The rivers of South India mainly have which of the following drainage patterns ?

The answer is A) Radial. Radial drainage means streams flow outward from a central elevated point, like spokes from a hub. The main peninsular rivers of South India, such as the Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri, rise from the high ground of the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats area and spread out toward the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. This is the pattern the question is testing.

• Dendritic (C): Tree-like branching that develops on uniform rock, as in the Gangetic plain. It is not the characteristic pattern of peninsular rivers.
• Trellis (D): Parallel main streams joined by tributaries at right angles, found where rocks are folded and tilted, as in the Himalayan foothills. Not the answer here.
• Intermittent (B): This describes flow regime, meaning water flows only in some seasons, not the geometric arrangement of channels. It is a category error.

Connect this to the physiography chapter: the Deccan plateau's relief decides the drainage pattern, and the same idea helps in Mains answers on river systems, water-sharing disputes and interlinking projects. The option is misspelled as 'Trallis', which is simply trellis.

Trap: Aspirants often pick dendritic because it is the most common pattern in textbooks, or they treat intermittent as a drainage pattern because it describes river behaviour.