effect.
In Mathura and Vrindavan, the Yamuna carries deep religious significance, tied to Krishna’s childhood in the Bhagavata Purana. Ghats like Vishram Ghat remain major pilgrimage sites today.
The Yamuna Action Plan (YAP), launched in 1993, was India’s first major river-cleanup project funded by Japan. Its first phase built 29 sewage treatment plants across Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, running until 2003.
Despite decades of cleanup efforts, the roughly 22 km stretch through Delhi, just a small fraction of the river’s total length, remains its most polluted section.
Recent efforts continue under the Namami Gange Programme. Nine projects worth over ₹1,951 crore have been sanctioned for Delhi alone, to strengthen sewage treatment infrastructure.
For the river’s Himalayan glacial origins in fuller context, see IndGeo0068 — Himalayan Glaciers.

The Yamuna shows a real paradox in Indian river management. It’s simultaneously one of India’s most sacred rivers and one of its most polluted, worshipped and fouled along the very same stretch through Delhi.
Its Mughal-era role went beyond religious symbolism into deliberate architecture. Riverside siting, seen at both Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal, used the Yamuna’s still water as a design element, not just a water source.
The gap between the Yamuna’s small physical footprint through Delhi and its outsized pollution burden illustrates a wider pattern. A river’s worst-affected stretch is often exactly where it passes through its largest city, not where it’s longest or widest.

On 7 August 2026, the Rajya Sabha’s Standing Committee on Science, Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change tabled its 413th Report. This report reviewed the government’s action, on the Committee’s earlier 402nd Report on Water Pollution in Delhi NCR. (Source: PIB)
The original 402nd Report had flagged severe water-quality degradation, in the Yamuna’s stretch between Palla, Wazirabad, and the Shahdara Drain. It recommended more frequent monitoring, and adding Chemical Oxygen Demand as a tracked contamination parameter. (Source: PRS India)