GHAGHARA RIVER

also spelled Gogra, Ghaghra, or Ghagra, Nepali Kauriala major left-bank tributary of the Ganges River, rising as the Karnali River (Chinese: K'ung-ch'iao Ho) in the Tibetan Himalayas and flowing southeast into Nepal. Cutting southward across the Siwalik Hills, it splits into two branches, to rejoin south of the Indian border and form the Ghaghara proper. It flows southeast through Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states to enter the Ganges below Chapra after a 600-mile (970-kilometre) course. The major tributariesthe Kuwana, the Rapti, and the Little Gandak riversall flow into the Ghaghara from the mountains to the north. Together with the Ganges and its tributaries, it has helped form the vast alluvial plain of northern Bihar. Along its lower course it is also called the Sarju River (the Sarabos of the 2nd-century-AD Greek geographer Ptolemy) and the Deoha.