Jalangi River is a branch of the Ganges

Ganges River

The Ganges or Ganga, , is a trans-boundary river of India and Bangladesh. The river rises in the western Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and flows south and east through the Gangetic Plain of North India into Bangladesh, where it empties into the Bay of Bengal. By discharge it...

 in Murshidabad

Murshidabad district

Murshidabad district is a district of West Bengal in eastern India. Situated on the left bank of the river Ganges, the district is very fertile. Covering an area of 5,341 km² and having a population 5.863m it is a densely populated district and the ninth most populous in India...

 and Nadia

Nadia District

Nadia district is a district of the state of West Bengal, in the north east of India. It borders with Bangladesh to the east, North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts to the south, Bardhaman district to the west, and Murshidabad district to the north....

 districts in the India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n state

States and territories of India

India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...

 of West Bengal

West Bengal

West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

. The Jalangi and the Mathabhanga flow into the Bhagirathi-Hooghly and strengthens its lower channel, the Hooghly.

The river below the point where the Jalanagi meets the Ganges is known as Hooghly and the course above it from the point of its separation from the main flow of the Ganges to its confluence with the Jalangi, it is called Bhagirathi.

Ghurni

Ghurni

Ghurni is a neighbourhood of Krishnanagar in Nadia district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the centre for the production of clay dolls, often referred to as Krishnanagar clay dolls.-Geography:...

, a neighbourhood of Krishnanagar, a centre for the production of clay dolls, often referred to as Krishnanagar clay dolls, is located on the banks of the Jalangi. Mayapur

Mayapur

Mayapur is located on the banks of the Ganges river, at the point of its confluence with the Jalangi, near Navadvip, West Bengal, India, 130 km north of Kolkata...

 is located at the confluence of the Jalanagi and Ganges.

Changes in the course of rivers

The Jalangi is a modern stream, but its age is not known. Apparently it opened up long after the Bhairab ran as a strong stream in a south easterly direction. Although it is generally believed that the river has opened up within the last few hundred years, there is no direct evidence of this. It is shown in Van den Brouck’s map.

The Bhairab once flowed from the Ganges, across the present beds of the Jalangi, and further eastwards towards Faridpur

Faridpur District

Faridpur is a district in central Bangladesh. It is a part of the Dhaka Division. Faridpur District has a population of over 1.7 million people and is situated on the banks of the Padma river . It is bordered by Madaripur, Narail, Rajbari, Magura, Shariatpur, Gopalgonj, Dhaka and Manikganj...

. The Bhairab is no more a very active river. The Mathabhanga is a younger stream than Jalangi and it was not till very recently that the river completed its junction with the Hooghly by adopting the Churni

River Churni

River Churni is a river in the Nadia district, West Bengal, India.-Course:The river flows through Shibnivas, Hanskhali, Birnagar, Aranghata, Ranaghat, and finally joins River Bagirathi near Chakdaha. Its length is almost 56 km...

 (now its lower reaches) for its main course. Earlier most of the water of the Mathabhanga ran off to the east down the Kumara, Chitra, Coboduk (Bhairab), and Ichamati

Ichamati River

Ichamati River , is a trans-boundary river which flows through India and Bangladesh and also forms the boundary between the two countries. The river is facing the problem of siltation leading to thin flow of water in the dry season and floods in the rainy season...

, but all these escape routes have been shut off, except a small amount for the Ichamati.

The point to note is that while earlier the rivers in the region flowed in a south-easterly direction, but later some force pulled the Jalangi and the Mathabhanga in a south-westerly direction. The inference is that it occurred because of a local subsidence, which was active for some period prior to 1750 and which has since become inactive.

Erosion

Erosion of the banks is not only a problem for the more turbulent rivers such as Padma and Bhagirathi, but also comparatively smaller rivers such as Jalangi. In 2006, the state government sanctioned Rs. 7 crore for anti-erosion work in the Jalangi River.

Bridge

A sum of Rs 10.76 crore has been sanctioned for the construction of a bridge across the Jalangi at Radhanagar from additional central assistance funds. Besides connecting the districts of Murshidabad and Nadia, the proposed bridge would be an alternative connection to National Highway-34, which links North Bengal with Kolkata.

Bengali poetry

The Jalangi is emotionally referred to by the modern Bengali poet Jibanananda Das

Jibanananda Das

Jibanananda Das was a noted Bengali poet. He is considered one of the precursors who introduced modernist poetry to Bengali Literature, at a period when it was influenced by Rabindranath Tagore's Romantic poetry....

in his poem abar asibo phire:

abar asibo ami banglar nodi math khet bhalobeshe

jalangir dheuey bheja banglar e korun dangaey

When again I come, smitten by Bengal's rivers and fields, to this

Green and kindly land, Bengal, moistened by the Jalangi river's waves.

See also