India's largest river system, formed at Devprayag where the Bhagirathi (from Gaumukh at the Gangotri glacier) meets the Alaknanda, which flows about 2,500 km across the northern plains to the Bay of Bengal, ending in the world's largest delta shared with the Brahmaputra.
Deep-dive lesson:Physical Features and Drainage of India. This page is a quick reference that connects the term across subjects; read the lesson for the full treatment.
The Ganga is born in the Garhwal Himalaya. The Bhagirathi issues from an ice cave called Gaumukh at the snout of the Gangotri glacier, while the Alaknanda gathers water from glaciers near Badrinath and is joined by the Dhauliganga, Nandakini, Pindar and Mandakini at a series of confluences, the panch prayag. At Devprayag the two headstreams unite and take the name Ganga. The river leaves the mountains at Rishikesh and Haridwar and enters one of the most densely populated plains on Earth.
Across Uttar Pradesh and Bihar it is fed by a long chain of tributaries. From the Himalaya come the Ramganga, Ghaghara, Gandak and Kosi, which bring large volumes of water and silt; from the peninsular side come the Yamuna (with its own tributaries such as the Chambal, Betwa and Ken) and the Son. Below Farakka the river splits: the main channel enters Bangladesh as the Padma, while the Bhagirathi–Hooghly distributary flows past Kolkata. In Bangladesh the Padma joins the Jamuna (Brahmaputra) and then the Meghna, building a vast delta whose seaward edge holds the Sundarbans mangroves.
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