Its most-important southern tributary is the Son River. The Ganga River next enters the State of Bihar, where its main tributaries from the Himalayan region of Nepal to the north are the Gandak, the Burhi, the Ghugri, and the Kosi rivers. From April to June, the melting Himalayan snows feed the flowing river, and in the rainy season, from July to September, the rain-bearing monsoons unleash floods. The volume of the Ganga increases markedly as it receives more tributaries and enters a region of heavier rainfall, and it shows a seasonal variation in flow.
It is recorded that regular steamer services ran from Kolkata up the Ganga to Prayagraj and beyond, as well as to Agra on the Yamuna and up the Brahmaputra River. The unique natural dye does not cause any pollution. The dye is extracted from a plant and in 1859, those engaged in this production engaged in the famous ‘Nil Satyagrah’. As we know, indigo is a beautiful and most expensive natural dye. The advent of paddle steamers revolutionised inland transport in India, stimulating the growth of indigo production in Bihar and Bengal. This connected people and improved livelihoods. By the 19th century, irrigation-cum-navigation canals formed the main arteries of the water-transport system. The canal system was further extended by the British. Irrigation was highly developed during the period of Muslim rule from the 12th century onward, and the Mughal kings later constructed several canals. Such irrigation is described in scriptures and books written more than 2,000 years ago. Use of Ganga water for irrigation, either when the river is in flood or by means of gravity canals has been prudently used since ancient times. Among the most notable are Saharanpur, Meerut, Agra (the city of the famous Taj Mahal - the universal symbol of romantic solidarity), Mathura (esteemed as the birthplace of the Hindu God Krishna), Aligarh, Lucknow, Prayagraj, Varanasi (the holy city of Buddhists and Hindus), Patna, Rajshahi, Murshidabad, Kolkata, Dhaka, Khulna, and Barisal. A large number of cities have been built on the Gangetic Plain.
Rising in the Himalayas and emptying into the Bay of Bengal, the Ganga River drains one-fourth of the territory of India, and its basin brings life to millions of people. Of those, the two main headstreams are the Alaknanda (the longer of the two), which rises about 30 miles north of the Himalayan peak of Nanda Devi, and the Bhagirathi, which originates at about 10,000 feet above sea level in a meltwater cave at the base of the Himalayan glacier known as Gangotri. The six headstreams of the vibrant Ganga River - the Bhagirathi, Alaknanda, Mandakini, Dhauliganga, Nandakini and the Pindar - all rise in the mountainous region of northern Uttarakhand State. The centres of the great Mughal Empire were at Delhi and Agra.
The centre of the opulent Mauryan Empire of Ashoka was Patna (ancient Pataliputra), on the Ganges in Bihar. Historically, the Gangetic Plain has constituted the heartland of Hindustan and its successive civilisations. The life empowering Ganga flows to cover a length of 1,560 miles. For most of its course, it is a wide and sluggish stream, flowing through one of the most fertile and densely populated regions. From time immemorial it has been venerated as the Holy River of Hinduism.
Although popularly called the Ganga River in Hindi and other Indian languages, internationally, this amazing river is known as the Ganges. The mighty Ganges River or the Great River of the plains of the northern Indian Subcontinent is a symbol of India.