Mahanadi River

River in central India, rising in the hills of southeastern Madhya Pradesh state. Its upper course runs north as an insignificant stream, draining the eastern Chhattisgarh Plain. After receiving the Seonath River, below Baloda Bazar, it turns east and enters Orissa state, its flow augmented by the drainage of hills to the north and south. At Sambalpur the Hirakud Dam on the