Tunga River

Infobox River | river_name = Tunga River

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caption = River Tunga during Monsoon
origin = "Gangamoola", Chikmagalur district, Karnataka
mouth =
basin_countries = India
length = 147 km
elevation =
discharge =
watershed =

The Tunga River (Kannada:ತುಂಗಾ ನದಿ) is a river in Karnataka state, southern India. The river is born in the Western Ghats on a hill known as "Varaha Parvata" at a place called "Gangamoola". From here, the river flows through two districts in Karnataka - Chikmagalur District and Shimoga District. It is 147 km long and merges with the Bhadra River at Koodli, a small town near Shimoga City, Karnataka. The river is given the compound name Tungabhadra from this point on. The Tungabhadra flows eastwards and merges with the Krishna River in Andhra Pradesh.

The river is famous for the sweetness of its water. There is a belief that " Thunga panam Ganga snanum" which means we should drink the water of river thunga and take bath in river Ganga.

It has a dam built across it at Gajanur, and a larger dam has been built across the compound Tungabhadra river at Hospet.

Religious centres

Shringeri, on the banks of the Tunga, has several temples, the most important being the Śāradā temple and the Vidyāśankara temple.