Mahakali River

Mahakali River / Sharda River शारदा नदी
Sharda River near Jauljibi
Other name(s)	Kali River
Countries	Nepal and India
Region	Mahakali Zone in Nepal; Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh in India
Basin features
Main source	Kalapani, Uttarakhand, India 3,600 m (11,800 ft)
River mouth	Ghaghra River, Uttar Pradesh, India 115 m (377 ft) 27°39′N 81°17′E / 27.650°N 81.283°E / 27.650; 81.283Coordinates: 27°39′N 81°17′E / 27.650°N 81.283°E / 27.650; 81.283
Progression	Rises along Ganges-Yarlung Tsangpo watershed and flows south through Himalaya, Lesser Himalaya, Jogbudha Valley, Shivalik Hills and Terai, then SE across plains to join Ghaghra River.
River system	Ganges
Basin size	18,140 km2 (7,000 sq mi)
Tributaries	Left: (Nepal) Chameliya, Ramgun Right: (Uttarakhand) Kuti, Dhauli, Gori, Sarju, Ladhiya
Physical characteristics
Length	350 km (220 mi)
Discharge	Average rate: 730 m3/s (26,000 cu ft/s) March: 150 m3/s (5,300 cu ft/s) July: 1,580 m3/s (56,000 cu ft/s)

The Sharda River (Nepali: महाकाली नदी, mahākālī nadī) or Mahakali River (Hindi: शारदा नदी, shāradā nadī) is also called Kali Gad (Hindi: काली गाड, kālī gād) or Kali Ganga in Uttarakhand where the river demarcates Nepal's western border with India. This boundary was established by the 1816 Sugauli treaty. The name is sometimes written "Sarda".

The river descends from 3,600 metres (11,800 ft) at Kalapani to 200 metres (660 ft) as it enters the Terai plains, offering an unrealized potential for hydroelectric power generation. The river is also proposed as source for one of the many projects in the Himalayan component of the Indian Rivers Inter-link project.

Below the Nepal-Uttarakhand border the river enters Uttar Pradesh state and flows southeast across the plains to join the Ghaghra river, a tributary of the Ganges.

The traditional source of the (Maha)Kali is the pond of the Kali temple at Kalapani. The geographic sources, however, are some five kilometers further north and some thousand metres higher: streams emerging from glaciers along the watershed with the uppermost Humla Karnali. India's border with China's Tibet Autonomous Region follows this watershed. Below Kalapani the river has been Nepal's western border with India since the Sugauli Treaty concluding the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814–16.