Question

Which of the following is a distributary of the Ganga?
A. Yamuna
B. Sone
C. Chambal
D. Hugli

Answer 1

Hint: A source that branches out and flows away from a mainstream channel is a distributary or a distribution channel. A typical trait of river deltas is distributaries. Distributaries are located when a lake or an ocean enters a sea.

Complete Answer:
The river of the Ganges is the lifeline for Indians living along its course, passing through the historically important towns of Rishikesh, Haridwar, Allahabad, Varanasi, and Patna. The Ganges is India's holiest and most holy river, revered by Hindus as the Goddess Ganga. After the confluence of the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda rivers at Devprayag, the Ganga river begins and then meets the Yamuna at the Triveni Sangam at Prayag. The Ganges grows on the Indian side of the frontier with the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the southern Great Himalayas. In the mountainous area of northern Uttarakhand state, its five headstreams, the Bhagirathi, the Alaknanda, the Mandakini, the Dhauliganga, and the Pindar, all rise. At Devprayag, the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers converge to form the mainstream known as the Ganga, which cuts southwestward at the northern edge of the Indo-Gangetic Plain across the Siwalik Range (Outer Himalayas) to emerge at Rishikesh from the mountains. It then flows to Haridwar, another spot considered sacred by Hindus, on the plain. West Bengal is the last Indian state to meet the Ganges, and the Mahananda River joins it from the north after it floods into Bangladesh. The Ganges is locally called the Padma in West Bengal in India, as well as in Bangladesh. The Bhagirathi and the Hugli (Hooghly) rivers, on the east bank of which the immense metropolis of Kolkata sits, are the westernmost distributors of the delta. Two tributaries that flow in from the west, the Damodar and the Rupnarayan, join the Hugli itself.
So, the correct answer is Option D.

Note: The Ganges is continually vulnerable to changes in its path in the delta zone, as well as its tributaries and distributaries. Such shifts, especially after 1750, have occurred in comparatively recent times. The Brahmaputra passed through the town of Mymensingh in 1785, it now runs more than 40 miles (65 km) west of it before entering the Ganges.