A Ganges Journey The Ganges is the longest river in India It stretches for 1 550 miles 2 500 km Fed by many different streams it flows from the Himalayas in northern India to the Indian Ocean You will follow the river from its source through India and Bangladesh to the Bay of Bengal A source of water A Life Giving River For thousands of years people living on the banks of the Ganges have relied on its waters for drinking washing cooking and watering their crops The vast Ganges plain is one of the most fertile farming areas in the world Its rice and wheat feed hundreds of millions of people Use of the Ganges for growing crops goes back to ancient times Today canal systems help to supply water to farms across the fertile Ganges valley Because so much water is diverted the river is less used for transport but in West Bengal and Bangladesh farmers still use boats to take their goods to market v The Ganges plain stretches for 746 miles 1 200 km across northern India When the river floods rich silt is left behind to feed the
CHINA PAKISTAN 3 500 ft 4120 m C Alaknanda River TIBET AUTONO MOUS REGION Bhagirathi River Haridway Devprayer New Delhi 29 029 Re B48 ml NEPAL BHUTAN Farrukhaba UTTA PRASH CANCES Plan BANGLADESH Allahabudaranas INDIA JHARMAND BNGAL ASIA River Kolkat MYANMAR BuRMA Bay of Bengal A Holy River A Many rivers known as tributaries join the Ganges on its journey to the Indian Ocean For India's Hindus the Ganges is a holy river Its waters are believed to wash away sins Every Hindu hopes one day to visit the holy city of Varanasi on the banks of the Ganges and bathe in the river Each year more than a million Hindus make this special journey which is known as a pilgrimage washing bathing and praying beside the Ganges is a daily ritual for millions of
TIBET Gangotri The Source Bhagirathi Devpaya Haridwa New NEPA The source of the Ganges is the Gangotri Glacier in the Himalayan Mountains Your journey begins in this remote area more than You ARE HERE 13 100 feet 4 000 m above sea level INDIAE Farrukhabad v Snowcapped peaks tower over the Gangotri Valley in the central Himalayas On Top of the World The world's highest mountain range is the Himalayas It stretches nearly 1 865 miles 3 000 km through Pakistan India Nepal China and Bhutan About 100 million years ago two gigantic plates of rock were pushed by forces below the Earth's crust When they collided the plates were forced upward This massive movement created the Himalayan
The mos distant tributary of the anges is the Bhagirathi River It starts in this ice cave just below the Dangotri acier What is a Glacier S A glacier is like a frozen river It is made from layers of snow that are packed down to form a dense mass of ice The huge weight of the ice makes the glacier move very slowly downhill Over thousands of years the movement of the glacier carves out a wide U shaped valley through the mountains Earthquake Underneath Earth's surface the powerful forces that created the Himalayas millions of years ago are still at work today Sometimes the pressure from below makes the earth tremble in a violent jolt called an earthquake Fortunately most earthquakes in the Himalayas occur away from towns and cities However in October 1991 a massive earthquake struck the town of Uttarkashi near Haridwar It destroyed 42 000 homes and killed more than 1 000 people This Hindu holy man has walked hundreds of A miles to visit the in source of the Ganges and bathe in its
