The Subernarekha River originates near Nagri village (Ranchi district) in the Chhotanagpur plateau of Jharkhand State at an elevation of about 610 m at latitude 23° 18' N and longitude 85° 11' E. Subernarekha literally means golden line. According to legends, in ancient times, gold was being extracted in the river's bed close to its origination point near Piska village, close to Ranchi. Before falling in the Bay of Bengal, the river flows through Ranchi and Singhbhum districts of Jharkhand, Midnapore district of West Bengal and Balasore district of Orissa. Subernarekha River flows for a total length of 395 km. Out of this, 269 km lies in Bihar, 64 km in West Bengal, and 62 km in Orissa. The Subernarekha basin covers an area of 19,300 km². This area is nearly 0.6% of the total national river basin area and yields 0.4% of the country's total surface water resources. With regards to statewise distribution, Subernarekha drains an area of 14,600 km² in Jharkhand (75.6% of total catchment area), 2,500 km² (12.9%) in Orissa and 2,200 km² (11.5%) in West Bengal. Its important tributaries are the Kanchi, Karkari and Kharkai.