Musi River (India)

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Musi river scene in 1895

See Musi River (Indonesia) for the other river with the same name in Indonesia

The Musi River is a river which passes through the city of Hyderabad in India. It flows through a major portion of Hyderabad and divides the historic old city with the new city. The river originates in Anantagiri Hills, 90 km to the west of Hyderabad and joins Krishna River near Wazirabad in Nalgonda District. Himayat Sagar and Osman Sagar are the two dams buit on it which act as source of water for Hyderabad. Musi River is known as Muchukunda river in olden days^[1]. The Musi river in India is also known as "the river of Moses" and it's tributary Esi is named after Isa (Jesus)^{[citation needed]}

Normally, it is a narrow and harmless stream flowing through the city, but it was famous for causing destruction and loss of life when it floods. A number of bridges cross the river; the oldest, called "Purana Pul"(literally meaning old bridge) was built during the 16th century by the Qutb Shahi sultans of Golconda.

This river's claim to fame is its significance in the birth of the city of Hyderabad.According to an uncorroborated legend the fourth ruler of Golconda, Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, fell in love with a local dancer named Bhagmati. She lived in a cottage in the village of Chichlam, situated on the southern bank of Musi.

It is said that once the young prince rode out from the Golconda Fort to meet his beloved, braving the flood waters of the River Musi. Later, the prince married the girl and ascended the throne following his father's death. When the fort of Golconda became insufficient and there was shortage of water and other resources, the emperor decided to shift his capital to the village of Chichlam, and thus Hyderabad was born.

Musi river was the cause of frequent flood devastation of Hyderabad city till the early decades of 20th Century. After the devastating 1908 flood, Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya, built a flood control system on the river to prevent the flooding. A dam was built in 1920 across the river, ten miles upstream from the city called Osman Sagar. In 1927 another reservoir was built on Esi (tributary of Musi) and named Himayat Sagar. Both these reservoirs are major drinking water sources for Hyderabad city.

Now due to indiscriminate urbanisation and lack of planning the river became receptacle to all the untreated domestic and industrial waste waters coming out of hyderabad and become polluted. Numerous efforts to clean it have failed. The river water downstream to city is highly polluted.