Ganges

the Ganges

The Ganges is one of the major rivers in the Indian subcontinent going east through the Gangetic plain of northern India into Bangledesh. Ganges is the first National River of India. The decision was done by the Indian Government on 4th November 2008. The 2,510 km (1,560 mi) river rises in the western Himalayas in the Uttarakhand state of India, and drains into the Sunderbans delta in the bay of Bengal. The Ganges Valley, or basin, is 200 to 400 miles (322 to 644 km) wide It has long been considered a holy river by Hindus and worshiped as the goddess Ganga in Hinduism. The Ganges and its tributaries drain a 1,000,000-square-kilometer (390,000 sq mi) fertile basin that supports one of the world's highest density of humans.The delta begins more than 200 miles (322 kilometers) from the Bay of Bengal and lies mostly in Bangladesh. It is largely a tangled swampland.Path
Many small streams comprise of the headwaters of the Ganges, the six longest headstreams and their five group are given both cultural and geographical and emphasis: the Alaknada meets the Dhualiganga river at Vishnuprayag, the Nandikini river at Nandprayag, the Pindar river at Karnaprayag, the Mandakini river at Rudraprayag and finally the Bhagirat river at Devprayag, to form the mainstream, the Ganges. The Bhagirathi is the source stream; it rises at the foot Gangotri Glacier, at Guamukah an elevation of 3,892m (12,770 ft). The headwaters of the Alaknanda are formed by snowmelt from such peaks at Nandi,Trishul, and Kamet. Further, the river follows an 800 km curving course passing through the city of Kanpur before being joined from the southwest by the Yamuna at Allahabad. This point is known as the Sangam at Allahabad. Sangam, is a sacred place in Hinduism. According to ancient Hindu texts, at one time a third river, the Sarasvati that met at the other two rivers.

Economy
The Ganges 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. There are two major dams on the Ganga. One at Haridwar diverts much of the Himalayan snowmelt into the Upper Ganges Canal, built by the British in 1854 to irrigate the surrounding land. This caused severe deterioration to the wateflow in the Ganga, and is a major cause for the decay of Ganga as an inland waterw

Source

The river emerges in spectacular fashion from an ice cave under the Gangotri glacier, which is receding by hundreds of feet every year.

The glacier which supplies the Ganges is retreating

A team of glaciologists monitoring the glacier blame global warming, which is causing a decline in the snowfall needed to replenish the glacier.

But they also point to the mushrooming huts and tents around the glacier used by a rising tide of pilgrims, who further increase the temperature by burning fossil fuel.

The river is also fed by a dwindling supply of subsoil streams. These streams are drying up because much of the forest has been cut down.

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Every morning thousands of Hindus, either pilgrims or residents make go to the holy water of the Ganges. All of them face the rising sun with folded hands mumering prayers. Eck states:

"There are few things on which Hindu India, diverse as it is, might agree. But of the Ganges, India speaks with one voice. The Ganges carries an immense cultural and religious meaning for Hindus of every region and every sectarian persuasion." (214)