Interesting Facts About Ganga River

 Interesting Facts About Ganga River

"The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, round which are intertwined her memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India's age long culture and civilization, ever changing, ever flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga."

Ganga River

Facts-

1-    The Ganga is the most sacred river to Hindus.

2-    The Ganga is the most worshipped holy river in India.

3-    The Ganga is the most worshipped holy river in the World.

4-    Size of the Ganga River is: 2,525 sq km.

5-    Ganga River is the longest river of India and one of the longest river in the world.

6-    It is the third largest river in the world by discharge.

7-    It is 34th longest river in the world by length.

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8-    The average depth of the river is 16 meters (52 feet), and the maximum depth, 30 meters (100 feet).

9-    The major rivers which flow into the Ganges are: Ramganga, Gomti, Ghaghara, Gandaki, Burhi Gandak, Koshi, Mahananda, Tamsa, Yamuna, Son, and Punpun.

10- Ganges river system is the only one on earth to have both freshwater dolphins and riverine sharks.

11- Source: Gaumukh (Gangotri Glacier) at 4,100 metres above sea level.

12- Ganga basin: More than one million square km (1,060,000 sq.km).

13- States through Holy Ganga Passes - Flows : Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Delhi.

14- Tributaries of Holy Ganga : Betwa, Chambal, Damodar, Gandak, Ganga, Ghaghra, Gomti, Hindon, Kali, Khan, Kosi, Kshipra, Ramganga, and Yamuna.

15- Kumbh Mela, which is the largest religious human gathering in the world also takes place in the banks of Ganga

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16- The water from the Holy Ganges has healing properties and can cure even the deadliest of diseases.

17- It has the highest population of any river basin in the world. It contains over 400 million people.

18- Anti-putrefaction properties of Ganga water.

19- Its water always “sweet and fresh.”

20- In a study conducted by Malaria Research Center in New Delhi it was observed that water from upper reaches of Ganga did not host mosquito breeding.

21- Ganga’s self-purifying quality leads to oxygen levels 25 times higher than any other river in the world.

22- The Ganges river dolphin was declared India’s National Aquatic Animal in 2009.

23- The Ganges shark (Glyphis Gangeticus) is a rare freshwater shark species that lives in the waters of Ganges.

24- The enormity of Ganga- Ganga flows 2,525 kilometers (1,569 miles) from the Himalaya mountains to the Bay of Bengal in northern India and Bangladesh.

25- The mouth of River Ganga forms the world’s largest delta, Sundarban Delta and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997. It covers more than 105,000 square kilometers (41,000 square miles).

Ganga River

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Holy River Ganga            

The Ganga, deified by Hindus and intrinsic to its literature and lore while providing water to over 43 percent of India’s population in 11 states. River Ganga is about 1557 miles long (2506 km. The river Ganga originates at Gangotri glacier on the southern slopes of the Himalayas, some 14, 000 feet above sea level. River Bhagirathi and Alaknanda join each other at Devprayag to form River Ganga. Major pilgrimage places on River Ganga are- Rishikesh, Haridwar, Varanasi and Prayag (Allahabad).