GANGES (GANGA), a great river of northern India, formed by drainage of the southern Himalayas. It rises in the Garhwal state, its lower course focusses the river system of Bengal, and it falls into the Bay of Bengal after a course of 1,50o m. It issues, under the name of the Bhagirathi, from an ice cave at the foot of a Himalayan snow-bed near Gangotri, 10,30o ft. above sea-level.
During its passage through the southern spurs of the Himalayas it receives the Jahnavi from the north-west, and subsequently the Alaknanda, after which the united stream takes the name of the Ganges. Deo Prayag, their point of junction, is a celebrated place of pilgrimage, as is also Gangotri, the source of the parent stream. At Sukhi it pierces through the Himalayas, and turns south-west to Hardwar, also a place of great sanctity. It pro ceeds by a tortuous course through the districts of Dehra Dun, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Bulandshahr and Farukhabad, in which last district it receives the Ramganga. Thus far the Ganges has been little more than a series of broad shoals, long deep pools and rapids, except during the melting of the snows and throughout the rainy season. At Allahabad, however, it receives the Jumna, a large river, which rises also in the Himalayas far ther west. The combined river winds east by south-east through the United Provinces, receiving the Gumti and the Gogra at con secrated spots. But the tongue of land at Allahabad, where the Jumna and the Ganges join, is the true Prayag, or place of pil grimage, to which hundreds of thousands of devout Hindus re pair to wash away their sins in the sacred river. Here the great festival called the Maghmela is held.
Shortly after passing the holy city of Benares the Ganges enters Behar, and after receiving the Sone from the south, passes Patna, and is joined by the Gandak, which rises in Nepal. Farther east it receives the Kusi, and then, skirting the Rajmahal hills, turns sharply southward, passing near the ruined city of Gaur. The delta begins 220 m. in a straight line, or 30o by the windings of the river, from the Bay of Bengal. The main channel takes the name of the Padma or Padda, and proceeds in a south-easterly direction, past Pabna to Goalanda, above which it is joined by the Jamuna or main stream of the Brahmaputra. The vast con fluence receives further additions from the hill country to the east, and forms a broad estuary known as the Meghna, which enters the Bay of Bengal near Noakhali. This estuary, however, is only the largest and most easterly of a great number of mouths or channels. The most westerly is the Hooghly, which receives the waters of a number of distributary channels that start from the parent Ganges above Murshidabad. Between the Hooghly on the west and the Meghna on the east lies the delta. Its northern angle consists of rich and fertile districts, such as Murshidabad, Nadia, Jessore and the 24 Parganas. But towards its southern base, resting on the sea, the country sinks into a series of swamps, intercepted by a network of channels. This waste is known as the Sundarbans, from the sundari tree, which grows in abundance in the seaboard tracts.
The most important channel of the Ganges for commerce is the Hooghly (q.v.), on which stands Calcutta, about 90 m. from the mouth. Beyond this city the navigation is conducted by native craft. Below Calcutta important boat routes through the delta connect the Hooghly with the eastern branches of the river.
The catchment basin of the Ganges is bounded north by a length of about 70o m. of the Himalayan range, south by the Vin dhya mountains, and east by the ranges which separate Bengal from Burma ; area 43 2,48o sq. m. The average fall from Allaha bad to Benares is 6 in. per mile; from Benares to Calcutta, be tween 4 and 5 in. ; from Calcutta to the sea, 1 to 2 in. Great changes take place from time to time in the river-bed. Exten sive islands are thrown up, and attach themselves to the main land, while the river deserts its old bed and seeks a new channel, it may be many miles off. Many decayed or ruined cities attest such changes in ancient times.
The Ganges is crossed by six railway bridges on its course as far as Benares ; and there is another at Sara in Eastern Bengal.
The UPPER GANGES CANAL and the LOWER GANGES CANAL, with headworks at Hardwar, are the two principal systems of per ennial irrigation in the United Provinces. They include 568 m. of main canals, and irrigated 1,316,00o acres in 192o. New head works have more lately been completed.