Ganges River
[[Image:River_Ganga_and_tributaries.png|thumb|right|300px|Course of Ganga river and tributaries
Ganga, also known as "Ganga/Ganges", (archaic Ganges) is a major river system in the Indian subcontinent flowing East through North India's Gangetic plains, traversing 2,525 km in the course to discharge into the Bay of Bengal through its vast delta in the Sunderbans and Bangladesh. Several important tributaries add their waters during this journey to make Ganga the 3rd largest river in the world by discharge volume.
The Ganga river basin is India's largest, irrigating the Northern states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal. Important cities on its banks include Kanpur, Patna, Kannauj, Kashi, Allahabad, Varanasi, Kolkata, Baharampur, Munger, Murshidabad.
[[Image:Goddess_Ganga.JPG|thumb|right|300px|Goddess Ganga, Ellora Caves, Maharastra, Archaeological Survey of India monument number N-MH-A51]]
The river Ganga is generally regarded, since ancient times, amongst the world's most important and holy rivers. It is held sacred by Indians, especially Hindus, and is also worshiped in its anthropomorphic form as the Goddess Ganga, emerging, as Bhagirathi her source, from Gangotri Glacier (in the Central Himalayan state of Uttarakhand) at Gaumukh (elevation 3,892 m). Ganga is embodied at Devprayag when the rampant Alaknanda joins swirling Bhagirathi. Numerous other streams join Himalayan Ganga, among these Mandakini, Dhauliganga, Bhilangana and Pindar are significant.
