SURMA RIVER

also called Barak river in northeastern India and eastern Bangladesh, 560 miles (900 km) in length. It rises in the Manipur Hills in northern Manipur state, India, where it is called the Barak, and flows west and then southwest into Mizoram state. There it veers north into Assam state and flows west past the town of Silchar. The river next splits into two branches, the Surma (north) and the Kusiyara (south), which enter Bangladesh and turn southwest. The Surma flows past Sylhet in a rich tea-growing valley, while the Kusiyara subdivides into two more branches, both of which rejoin the Surma. At Bhairab Bazar, in east-central Bangladesh, the river enters an old channel of the Brahmaputra and becomes the Meghna River, which flows south past Dhaka (formerly Dacca) and enters the Ganges. Steamers can navigate the river as far upstream as Silchar in the rainy season.