The 2,525 km (1,569 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. It is the third largest river on Earth by discharge.
The name Ganges is used for the river between the confluence of the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda rivers, in the Himalayas, and the first bifurcation of the river, near the Farakka Barrage and the India-Bangladesh Border.
The Bhagirathi rises at the foot of Gangotri Glacier, at Gomukh, at an elevation of 4,356 m (14,291 ft)
The six headstreams are the Alaknanda, Dhauliganga, Nandakini, Pindar, Mandakini and Bhagirathi.
Their confluences, known as the Panch 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.
At Bhagalpur, the river begins to flow south-southeast and at Farakka, it begins its attrition with the branching away of its first distributary, the 408 km (254 mi) long Bhāgirathi-Hooghly, which goes on to become the Hooghly River.
In Bangladesh, the main branch of the Ganges River is known as the Padma.
The Padma is joined by the Jamuna River, the largest distributary of the Brahmaputra.
Further downstream, the Padma joins the Meghna River, the converged flow of Surma-Meghna River System taking on the Meghna's name as it enters the Meghna Estuary, which empties into the Bay of Bengal.
The important cities and towns situated on the banks of the Ganga are Haridwar, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Bhagalpur etc.
The Ganges Delta, formed mainly by the large, sediment-laden flows of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers, is the world's largest delta, at about 64,000 km2 (25,000 sq mi).It stretches 400 km (250 mi) along the Bay of Bengal.
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