- The Ganga is considered as sacred river and worshipped by millions of people as the goddess ganga in Hindu culture .
- The Ganga or the Ganges is a trans boundary river of South Asia. It is a life line to millions of people who live along its course.
- Total length of the river is 2704 km (1680 miles). Its basin covers about 8.6 lakh sq.km area in India alone.
- This river flows through India and Bangladesh .
- The river originates from the Gangotri glacier of western Himalaya near Gaumukh in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand in India .
- In Uttarakhand, it is known as the Bhagirathi, here it cuts the central and the lesser Himalaya in narrow Georges
- At Devprayag , the Bhagirathi meets Alaknanda hereafter it is known as The Ganga.
- The source of Alaknanda is Satopanth glacier near Badrinath, here Alaknanada consist of Dhauli and the Vishnu ganga which meet at joshimath or Vishnu prayag.
- The other tributary of Alaknanda is Pindar which meets it at Karan prayag. The river Kali ganga or Mandakini joins it at Rudra Prayag.
- At Haridwar the Ganga emerges from mountains and flows to the plains. From here its flows to south, then south east, and east, before splitting into two distributaries Bhagirathi and Hugli.
- The ganga is the largest river system in India having a number of perennial and non- perennial rivers which originates from Himalaya in the north and peninsula in the south.
- The Ganga is joined by many tributaries from Himalayas such as the Yamuna , Ghaghara , Gandak and Koshi.
- Left bank tributaries of the Ganga are Ramganga, Garra, Gomati, Gandak, Ghaghara, Koshi, Mahananda, Burhi and Brahmaputra .
- Right bank tributaries of the Ganga are Yamuna, Tamsa, Sone, Falgun, Karamnasa, Chandan and Damodar.
- The Son river is the major right bank tributary of the Ganga.
- The river Yamuna rises from the Yamunotri Glacier in the Himalayas. It flows parallel to the Ganga and as a right bank tributary meets at Allahabad (Prayagraj).
- The rivers like Gandak, Ghaghara, and Koshi rise in the Nepal Himalaya. These rivers are parts of northern plain.
- Just before the border of Bangladesh the Farraka barrage controls the flow of water
- With water from its right and left bank tributaries the Ganga flows eastwards till Farraka in west Bengal. This is the northernmost point of the Ganga delta. The river bifurcates here into Bhagirathi and Hugli, flows southwards through the deltaic plains to Bay of Bengal .
- The main branch of the Ganga river is known as Padma in Bangladesh, the Padma here joined by the Jamuna river, the largest distributary of Brahmaputra.
- The main stream flows southward into Bangladesh and here it is joined by another important river Brahmaputra. Further downstream it is known as the Meghna
- The mighty river, with water from Ganga and Brahmaputra flows into the Bay of Bengal.
- The delta formed by this river is known as the Sundarbans delta. This is the world’s largest delta with an area of about 64000 square km. and stretches 400km along Bay of Bengal.
- The name Sundarbans delta derived from the sundari trees which grows well in marshland.
- This delta is the world’s largest and fastest growing delta and it is also the home of Royal Bengal Tiger.
Tuesday, January 14, 2025