Tandi located in the upper Himalayas of the Lahul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh is the merging place of the Chandra and Bhaga rivers. From the merging of the Chandra and the Bhaga rivers the Chenab River is born .In the upper plains of the Himachal Pradesh it is also known as Chandrabhaga.It flows through the Jammu region of Jammu Kashmir into the plains of Punjab. The Chenab River literally means `Moon(Chan) and River(aab)`) and flows from the upper Himalayas in the Lahul and Spiti District of Himachal Pradesh, India. In its upper reaches it is also known as the Chandrabhaga.

Chenab River, in Punjab constitutes the bounds between the Rechna and the Jech interfluves. The Ravi and the Jhelum river joins the Chenab at Trimmu. Near Uch Sharif it merges with the Sutlej river to form the famous Five rivers of Punjab.The Beas River joins the Satluj river near Ferozepur, India. The Sutlej joins the Indus at Mithankot. The Chenab River is approximately 960 kilometers in length. The waters of the Chenab are shared by India and Pakistan as per the terms of the Indus Water Treaty. It flows through the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir into the plains of the Punjab.

Indians knew the Chenab River in the Vedic period as Ashkini or Iskmati and as Acesines to the Ancient Greeks. In 325 BC, Alexander the Great supposedly founded the town of Alexandria on the Indus, which is the present day Uch Sharif, Mithankot or Chacharan at the merging of the Indus and the united stream of Punjab rivers that are currently known as the Panjnad River.

The Chenab has the same place in the perception of the people of the Punjab as, say, the Rhine holds for the Germans, or the Danube for the Austrians and the Hungarians. It is the vital river around which Punjabi rituals revolves, and plays an important part in the story of Heer Ranjha, the Punjabi national epic and the legend of Sohni Mahiwal.

This river has been in the news of late due to the steps taken by the Indian government to build a number of hydropower dams along its length in India and the most notable is the Baglihar hydel power project.