Bhagirathi River

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The confluence of the Bhagirathi (coming in from the left) and the Alaknanda (to the right) at Devprayag.

The Bhāgirathi (Bengali: ভাগীরথী) refers to two rivers, one, a tributary and other a distributory of the Ganga:

1. A turbulent Himalayan river originating from the Gangotri glacier in Uttaranchal, which flows for about 700 km before merging with the Alaknanda at Devprayag at the holy confluence (Sangam). The river downstream is known as the Ganga proper. The controversial Tehri dam lies on the Bhagirathi, near Tehri.

2. A separate distributary of the Ganga in West Bengal. It branches off from the Ganga in Murshidabad district at Nurpur, 25 Km below Farakka, runs parallel to her for about 2 Km, winds its way to the south and leaves the district north of Palashi (Bengali: পলাশী), known as Plassey in colonial literature. The river was an important transportation channel in the early history of Bengal, with colonial trading ports coming up at Calcutta (British) and Chandannagar (Dutch/French). The river banks hosted several battles and skirmishes towards the start of the colonial era (including the Battle of Plassey), as well as earlier wars against Maratha raiders. On eastern bank lie many historic and wealthy towns like Murshidabad, Jangipur and Ziaganj.

The word Bhāgirathi literally means "caused by Bhagiratha", a mythical Sagar Dynasty prince who was instrumental in bringing the river Ganga from the heavens on to the earth, in order to release his 60,000 grand-uncles from a curse of the saint Kapila.

Both these rivers are sacred to all Hindus, and its water is considered holy (like most of the Ganga and its tributaries).