Kerala has 44 rivers, of which only three flow east, and 34 backwaters led by Vembanad

Background

The State of Kerala occupies an area of 38,863 sq. kms of land curving along the Arabian Sea on the south-west coast of India, which is only 1.18 per cent of the total area of India.
The State runs about 590 km in length with the width varying from 32 to 120 km.
Kerala has 44 rivers, 41 west flowing and three east flowing.
The longest river is the Bharathapuzha at 251 km, the Periyar is 228.5 km long and the Pamba 177 km long.
There are 34 big and not so big backwaters in the State, and the biggest backwater is the Vembanad lake, some 200 sq. km in area.
The deltas of the rivers interlink the backwaters and provide water transport in the low lands of Kerala.
The State has three geographical regions, the highlands, the midlands and the low lands, the highlands being dominated by the Sahya Mountains or the Western Ghats.
The south-west monsoon, the major monsoon in Kerala, begins sometime in June-July and continues till August-September, while the north-east monsoon commences in October-November.
The Kerala Legislature records that the land derived its name from Keram, and that a legend credits the warrior-sage Parasurama with reclaiming it from the sea.