Bhagirathi river
Topic: Drainage System of India: Rivers, Basins and Patterns · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 3 "Drainage System"
Meaning
The Bhagirathi river is the source stream of the Ganga. It rises at Gaumukh (about 3,900 m), the snout of the Gangotri glacier in Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand. A snout is the lowest tip of a glacier, where the ice melts into water. The river cuts narrow gorges (deep, steep-sided valleys) through the Central and Lesser Himalayas. At Devprayag it meets the Alaknanda, and from there the river is called the Ganga.
Example
The Tehri dam in Uttarakhand is built on the Bhagirathi. It is one of the best-known dams in the Himalayas.
Don't confuse with
- Alaknanda river: the other headstream of the Ganga. It rises in the Satopanth glacier above Badrinath and gathers four Prayags before Devprayag.
- Bhagirathi–Hugli: the Ganga's distributary in West Bengal. A distributary is a channel that splits off from a river. The Bhagirathi–Hugli branches off near Farakka and reaches the sea at Sagar Island. It is not the mountain stream.
Related concepts
- Ganga river
- Gangotri Glacier
- Alaknanda river
- Panch Prayag
- Confluence
- Ganga basin
- Padma river
- Sagar Island