Paragraph : The Ganges

The Ganges

The Ganges or Ganga is a great river of the plains of northern India. Although officially as well as popularly called the Ganga, both in Hindi and in other Indian languages, internationally it is known by its Anglicized name, the Gangas.From time immemorial it has been the holy river of the Hindus. For most of its course, it is a wide and sluggish stream, flowing through one of the most fertile and densely populated tracts of territory in the world. Despite its importance, its length of 1,560 miles makes it relatively short by both world and Asian standards. Rising in the Himalayas and emptying into the Bay of Bengal, it drains a quarter of the territory of India, while its basin supports an Immense concentration of people. The Gangetic Plain, across which it flows, is the heartland of the region known as Hindustani and has been the cradle of successive civilization from the kingdom of Asoka in the 3rd century BC, down to Mughal Empire, founded in the 16th century. For most, if its course the Ganges flows through Indian territory, although its large delta in the Bengal area lies mostly in Bangladesh. The general direction of the river's flow is from north-northwest to Southeast. At its delta, the flow us generally southward.