TheGanges(/ˈɡændʒiːz/GAN-jeez), also known asGanga(Hindustani: [ˈɡəŋɡaː]), is atrans-boundary riverofAsiawhich flows through the nations ofIndiaandBangladesh. The 2,525 km (1,569 mi) river rises in the easternHimalayasin the IndianstateofUttarakhand, and flows south and east through theGangetic PlainofNorth India. After entering West Bengal, it is divided into two rivers, one is Hugly river or Adi Ganga, flowing through several districts of West Bengal and finally submerged with Bay of Bengal nearGanga Sagar. The second part is named asPadmawhich flows into Bangladesh, where it empties into theBay of Bengal. It is the thirdlargest river in the world by discharge.
The Ganges is one of the most sacred rivers toHindus.It is also a lifeline to millions of Indianswho live along its course and depend on it for their daily needs. It is worshipped as the goddessGangainHinduism.It has also been important historically, with many former provincial or imperial capitals (such as[6]Kannauj,Kampilya,[6]Kara,PrayagorAllahabad,Kashi,PataliputraorPatna,Hajipur,Munger,Bhagalpur,Murshidabad,Baharampur,Nabadwip,Saptagram,KolkataandDhaka) located on its banks.
The Ganges is highly polluted. Pollution threatensnot only humans, but also more than 140 fish species, 90 amphibian species and the endangeredGanges river dolphin.The levels offecal coliformfrom human waste in the waters ofthe river nearVaranasiare more than 100 times the Indian government's official limit.TheGanga Action Plan, an environmental initiative to clean up the river, has been a major failure thus far, due to corruption, lack of technical expertise,poor environmental planning,and lack of support from religious authorities.

Themain streamof the Ganges begins at theconfluenceof theBhagirathiandAlaknandarivers in the town ofDevprayagin theGarhwal divisionof the Indian state ofUttarakhand. The Bhagirathi is considered to be thesourcein Hindu culture and mythology, although the Alaknanda is longer, and, therefore, hydrologicallythe source stream.[9][10]The headwaters of the Alakananda are formed by snowmelt from peaks such asNanda Devi,Trisul, andKamet. The Bhagirathi rises at the foot ofGangotri Glacier, atGomukh, at an elevation of 3,892 m (12,769 ft), being mythologically referred to as, residing in the matted locks ofShiva, symbolically Tapovan, being a meadow of ethereal beauty at the feet of Mount Shivling, just 5 km (3.1 mi) away.
Although many small streams comprise the headwaters of the Ganges, the six longest and their five confluences are considered sacred. Thesix headstreams are theAlaknanda,Dhauliganga,Nandakini,Pindar,Mandakini, andBhagirathirivers. The five confluences, known as thePanch Prayag, are all along the Alaknanda. They are, in downstream order,Vishnuprayag, where the Dhauliganga joins the Alaknanda;Nandprayag, where the Nandakini joins;Karnaprayag, where the Pindar joins,Rudraprayag, where the Mandakini joins; and finally,Devprayag, where the Bhagirathi joins the Alaknanda to form the Ganges River proper.

After flowing 250 km (155.343 mi)through its narrow Himalayan valley, the Ganges emerges from the mountains atRishikesh, thendebouchesonto theGangetic Plainat the pilgrimage town ofHaridwar.[9]At Haridwar, a dam diverts some of its waters into theGanges Canal, which irrigates theDoabregion ofUttar Pradesh, whereas the river, whose course has been roughly southwest until this point, now begins to flow southeast through the plains of northern India.

The Ganges follows an 800 km (500 mi) arching course passing through the cities ofKannauj,Farukhabad, andKanpur. Along the way it is joined by theRamganga, which contributes an average annual flow of about 500 m3/s (18,000 cu ft/s).The Ganges joins theYamunaat theTriveni SangamatAllahabad, a holy confluence in Hinduism. At their confluence the Yamuna is larger than the Ganges, contributing about 2,950 m3/s (104,000 cu ft/s),or about 58.5% of the combined flow.

Now flowing east, the river meets theTamsa River(also calledTons), which flows north from theKaimur Rangeand contributes an average flow of about 190 m3/s (6,700 cu ft/s). After the Tamsa theGomti Riverjoins, flowing south from the Himalayas. The Gomti contributes an averageannual flow of about 234 m3/s (8,300 cu ft/s). Then theGhaghara River(Karnali River), also flowing south from the Himalayas of Nepal, joins.The Ghaghara (Karnali), with its average annual flow of about 2,990 m3/s (106,000 cu ft/s), is thelargest tributary of the Ganges. After the Ghaghara (Karnali) confluence the Ganges is joined from the south by theSon River, contributing about 1,000 m3/s (35,000 cu ft/s). TheGandaki River, then theKosi River, join from the north flowing from Nepal, contributing about 1,654 m3/s (58,400 cu ft/s) and 2,166 m3/s (76,500 cu ft/s), respectively. The Kosi is the thirdlargest tributary of the Ganges, after the Ghaghara (Karnali) and Yamuna.

West Bengal, the Ganges passes the towns ofChunar,Mirzapur,Varanasi,Ghazipur,Patna,Hajipur,Chapra,Bhagalpur,Ballia,Buxar,Simaria,Sultanganj, andSaidpur. At Bhagalpur, the river begins to flow south-southeast and atPakur, it begins its attrition with the branching away of its firstdistributary, theBhāgirathi-Hooghly, which goes on to become theHooghly River. Just before the border withBangladeshtheFarakka Barragecontrols the flow of the Ganges, divertingsome of the water into a feeder canal linked to the Hooghly for the purpose of keeping it relatively silt-free. The Hooghly River is formed bythe confluence of the Bhagirathi River andJalangi RiveratNabadwip, and Hooghly has a number of tributaries of its own. The largest is theDamodar River, which is 541 km (336 mi) long, with a drainage basin of 25,820 km2(9,970 sq mi).[15]The Hooghly River empties into the Bay of Bengal nearSagar Island.Between Malda and the Bay of Bengal, the Hooghly river passes the towns and cities ofMurshidabad,Nabadwip,Kolkataand Howrah.

After enteringBangladesh, the main branch of the Ganges is known as thePadma. The Padma is joined by theJamuna River, the largest distributary of theBrahmaputra. Further downstream, the Padma joins theMeghna River, the second largest distributary of the Brahmaputra, and takes on the Meghna's name as it enters the Meghna Estuary, which empties into the Bay of Bengal. Here it forms the 1,430 by 3,000 km (890 by 1,860 mi)Bengal Fan, the world's largestsubmarine fan,which alone accounts for 10–20% of the global burial oforganic carbon.

TheGanges Delta, formed mainly by the large, sediment-laden flows of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers, is the world's largest delta, atabout 59,000 km2(23,000 sq mi).It stretches 322 km (200 mi) along the Bay of Bengal.Only theAmazonandCongorivers have a greateraverage discharge than the combined flow of the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, and theSurma-Meghnariver system.[20]In full flood only the Amazon is larger.


Geology

TheIndian subcontinentlies atop theIndian tectonic plate, a minor plate within theIndo-Australian Plate.Its defining geological processes commenced seventy-five million yearsago, when, as a part of the southern supercontinentGondwana, it began a northeastwardsdrift—lasting fifty million years—across the then unformed Indian Ocean.The subcontinent's subsequent collision with theEurasian Plateandsubductionunder it, gave rise to theHimalayas, the planet's highest mountain ranges.In the former seabed immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vasttrough, which, having gradually been filled with sediment borne by theIndusand its tributaries and the Ganges and its tributaries,[23]now forms theIndo-Gangetic Plain.The Indo-Gangetic Plain is geologically known as a foredeep orforeland basin.
Thehydrologyof the Ganges River is very complicated, especially in the Ganges Delta region. One result is different ways to determine the river's length, itsdischarge, and the size of itsdrainage basin.

The nameGangesis used for the river between the confluence of theBhagirathiand Alaknanda rivers, in the Himalayas, and the India-Bangladeshborder, near theFarakka Barrageand the firstbifurcationof the river. The length of the Ganges is frequently said to be slightly over 2,500 km (1,600 mi) long, about 2,505 km (1,557 mi),tWe have received your message and would like to thank you for writing to us.2,525 km (1,569 mi),or perhaps 2,550 km (1,580 mi).In these cases the river's source isusually assumed to be the source of the Bhagirathi River,Gangotri GlacieratGomukh, andits mouth being the mouth of the Meghna River on the Bay of Bengal.Sometimes the source of the Ganges is considered to be atHaridwar, where its Himalayan headwater streams debouch onto the Gangetic Plain.In some cases, the length of the Ganges is given for its Hooghly River distributary, which is longer than its main outlet via the Meghna River, resulting in a total length of about 2,620 km (1,630 mi), from the source of the Bhagirathi,[19]or 2,135 km (1,327 mi), from Haridwar to the Hooghly's mouth.[30]In other cases the length is said to be about 2,240 km (1,390 mi), from the source of the Bhagirathi to the Bangladesh border, where its name changes toPadma.

The Ganges basin ranges from theHimalayaand theTranshimalayain the north, to the northern slopes of theVindhyarange in the south, from theeastern slopes of theAravalliin the west to theChota Nagpur plateauand theSunderbansdelta in the east. A significant portion of the discharge from the Ganges comes from the Himalayan mountain system. Within the Himalaya, the Ganges basin spreads almost 1,200 km from the Yamuna-Satluj divide along the Simla ridge forming the boundary with theIndusbasin in the west to the Singalila Ridge along the Nepal-Sikkim border forming the boundary with theBrahmaputrabasin in the east. This section of the Himalaya contains 9 of the 14 highest peaks in the world over 8,000m in height, includingMount Everestwhich is the high point of the Ganges basin.The other peaks over 8,000m in the basin areKangchenjunga,Lhotse,Makalu,Cho Oyu,Dhaulagiri,Manaslu,AnnapurnaandShishapangma.The Himalayan portion of the basin includes the south-eastern portion of the state of Himachal Pradesh, the entire state of Uttarakhand, the entire country of Nepal and the extreme north-western portion of the state of West Bengal.[citation needed]

The discharge of the Ganges also differs by source. Frequently, discharge is described for themouth of the Meghna River, thus combining the Ganges with theBrahmaputraand Meghna. This results in a total average annual discharge of about 38,000 m3/s (1,300,000 cu ft/s),or 42,470 m3/s (1,500,000 cu ft/s).In other cases the average annual discharges of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna are given separately, at about 16,650 m3/s (588,000 cu ft/s) for the Ganges, about 19,820 m3/s (700,000cu ft/s) for the Brahmaputra, and about 5,100 m3/s (180,000 cu ft/s) for the Meghna.

The maximum peak discharge of the Ganges, as recorded atHardinge Bridgein Bangladesh, exceeded 70,000 m3/s (2,500,000 cu ft/s).[44]The minimum recorded at the same place was about 180 m3/s (6,400 cu ft/s), in 1997.The hydrologic cycle in the Ganges basin is governed by theSouthwest Monsoon. About 84%of the total rainfall occurs in the monsoon from June to September. Consequently,streamflowin the Ganges is highly seasonal. The average dry season to monsoon discharge ratio is about 1:6, as measured atHardinge Bridge. This strong seasonal variation underlies many problems of land and water resource development in the region.The seasonality of flow is so acute it can cause both drought andfloods. Bangladesh, in particular, frequently experiences drought during the dry season and regularly suffers extreme floods during the monsoon.InWe have received your message and would like to thank you for writing to us. the Ganges Delta many large rivers come together, both merging andbifurcatingin a complicated network ofchannels. The two largest rivers, the Ganges andBrahmaputra, both split into distributary channels, the largest of which merge with other large rivers before themselves joining. This current channel pattern was not always the case. Over time the rivers in Ganges Delta havechanged course, sometimes altering the network of channels in significant ways.

Before the late 12th century the Bhagirathi-Hooghly distributary was the main channel of the Ganges and the Padma was only a minor spill-channel. The main flow of the river reached the sea not via the modern Hooghly River but rather by theAdi Ganga. Between the 12th and 16th centuries the Bhagirathi-Hooghly and Padma channels were more or less equally significant. After the 16th century the Padma grew to becomethe main channel of the Ganges.[16]It is thought that the Bhagirathi-Hooghly became increasingly choked with silt, causing the main flow of the Ganges to shift to the southeast and the Padma River. By the end of the 18th century the Padma had become the main distributary of the Ganges.One result of this shift to the Padma was thatthe Ganges joined the Meghna and Brahmaputra rivers before emptying into the Bay of Bengal, together instead of separately. The present confluence of the Ganges and Meghna formed about 150 years ago.Also near the end of the 18th century, the course of the lower Brahmaputra changed dramatically, altering its relationship with the Ganges. In 1787 there was a great flood on theTeesta River, which at the time was a tributary of the Ganges-Padma River. The flood of 1787 caused the Teesta to undergo a sudden change course (anavulsion), shifting east to join the Brahmaputra and causing the Brahmaputra to shift its course south, cutting a new channel. This new main channel of the Brahmaputra is called the Jamuna River. It flows south to join the Ganges-Padma. Since ancient times the main flow of the Brahmaputra was more easterly, passing by the city ofMymensinghand joining the Meghna River. Today this channel is a small distributary but retains the name Brahmaputra, sometimes Old Brahmaputra.The site of the old Brahmaputra-Meghna confluence, in the locality ofLangalbandh, is still considered sacred by Hindus. Near the confluence is a major early historic site calledWari-Bateshwar.