The Ganga: Course, Tributaries and Importance

The Ganga is India's national river and one of the most important rivers in Asia. Its basin supports a large share of India's population and some of the most productive farmland in the world.

Source and course

The river begins as the Bhagirathi at the Gangotri Glacier (Gaumukh) in Uttarakhand. At Devprayag the Bhagirathi meets the Alaknanda, and from there the combined river is known as the Ganga. It leaves the mountains at Rishikesh and Haridwar and flows across the plains of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal before entering Bangladesh and reaching the Bay of Bengal through the Ganga–Brahmaputra delta.

Major tributaries

• Yamuna – joins at Prayagraj
• Ghaghara, Gandak and Kosi – rise in the Himalaya and join from the north
• Son – joins from the south in Bihar

Why the Ganga matters

The fertile alluvial plains of the Ganga basin have supported agriculture and cities for thousands of years. The river is sacred in Hinduism, with pilgrimage centres such as Haridwar, Prayagraj and Varanasi along its banks. It is also home to the endangered Ganges river dolphin, India's national aquatic animal.

Length

The length of the Ganga is commonly given as about 2,525 km. Published figures vary depending on where the source and mouth are measured, so we cite the source for each figure on our Ganga river page.