| Hooghly River Bhagirathi | |
|---|---|
 The River Hooghly flowing through Bally , Howrah | |
 | |
| Location | |
| Country | India |
| State | West Bengal |
| Districts | Murshidabad, Nadia, Purba Bardhaman, Hooghly, Howrah, North 24 Parganas, Kolkata, South 24 Parganas, East Midnapore |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Ganga |
| Mouth | Bay of Bengal |
• location | Sunderbans inWest Bengal |
| Length | 260 kilometres |
| Depth | |
| • maximum | 117 m |
| Basin features | |
| Bridges | Vidyasagar Setu (Second Hooghly Bridge) Rabindra Setu (Howrah Bridge) Nivedita Setu Vivekananda Setu (Bally bridge) Sampreeti Bridge Jubilee Bridge Ishwar Gupta Setu Gourango Setu Nashipur Rail Bridge Ramendra Sundar Tribedi Setu Jangipur Bhagirathi Bridge |
TheHooghly River (Bengali:[ɦuɡli], also spelledHoogli orHugli) is the westernmostdistributary of theGanges, situated inWest Bengal, India. It is known in its upper reaches as theBhagirathi. The Bhagirathi splits off from the main branch of the Ganges atGiria. A short distance west, it meets the man-madeFarakka Feeder Canal, which massively increases its flow. The river then flows south to join theJalangi atNabadwip, where it becomes the Hooghly proper.[1] The Hooghly continues southwards, passing through the metropolis ofKolkata. Thereafter, it empties into theBay of Bengal. Its tributaries include theAjay,Damodar,Rupnarayan, andHaldi.
The Hooghly has religious significance asHindus consider the river sacred. It also plays a major role in the agriculture, industry, and climate of the state.
The vast majority of the water that flows into the Hooghly River is provided by the man-madeFarakka Feeder Canal, rather than the natural source of the river at Giria. TheFarakka Barrage is a dam that diverts water from theGanges into the Farakka Feeder Canal near the town of Tildanga inMurshidabad district, located 40 km upstream from Giria. This supplies the Hooghly with water as per the agreement between India and Bangladesh. The feeder canal runs parallel to the Ganges, pastDhulian, until just aboveJahangirpur where the canal ends and joins the Bhagirathi river. The Bhagirathi then flows south pastJiaganj Azimganj,Murshidabad andBaharampur.
South of Baharampur and north ofPalashi it used to form the border betweenBardhaman District andNadia District, but while the border has remained the same the river is now often east or west of its former bed. The river then flows south pastKatwa,Nabadwip,Kalna andJirat. At Kalna it originally formed the border between Nadia District andHooghly District, and then further south between Hooghly District andNorth 24 Parganas District. It flows pastHalisahar,Chinsurah,Naihati,Bhatpara,Konnagar,Serampore, andKamarhati. Then, just before entering the twin cities ofKolkata (Calcutta) andHowrah, it turns to the southwest. At Nurpur it enters an old channel of the Ganges, and turns south to empty into theBay of Bengal through an estuary about 20 mi (32 km) wide [2].[1]
Ain-i-Akbari,[2] a book byAbu'l-Fazl, describes that the river Ganga and river Sarwasati (Sarsuti) streams of lower Bengal had different flows. According to the footnotes of this book, the colour of the water of the Sarawasati was white, the colour of another stream named Jamuna was blue, and the colour of the Ganga was muddy and yellowish. From Kolkata the main flow of the Hooghly-Bhagirathi (or Ganga) used to run along the side of theKalighat temple,Baruipur,Jaynagar Majilpur,Chhatrabhog and Hatiagarh. At that time, between Khiderpore and Sankrail[3] no flow existed. Presently, the stream between Khiderpore and Sankrail became known asKatiGanga. A channel had been dug at the time of Alibardi Khan in the middle of the 18th century. This happened with the assistance of Dutch traders, who also set up a toll point on the Hooghly river.[4] So the present reach of the Hooghly is the lower part of the historical Saraswati.Kolkata the capital of West Bengal is located on the banks of the Hoogly river.
The tide runs rapidly on the Hooghly, and produces a remarkable example of the fluvial phenomenon known as atidal bore. This consists of the head-wave of the advancing tide, hemmed in where the estuary narrows suddenly into the river, and often exceeds 7 ft (2.1 m) in height. It is felt as high up asNaihati 35 km upstream ofCalcutta, and frequently destroys small boats.[5] A tidal bore which overcame the banks of the river in 1876 was reported to have killed up to a hundred thousand people.[5] The difference from the lowest point of low-water in the dry season to the highest point of high-water in the rains is reported to be 20 ft 10 in (6.35 m). The greatest mean rise of tide, about 16 ft (4.9 m), takes place in March, April or May - with a declining range during the rainy season to a mean of 10 ft (3.0 m), and a minimum duringfreshets of 3 ft 6 in (1.07 m).
In its upper reaches the river is generally known as the Bhāgirathi, until it reaches Hooghly. The word Bhāgirathi literally means "caused byBhagiratha", aHindu mythologicalSolar dynasty prince who was instrumental in bringing the river Ganges fromheaven to the earth, in order to release his 60,000 grand-uncles from a curse of the saintKapila.[6]
In 1974, theFarakka Barrage began diverting water into the Hooghly during the dry season so as to reduce the silting difficulties at Kolkata's port.
Like the rest of the Ganges, the Bhāgirathi-Hooghly is considered sacred toHindus,[7] and its water is considered holy.
The following bridges currently span the Hooghly River; listed from south to north until the Farakka Feeder Canal meets the river:
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The following bridges are under various stages of development:
The following tunnels are situated under the Hooghly River :-
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The Bhāgirathi-Hooghly river system is an essential lifeline for the people of West Bengal. It was through this river that the East India company sailed into Bengal and established their trade settlement, Calcutta, the capital of British India. People from other countries such as the French, Dutch, Portuguese, etc. all had their trade settlements by the banks of this river.
The river provides a perennial supply of water to the plain of West Bengal for irrigation and human & industry consumption. The river is navigable and a major transport system in the region with a large traffic flow. For a long time, theCalcutta Port was the biggest port of India. Although in the past its significance had gone down, recently it has reached the 3rd position in the list of Indian Ports. The modern container port ofHaldia, on the intersection of lower Hooghly and Haldi River, now carries much of the region's maritime trade. One new port will be built in the deep sea to reduce the load on Calcutta port.
Despite the river being polluted, the fish from it are important to the local economy.
The Hooghly river valley was the most important industrial area of the state of Bengal. Despite a decline of thejute industry, the prime industry of this region, it is still one of the biggest industrial areas of India. It has a number of small cities which form theGreater Kolkata agglomeration, the second biggest Indian city and the former capital.
In September 2015, theGovernment of West Bengal announced that renovation of the Hooghly riverfront in Kolkata will be completed with the help ofWorld Bank funding under theNational Ganga River Basin Project Scheme.[13]
Rudyard Kipling wrote an article,On the Banks of the Hugli (1888),[14] and a short story set on the Hooghli,An Unqualified Pilot (1895).[15]
TheSilk River project aims at exploring the artistic relationship between Kolkata andLondon through artistic exchange from 10 locations each along the Hooghly River and theRiver Thames. The 10 places along the Hooghly River areMurshidabad,Krishnagar,Chandernagore,Barrackpore,Jorasanko,Bowbazar,Howrah,Kidderpore,Botanical Gardens andBatanagar. Ten scrolls, painted in thePatua tradition, depicting the 10 places will be carried along the Hooghly River. The event began at Murshidabad on 7 December 2017 and ended at theVictoria Memorial, Kolkata on 17 December.[16][17]
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hugli (river)".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.1. Gautam Kumar Das. 2024. River Systems of West Bengal: Water Quality and Environment. In: River Systems of West Bengal. Springer Water. Springer, Cham. 180p.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-53480-5-1.https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-53480-5.
2. Gautam Kumar Das. 2015. Estuarine Morphodynamics of the Sunderbans, Springer, Switzerland, 211p.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11343-2.https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-11343-2.
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