Where Does the Ganga River Originate?

The Ganga is formed by the confluence of two headstreams:

1. Bhagirathi River: The Bhagirathi is considered the main source stream of the Ganga. It originates from the Gangotri Glacier (also called Gaumukh, meaning 'Cow's mouth') in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. The actual source point at the glacier snout is at an altitude of about 3,892 metres above sea level.

2. Alaknanda River: The Alaknanda originates from the Satopanth glacier near Badrinath.

The Ganga is officially formed when the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda rivers meet at Devprayag (one of the Panch Prayag — five sacred confluences) in Uttarakhand. From this point, the combined river is called the Ganga.

From Devprayag, the Ganga flows in a broad sweep:

• Enters the plains at Haridwar
• Flows through Uttar Pradesh — major cities Kanpur, Allahabad (Prayagraj), Varanasi
• At Prayagraj, it meets the Yamuna (and the mythical Saraswati) in the Triveni Sangam
• Enters Bihar and West Bengal
• Splits into two branches near Murshidabad: the Hugli and the Padma
• The Padma flows into Bangladesh
• The Hugli flows through Kolkata and meets the Bay of Bengal
• The Ganga forms the world's largest delta — the Sundarban Delta