Ganges

"Ganga" redirects here. For the Hindu goddess that personifies the river, see Ganga (goddess). For other uses, see Ganga (disambiguation).

Template:Geobox The Ganges (/ˈɡændʒiːz/ GAN-jeez; or Ganga, Sanskrit: गङ्गा Hindi: गंगा Urdu: گنگا Ganga IPA: [ˈɡəŋɡaː] ; Bengali: গঙ্গা Gônga), is a trans-boundary river of India and Bangladesh. It is the second largest river on the Indian subcontinent by discharge. The 2,510 km (1,560 mi) river rises in the western Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and flows south and east through the Gangetic Plain of North India into Bangladesh, where it empties into the Bay of Bengal. The average depth of the river is 15.85 metres (52.0 ft), and the maximum depth, 30.48 metres (100.0 ft). The river has long been considered holy by Hindus and worshiped as the goddess Ganga in Hinduism. It has also been important historically: many former provincial or imperial capitals (such as Patliputra, Kannauj, Kara, Allahabad, Murshidabad, Baharampur and Kolkata) have been located on its banks.

The Ganges-Meghna-Brahmaputra basin, which encompasses Eastern India, Bangladesh and the terai areas of Nepal has fertile lands but very high population pressure, and is home to 500 million of the worlds poorest people.

The river is highly polluted, with indices in cities such as Varanasi over a hundred times the official Indian government limit. This threatens the river's ecology, including the unique Ganges river dolphin.

The Ganga Action Plan Phase I and II, an environmental initiative to clean up the river acheived little success,, due to lack of community participation in the process, the Ganga Action Plan 2020, envisages community participation as a means of achieving results.

Course

The Himalayan headwaters of the Ganges river in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, India. The headstreams and rivers are labeled in italics; the heights of the mountains, lakes, and towns are displayed in parentheses in meters.

Although many small streams comprise the headwaters of the Ganges, the six longest headstreams and their five confluences are given both cultural and geographical emphasis (see the map showing the headwaters of the river). The Alaknanda River meets the Dhauliganga River at Vishnuprayag, the Nandakini River at Nandprayag, the Pindar River at Karnaprayag, the Mandakini River at Rudraprayag and finally the Bhagirathi River at Devprayag, to form the Ganges main stem. The Bhagirathi is considered to be the source stream in Hindu culture and mythology. It rises at the foot of Gangotri Glacier, at Gaumukh, at an elevation of 3,892 m (12,769 ft). The headwaters of the Alaknanda are formed by snowmelt from such peaks as Nanda Devi, Trisul, and Kamet.

After flowing 200 kilometres (120 mi) through its narrow Himalayan valley, the Ganges debouches onto the Gangetic Plain at the pilgrimage town of Haridwar, Uttarakhand. There, a dam diverts some of its waters into the Ganges Canal, which irrigates the Doab region of Uttar Pradesh, whereas the river, whose course has been roughly southwestern until this point, now begins to flow southeast through the plains of northern India.

The Ganges follows an 800-kilometre (500 mi) arching course passing through the cities of Kannauj, Farukhabad, and Kanpur before being joined from the southwest by the Yamuna at the Sangam at Allahabad, a holy confluence in Hinduism. Now flowing east, the river meets the Gomti, the Ghaghra, the Gandaki, and the Kosi on the left bank; and the Son on the right, and gathers a formidable current between Allahabad and Malda, West Bengal. Along the way, it passes the towns of Varanasi, Patna, Ghazipur, Bhagalpur, Mirzapur, Ballia, Buxar, Saidpur, and Chunar. At Bhagalpur, the river begins to flow south-southeast and at Pakur, it begins its attrition with the branching away of its first distributary, the Bhāgirathi-Hooghly, which goes on to become the Hooghly River. Just before the border with Bangladesh the Farakka Barrage, controls the flow of the Ganges, diverting some of the water into a feeder canal linking to the Hooghly to keep it relatively silt-free.

After entering Bangladesh, the main branch of the Ganges is known as the Padma until it is joined by the Jamuna River, the largest distributary of the Brahmaputra. Further downstream, the Ganges is fed by the Meghna River, the second largest distributary of the Brahmaputra, and takes on the Meghna's name as it enters the Meghna Estuary. Fanning out into the 350-kilometre (220 mi)-wide Ganges Delta, the river finally empties into the Bay of Bengal.

Only two rivers, the Amazon and the Congo, have greater discharge than the combined flow of the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Surma-Meghna river system.

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  The Bhagirathi River, the source stream of the Ganges at Gangotri in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, India.
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  The Alaknanda (left) meets the Dhauliganga at Vishnuprayag, Uttarakhand.
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  The Bhagirathi River (foreground) just before its confluence with the Alaknanda, at Devprayag, Uttarakhand; after this point the combined river is known as the Ganges.
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  A bend in the Ganges River, Garhwal hills, Uttarakhand.
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  Ramjhula bridge over the Ganges in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand.
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  The Ganges in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, as it leaves the Siwalik Hills for the Gangetic plain.
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  An 1810 engraving of the town of Cawnpore (modern day Kanpur) as seen from the Ganges River.
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  Aqua tint (1804) of the Ganges River in the town of Dalmau, near Raebareli, in present-day central Uttar Pradesh.
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  Pen-and-ink and wash drawing (1803) of the Ganges below the town of Kara, a major provincial capital during the rule of the Delhi Sultanate.
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  The Triveni confluence, of the Ganges and the Yamuna, in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh.
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  A view from the Gandhi Setu on the Ganges in Patna, Bihar.
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  Watercolor (1804) of the Akbari mosque on the banks of the Ganges in Rajmahal (in present-day Jharkhand state), the capital of the Mughal province of Bengal from 1592 to 1607.
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  Final course(s) of the Ganges; at the Farakka Barrage, a small channel is widened and diverted towards Kolkota as the Bhagirathi-Hoogly River.
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  Watercolor (1840) of the Nizaamat Qila (Criminal Court) of the Nawab of Bengal along the banks of the Bhagirathi-Hoogly River in Murshidabad.
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  The Bhagirathi-Hoogly River, shown here at the Bagbazaar Ghat, Kolkota.
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  The main channel of the Ganges in its penultimate form as the Padma River in Bangladesh.
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  The Ganges in its final form as the Meghna River in Bangladesh.

Religious significance

Main article: Ganges in Hinduism

Hindus worship the river as goddess Ganga

Hinduism

Situated on the banks of the river Ganges, Varanasi and Haridwar are considered by all Hindus to be the holiest cities in Hinduism. The Ganges is mentioned in the Rig-Veda, the earliest of the Hindu scriptures. It appears in the Nadistuti sukta (Rig Veda 10.75), which lists the rivers from east to west. In RV 6.45.31, the word Ganga is also mentioned, but it is not clear whether this reference is to the river. Also, people scatter ashes of loved ones here. George Harrison of The Beatles had his ashes scattered in the Ganges by his family in a private ceremony soon after his death.

Many Hindus also believe life is incomplete without taking a bath in the Ganges at least once in their lives. Many Hindu families keep a vial of water from the Ganges in their house. This is done because it is auspicious to have water of the Holy Ganges in the house, and also so that if someone is dying, that person will be able to drink its water. Many Hindus believe that the water from the Ganges can cleanse a person's soul of all past sins, and that it can also cure the ill.

The Ganges is also called the river of the supreme Lord Ram – Ram Ganga – as there is a belief Lord Ram promised while the Ganges emerged from his feet that, when he appears on Earth as Lord Ram, he will reside on the banks of the Ganges and her tributaries. It is also believed that when Lord Rama installed and worshiped the Jyotirlingam of Lord Shiva in Rameshwaram, Lord Rama did abhishek of Shivalingam declaring "who so ever will worship by pouring Ganga Jal on this Shivlingam, I will give them moksha from all sins and he will be freed even from the deadliest sins of killing cows or Brahmins and become one with me (will immerse in me.) And who will get the darshan of the setu build by me will be able to swim the "sansar samudra" easily.

In the Mahabharata, while explaining to Arjuna the mahima (greatness) of the 12 Jyotirlingams, Lord Shiva said that any devotee who worships my Jyotirlingam in Rameshwaram with Gangajal (the water of the Ganges), will attain the moksha that even the demigods (devatas) cannot attain.

Kumbha Mela

Some of the most important Hindu festivals and religious congregation (worship) happen here. Congregations are celebrated on the banks of the River Ganges, such as the Kumbh Mela, every twelve years at Haridwar and at Allahabad.

Varanasi

Varanasi is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and is an important place of worship for Hindus. The city is situated between the Varuna and Assi rivers, which join the Ganges. Varanasi has hundreds of temples, including Kashi Vishwanath Temple along the banks of the Ganges which often become flooded during the rains. Mentioned as 'Maha smashanam' (or 'Great cremation ground') in Hindu Vedic Rituals, the city assumes special significance as the cremation ground for devout Hindus.

Legend of Bhagirath

According to Hindu religion a very famous king Bhagiratha did Tapasya for many years constantly to bring the River Ganges, then residing in the Heavens, down on the Earth to find salvation for his ancestors, who were cursed by a seer. Therefore, the Ganges descended to the Earth through the lock of hair (Jata) of god Shiva to make whole earth pious, fertile and wash out the sins of humans. For Hindus in India, the Ganges is not just a river but a mother, a goddess, a tradition, a culture and much more.

Dams

Head works of the Ganges canal in Haridwar (1860). photograph by Samuel Bourne.

There are two major barrages on the Ganges. One at Haridwar diverts much of the Himalayan snow-melt into the Upper Ganges Canal, built by the British in 1854 to irrigate the surrounding land.

The other barrage is at Farakka, close to the point where the main flow of the river enters Bangladesh, and the tributary Hooghly (also known as Bhagirathi) continues in West Bengal past Calcutta. This barrage, which feeds the Hooghly branch of the river by a 26-mile (42 km) long feeder canal, and its water flow management has been a long-lingering source of dispute with Bangladesh, which fortunately is likely to be resolved based on discussions held with the new Hasina government in Bangladesh in 1996 when I.K. Gujral was the Foreign Minister in India. Failure to resolve this has caused harm to both sides of the border for nearly two decades now. Bangladesh feels that the lack of flow in the summer months causes sedimentation and makes Bangladesh more prone to flood damages. At the same time, proposals for linking the Brahmaputra to the Ganges to improve the water flow in the Ganges is hanging fire. Also, the water management problem may actually involve a number of other riparian countries such as Nepal, where there has been tremendous deforestation, leading to greater silt content.

It is likely that the Ganges carried more water around the time of the Roman Empire, when Patna was the major port city of Pataliputra. Even in the eighteenth century the ships of the East India Company would come to call at the port city of Calcutta, and the British ran a steamer line all the way to Allahabad. Now only smaller ocean traffic can make it through the Hooghly to Calcutta, beyond which the silting prevents all deep-draft vessels.

A tributary of the Ganges, the Haldi River, flows south and meets the Hooghly River (Ganges) at the growing port of Haldia. Damodar, another important tributary of the Ganges, meets the river near Bagnan, Howrah. Damodar , popularly known as "Sorrow of Bengal" due to its frequent floods, is having the large hydroelectric dam, the Damodar Valley Project, built - on the lines of the Tennessee Valley Authority. There is also a controversial dam at Tehri, on the Bhagirathi, one of the main source rivers of the Ganges.

Another dam is proposed to be built on the upper reaches of a tributary of the Ganges, Mahakali. This Indo-Nepal project, the Pancheswar Dam, proposes to be the highest dam in the world and will be built with US collaboration.

The upper and lower Ganges canal, which is actually the backbone of a network of canals, runs from Haridwar to Allahabad.

Tehri Dam was also constructed on Bhagirathi River, tributary of the Ganges. It's multipurpose project.

History

During the early Vedic Age, the Indus and the Sarasvati River were the major rivers of the Indian subcontinent, not the Ganges. But the later three Vedas seem to give much more importance to the Ganges, as shown by its numerous references.

Possibly the first European Traveler to mention the Ganges was Megasthenes (ca. 350 – 290 BCE). He did so several times in his work Indica: "India, again, possesses many rivers both large and navigable, which, having their sources in the mountains which stretch along the northern frontier, traverse the level country, and not a few of these, after uniting with each other, fall into the river called the Ganges. Now this river, which at its source is 30 stadia broad, flows from north to south, and empties its waters into the ocean forming the eastern boundary of the Gangaridai, a nation which possesses a vast force of the largest-sized elephants." (Diodorus II.37)

In Rome's Piazza Navona, a famous sculpture, Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (fountain of the four rivers) designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini was built in 1651. It symbolizes four of the world's great rivers (the Ganges, the Nile, the Danube, and the Río de la Plata), representing the four continents; the Americas counted as one, and Australia and Antarctica were unknown.

Economy

The Ganges Basin with its fertile soil is instrumental to the agricultural economies of India and Bangladesh. The Ganges and its tributaries provide a perennial source of irrigation to a large area. Chief crops cultivated in the area include rice, sugarcane, lentils, oil seeds, potatoes, and wheat. Along the banks of the river, the presence of swamps and lakes provide a rich growing area for crops such as legumes, chillies, mustard, sesame, sugarcane, and jute. There are also many fishing opportunities to many along the river, though it remains highly polluted. Kanpur, largest leather producing city in the world is situated on the banks of this river.

Tourism is another related activity. Three towns holy to Hinduism– Haridwar, Allahabad, and Varanasi– attract thousands of pilgrims to its waters. Thousands of Hindu pilgrims arrive at these three towns to take a dip in the Ganges, which is believed to cleanse oneself of sins and help attain salvation. The rapids of the Ganges also are popular for river rafting, attracting hundreds of adventure seekers in the summer months.

People

Chars are temporary islands formed by the deposition of sediments eroded off the banks of the river in the State of West Bengal. They each provide dwelling ground for to up to 20,000 destitute people. The soil they are made of is very fertile, thus suitable for growing crops and pastures to feed cattle on, but they can disappear in a matter of a few hours, following any river water surge, particularly during the monsoon season. The people living on chars are either Bangladeshi refugees or Bengalis, therefore the Government of West Bengal does not acknowledge their de facto existence, nor does it issue the ID cards they would need aged 14 to emigrate and find jobs on the mainland. Sanitation on the islands is very poor and char-dwellers do not benefit from health care; also, schooling is not provided, so illiteracy is widespread. The Inland revenue demands nevertheless they pay tax.

Pollution and ecology

Main article: Pollution of the Ganges

The river has been considered one of the dirtiest rivers in the world. Its extreme pollution affects 400 million people who live close to it. The commercial exploitation of the river has risen in proportion to population growth, and its waters start getting polluted right at the source.

Sewage, industrial waste and religious offerings wrapped in non-degradable plastics add large amounts of pollutants to the river as it flows through densely populated areas. Along the Template:Mi to km in Varanasi, the water is a "brown soup of excrement and industrial effluents." The water there contains 60,000 faecal coliform bacteria per 100 ml, 120 times the official limit of 500 faecal coliforms/100ml which is not considered safe for bathing. Drinking and bathing in its waters therefore carries a high risk of infection.

Between 1985 and 2000, Rs. 1,000 crore (Rs. 10 billion, around US$ 226 miilion) were spent on the Ganga Action Plan, an environmental initiative that has so far failed to address the problem. According to 2010 Planning Commission estimates, a further investment of almost Rs. 7,000 crore (Rs. 70 billion, approximately US$ 1.5 billion) is needed to clean up the river. In December 2009 the World Bank agreed to loan India US$ 1 billion over the next five years to help clean the river.

The river's long-held reputation as a purifying river appears to have a basis in science. First of all, the river carries bacteriophages that vanquish bacteria and more. As reported in a National Public Radio program, dysentery and cholera are killed off, preventing large-scale epidemics. The river has an unusual ability to retain dissolved oxygen, but the reason for this ability is unknown.

Ganges river dolphin

The Ganges River Dolphin, which used to exist in large schools near to urban centres in both the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers, is now seriously threatened by pollution and dams being built on the rivers. A recent survey by the World Wildlife Fund found only 3,000 left in the water catchment of both river systems.

The effects of climate change on the river

The Tibetan Plateau contains the world's third-largest store of ice. Qin Dahe, the former head of the China Meteorological Administration, said that the recent fast pace of melting and warmer temperatures will be good for agriculture and tourism in the short term; but issued a strong warning:

"Temperatures are rising four times faster than elsewhere in China, and the Tibetan glaciers are retreating at a higher speed than in any other part of the world.... In the short term, this will cause lakes to expand and bring floods and mudflows. . . . In the long run, the glaciers are vital lifelines for Asian rivers, including the Indus and the Ganges. Once they vanish, water supplies in those regions will be in peril."

In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its Fourth Report, stated that the Himalayan glaciers which feed the river, were at risk of melting by 2035. The IPCC has now withdrawn that prediction, as the original source admitted that it was speculative and the cited source was not a peer reviewed finding. In its statement, the IPCC stands by its general findings relating to the Himalayan glaciers being at risk from global warming (with consequent risks to waterflow into the Gangetic basin).

Water shortages

Along with ever-increasing pollution, water shortages are getting noticeably worse. Some sections of the river are already completely dry. Around Varanasi the river once had an average depth of 60 metres (200 ft), but in some places it is now only 10 metres (33 ft).

"To cope with its chronic water shortages, India employs electric groundwater pumps, diesel-powered tankers and coal-fed power plants. If the country increasingly relies on these energy-intensive short-term fixes, the whole planet's climate will bear the consequences. India is under enormous pressure to develop its economic potential while also protecting its environment—something few, if any, countries have accomplished. What India does with its water will be a test of whether that combination is possible."

See also

Ganges Delta

• Ganges Fan
• Swach Ganga (Clean Ganges) Campaign

References

• Alley, Kelly D. (2002). On the Banks of the Ganga: When Wastewater Meets a Sacred River. University of Michigan press. ISBN 0-472-06808-3.
• Alter, Stephen (2001). Sacred Waters: A Pilgrimage up the Ganges River to the Source of Hindu Culture. . Harcourt. ISBN 0-15-100585-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Berwick, Dennison. A Walk Along the Ganges.
• Darian, Steven G (1978). The Ganges in Myth and History. The University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu. ISBN 0-8248-0509-7.
• Newby, Eric (1966). Slowly down the Ganges. ISBN 0-86442-631-3.
• Hillary, Edmund (1980). From the Ocean to the Sky: Jet Boating Up the Ganges. Ulverscroft Large Print Books Ltd. ISBN 0-7089-0587-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Sack DA, Sack RB, Nair GB, Siddique AK (2004). "Cholera". Lancet. 363 (9404): 223–33. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(03)15328-7. PMID 14738797.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Singh, Vijay (1994). The River Goddess. Moonlight Publishing, London.

Further reading

• Fraser, James Baillie (1820). Journal of a tour through part of the snowy range of the Himala Mountains, and to the sources of the rivers Jumna and Ganges. Rodwell and Martin, London.
• Hamilton, Francis (1822). An account of the fishes found in the river Ganges and its branches. A. Constable and company, Edinburgh.
• Cautley, Proby Thomas (1864). Ganges canal. A disquisition on the heads of the Ganges of Jumna canals, North-western Provinces. London, Printed for Private circulation.

External links

• ON THINNER ICE 如履薄冰: signs of trouble from the Water Tower of Asia, where headwaters feed into all the great rivers of Asia (by GRIP, Asia Society and MediaStorm)
• Ganges in the Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1909
• Melting Glaciers Threaten Ganges
• Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law. Peace Palace Library
• Ganges as the River of India
• Ganga Ma: A Pilgrimage to the Source a documentary that follows the Ganges from the mouth to its source in the Himalayas.
• An article about the land and the people of the Ganges