The Indian river system is significantly and strikingly divided into the two basic sections of northern and southern areas, with their relative differences in several spheres of irrigational facilities. The southern section of India is predominated by the Deccan plateau, the Western Ghats, the Eastern Ghats, the Vindhya Range and the Satpura Range. Thoroughly dissimilar from their rather illustrious northern counterpart, the Himalayan mountains, mountains and hills in the south and west section also hold in several rivers, central to Indian importance in almost every walk of life. In order to grasp and assimilate Deccan Rivers and their final path into the sea and ocean, it is necessary to first understand the Deccan plateau and its vast features.

The Deccan region is also known as Peninsular India, which mainly hold in the vast plateau regions of the western and southern India. Receiving divergent rainfall all through the year, Peninsular India is not even in terms of rainfall and monsoons. There exist certain areas receiving scanty rainfall and areas witnessing an overflow of rains. Climatic conditions in the west vastly differ from its southern counterpart, again towing the similar line of being hugely scanty in vegetation in west and exactly the opposite in the south. As such, these crucial factors are bound to leave an everlasting impact upon flow of water bodies, precisely rivers. The Deccan or Peninsular rivers behave according to providential wish, at times overwhelming in their course and at times, running dry throughout most of the year. The major nation feeding rivers in the Deccan region comprise: Godavari River, Krishna River, Cauvery River (popularly known as Kaveri River), Mahanadi River, Narmada River, Tapti River, Indravati River, Tungabhadra River and Bhima River. Leaving the last three water bodies, each of the previous instances count as major west flowing rivers.

The Deccan Rivers are primarily rain-fed and, consequently, immensely fluctuate in volume. A maximum number of them are additionally non-perennial in nature. Peninsular rivers contribute 30 percent of the total outflow in India. Pennar River, Damodar River, Sharavati River, Netravati River, Bharathapuzha River, Periyar River and Pamba River are some of the secondary instances of rivers in Deccan region. The rivers winding its path generally towards the eastern direction, drain into the Bay of Bengal. The Peninsular or Deccan rivers remarkably run through shallow valley sections. A large number of them being primarily seasonal and dependent upon rainfall, invite troubles and irritations to local populace from the adjacent lands. The forceful passion of erosional activities is also relatively low due to the gentler slope. The hard rock bed and almost absence of silt and sand does not allow any significant rambling or meandering in-course. Many rivers thus outline straight and linear courses. As a bright spot, these rivers provide huge possibilities to harness hydro-electric power.