River Brahmaputra - Revision history

Jyoti: /* As of 1908 */

2025-06-12T15:04:28Z

‎As of 1908

Pdewan: /* Brahmaputra */

2025-06-04T01:52:12Z

‎Brahmaputra

Jyoti: /* Flood risk */

2020-12-28T10:41:48Z

‎Flood risk

Jyoti: /* Flood risk */

2020-12-28T10:40:39Z

‎Flood risk

Jyoti at 10:39, 28 December 2020

2020-12-28T10:39:24Z

Pdewan: Pdewan moved page Brahmaputra to River Brahmaputra without leaving a redirect

2020-12-26T21:40:55Z

Pdewan moved page Brahmaputra to River Brahmaputra without leaving a redirect

Pdewan: /* Chinese control of the head waters */

2016-10-05T19:33:48Z

‎Chinese control of the head waters

Pdewan: /* The Lalho project */

2016-10-05T18:03:56Z

‎The Lalho project

Pdewan at 18:03, 5 October 2016

2016-10-05T18:03:00Z

Pdewan: Created page with " {| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|
This article has been extracted from
THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908.
OXFORD, AT THE CLA..."

2014-10-25T21:11:36Z

Created page with " {| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%"> This article has been extracted from <br/> THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908.<br/> OXFORD, AT THE CLA..."

New page

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%">
This article has been extracted from <br/>

THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908.<br/>

OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.
</div>
|}
[[Category:India|B]]
[[Category:Places|B]]
''Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value. ''
=Brahmaputra=

('Son of Brahma ').— River of Tibet and North-
eastern India, which for its size and utility to man ranks among the
most important in the world. Its total estimated length is about
1,800 miles, and its drainage area about 361,200 square miles, while
during the rains the flood discharge at Goalpara is said to be more
than half a million cubic feet of water per second. An element of
romance hangs over the river, as a certain portion of its course has
never been actually explored, though there is little doubt that the
Tsan-po, or great river of Tibet, pours its waters through the Dihang
into the river which is known as the Brahmaputra in the Assam Valley.

The source of the Tsan-po is in 31° 30' N. and 82° E., near the upper
waters of the Indus and the Sutlej, and a little to the east of the
Manasarowar Lake. It has been traced almost continuously for a
distance of 850 miles eastwards to Gya-la-Sindong, which is barely
150 miles from the Assam frontier, but no explorer has yet succeeded
in following the river right down to its junction with the Brahmaputra.

It was at one time thought that the Tsan-po might be identical with
the great river of Burma, the Irrawaddy, but explorations which termi-
nated in 1882 proved that the course of the Tsan-po could not lie east
of a place called Sama in the Zayul valley. It was then suggested
that the river that flowed past Sama was not identical with the stream
that runs westward from the Brahmakund to Sadiya, but was a tributary
of the Tsan-po, which flowed to the west of Sama into the plains of
Burma. This theory was completely disproved by the explorations
of Mr. Needham, who in 1885-6 marched from Sadiya up the so-
called Brahmaputra to Rima, a village east of Sama, and proved that
the river at Rima and the river that flowed past Sadiya were the
same.

The Tsan-po having no outlet towards Burma in any direction,
there is little room for doubt with regard to its identity with the
Brahmaputra. Granted this premise, it seems probable that the chan-
nel by which it makes its way through the Himalayas is the Dihang,
which is by far the largest river that falls into the Brahmaputra from
the north, and at the point of junction considerably exceeds in volume
the river flowing from Jhe east, which, as it follows the same direction
as the united stream in its passage down the valley, has been wrongly
styled the Brahmaputra by the Assamese. In 1886-7 the Tsan-po was
visited by a native explorer, who stated that he followed its course for
nearly 100 miles south of Gya-la-Sindong to a place called Onlet, which
is only 8 miles from Miri Padam and 43 miles from the Assam frontier.

At first sight, it may seem strange that a geographical problem of such
interest as the identity of the Tsan-po and the Dihang should still
remain unsettled, and that such a small strip of territory should be
allowed to remain unexplored. The hills through which the Dihang
makes its way present, however, great difficulties to the explorer, and
are inhabited by fierce and hostile tribes of whom little is known.
Activity in that region is politically undesirable ; and even if no opposi-
tion was offered to the expedition, it is possible that an advance and
subsequent retirement would be construed into a sign of weakness,
which might embolden the hill tribes to make incursions on the frontier
of Assam.

The Dihang at Pobha joins a river flowing from the east, which
is sometimes styled the Brahmaputra, sometimes the Luhit. This
river rises to the north-east of the hills inhabited by the Mishmis,
and is known at Rima as the Zayul Chu. Near Sadiya, shortly above
its junction with the Dihang, it receives the Noa Dihing from the
southern, and the Dibang and Sesseri from the northern bank. The
most important tributaries that fall into the river west of the Dihang
are : on the north bank, the SubansirI, Bhareli, Dhansiri, Bar-
nadI, Manas, Sankosh, Dharla, and Tista ; and on the south
bank the Burhi Diking, Disang, Dikho, Jhanzi, Dhansiri Kulsi,
and JiNjiRAM.

Below Dibrugarh the Brnhmaputra at once assumes the character-
istics by which it is generally known. It rolls along through the plain
with a vast expanse of water, broken by innumerable islands, and
exhibiting the operations of alluvion and diluvion on a gigantic scale.
It is so heavily freighted with suspended matter that the least impedi-
ment in its stream causes a deposit, and may give rise to a wide-
spreading almond-shaped sand-bank. On either side, the great river
throws out large branches, which rejoin the main channel after a
divergence of many miles. One of these divergent channels takes
off from the main stream, under the name of the Kherkutia Suti,
opposite Burhi Dihingmukh. It receives the great volume of the
SubansirI, and is then called the Luhit, and thus reinforced, rejoins
the main stream nearly opposite Dhansirimukh. The great island
or char of Majui.i, with an area of 485 square miles, is enclosed
between it and the main stream. Another large divergent channel
is the Kalang, which takes off from the south bank opposite Bish-
nath in Darrang District, and traverses the whole of Nowgong District
west of that point, rejoining the Brahmaputra a short distance above
Gauhati.

Unlike many rivers that flow through flat low-lying plains, instead
of creeping along in a sluggish channel, the Brahmaputra in the Assam
Valley has a comparatively swift current, and possesses no high
permanent banks. At certain points in its course it passes between
or by rocky eminences, which give a temporary fixity to its channel,
as at Bishnath, Silghat, Tezpur, Singriparbat, Gauhati, Hathimura,
Goalpara, and Dhubri. Where not so controlled, it sends its shifting
channels over a vast extent of country, without forming any single
continuous river trough.

After a course of 450 miles south-west down the Assam Valley,
the Brahmaputra sweeps southward round the spurs of the Garo
Hills, which form the outwork of the watershed separating it
from the river system of the Surma in Sylhet. It enters Rangpur
District in 25° 47' N. and 89° 49' E., and its southerly course continues thence for about 148 miles, under the name of the Jamuna,
through the open plains of Eastern Bengal, as far as its confluence
with the Padma, or main stream of the Ganges, at Goalundo in
23° 51' N. and 89° 46' E. The united rivers subsequently join the
Meghna estuary opposite Chandpur, in 23° 13'' N. and 90° 2>2>' E.

The main stream of the Brahmaputra formerly flowed south-east across
the centre of Mymensingh District, and, after discharging its silt into
the Sylhet swamps and receiving the Surma, united directly with the
Meghna. This is the course shown on the maps of Rennell's survey
of 1785; and it was not till the beginning of the nineteenth century
that, having raised its bed and lost its velocity, the river was no longer
able to hold its own against the Meghna, and, being forced to find
another outlet for its banked-up waters, suddenly broke westwards
and joined the Ganges near Goalundo. The old bed still retains its
name, but has been steadily silting up, a process which was expedited
by the great earthquake of 1897. The entire lower portion of the
Brahmaputra may be described as an elaborate network of interlacing
channels, many of which run dry in the cold season, but are filled
to overflowing during the annual period of inundation. Numerous
islands are formed by the river during its course, most of which are
mere sandbanks deposited during one rainy season to be swept away
by the inundation of the following year. The principal tributaries
after leaving the Assam \^alley are the Dharla and TiSTA on its right
bank ; the latter joins it a few miles to the south-west of ChilmarT
in Rangpur District.

In agricultural and commercial utility, the Brahmaputra ranks next
after the Ganges, and with the Indus, among the rivers of India.
Unlike those two rivers, however, its waters are not largely utilized
for artificial irrigation, nor are they confined within embankments.
The natural overflow of the periodic inundation is sufficient to supply
a soil which receives, in addition, a heavy rainfall ; and this natural
overflow is allowed to find its own lines of drainage. The plains of
Eastern Bengal, watered by the Brahmaputra, yield abundant crops
of rice, jute, and mustard, year after year, without undergoing any
visible exhaustion.

The Brahmaputra is navigable by steamers as high up as Dibrugarh,
about 800 miles from the sea; and in its lower reaches its broad surface
is covered with country craft of all sizes and rigs, down to dug-out
canoes and timber-rafts. It is remarkable that there is comparatively
little boat traffic in the Assam Valley itself. Goalpara is the great
emporium of the boat trade, and Gauhati is ordinarily the extreme
point reached by boats of large burthen. Nearly all the boats which
resort to Goalpara and Gauhati come from Bengal or the United
Provinces. Large cargo steamers with their attendant flats and a daily
service of smaller and speedier passenger vessels ply on the Brahma-
putra between Goalundo and Dibrugarh. The upward journey takes
four and a half days to complete, the downward three. The principal
places passed in the upward journey are, on the right bank, Sirajganj,
a great emporium for jute and other agricultural produce, Dhubri,
Tezpur, and Bishnath ; and on the left bank, Goalpara, Gauhati, vSil-
ghat, and Dibrugarh. There are, however, eighteen other ghats at
which steamers call, the most important being Shikarighat for Golaghat,
Kakilamukh for Jorhat, and Disangmukh for Sibsagar. The down-
ward trafific chiefly consists of tea, coal, oilseeds, timber, hides, lac,
and raw cotton from Assam ; and jute, oilseeds, tobacco, rice, and
other food-grains from Eastern Bengal.

@@ Line 230: / Line 230: @@
 =Flood risk=
 ==As assessed in 2020==
-[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/why-brahmaputra-flood-risk-is-38-higher-than-thought/articleshow/79528934.cms  Chandrima Banerjee, December 26, 2020: ''The Times of India'']
+[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/why-brahmaputra-flood-risk-is-38-higher-than-thought/articleshow/79528934.cms  Chandrima Banerjee, December 17, 2020: ''The Times of India'']
-[[File: Brahmaputra and its tributaries.jpg|Brahmaputra and its tributaries <br/> From: [https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/why-brahmaputra-flood-risk-is-38-higher-than-thought/articleshow/79528934.cms  Chandrima Banerjee, December 26, 2020: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
+[[File: Brahmaputra and its tributaries.jpg|Brahmaputra and its tributaries <br/> From: [https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/why-brahmaputra-flood-risk-is-38-higher-than-thought/articleshow/79528934.cms  Chandrima Banerjee, December 17, 2020: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
@@ Line 261: / Line 261: @@
 RIVER BRAHMAPUTRA]]
 [[Category:Places|BRIVER BRAHMAPUTRA
 RIVER BRAHMAPUTRA]]

@@ Line 231: / Line 231: @@
 ==As assessed in 2020==
 [https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/why-brahmaputra-flood-risk-is-38-higher-than-thought/articleshow/79528934.cms  Chandrima Banerjee, December 26, 2020: ''The Times of India'']
 The trail of destruction the Brahmaputra leaves behind every monsoon is, in many ways, considered inevitable. What can be planned is the response, which depends on how bad the flood hazard is thought to be. But going over 700 years of river data, it turns out the already high flood hazard in the Brahmaputra basin has been underestimated by up to 38% — with the present assessment of flood risks based on some of the driest periods in the region.
@@ Line 236: / Line 240: @@
 They found that the last six decades were much drier than the six and a half centuries preceding them. And since most flood risk estimates were based on more recent observations, they have been significantly off the mark. “The ‘simple’ number (by which they have been underestimated) … would be 24-38%. Though human policies could definitely mitigate or amplify this,” lead author Mukund P Rao told TOI.
 The limitations come with a smaller dataset. The point in climate history when routine weather observations started being taken at fixed points is the beginning of the instrumental period, in the 18th century. For Brahmaputra discharge (volume of water flow), the longest instrumental record comes from the Bahadurabad gauging station in Bangladesh, spanning six decades from 1956 to 2011. “Such a short record makes it difficult to assess and put into perspective the magnitude of projected future changes relative to natural variability,” the paper says.
@@ Line 253: / Line 256: @@
 RIVER BRAHMAPUTRA]]
 [[Category:Places|B
 RIVER BRAHMAPUTRA]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+'
 =Brahmaputra=
@@ Line 230: / Line 227: @@
 *Its reservoir was designed to store up to 295 cumecs and it will irrigate 30,000 hactares, control floods and generate power

@@ Line 180: / Line 180: @@
 =Chinese control of the head waters=
 ==Why this affects India ==
 [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Why-Chinas-hold-on-Brahmaputra-bothers-India/articleshow/54688670.cms  Why China's hold on Brahmaputra bothers India, The Times of India TNN | Updated: Oct 5, 2016]

@@ Line 206: / Line 206: @@
 . In 2001, an artifical dam in Tibet collapsed and killed 26 people and damaged property of Rs 140 crore along the river Siang in Arunachal Pradesh
-==The Lalho project==
+===The Lalho project===
 *The Lalho project+ on the Xiabuqu River in Xigaze (close to Sikkim) is under way at an investment of $740 million. Xigaze is a few hours from the junction of Bhutan and Sikkim. It is also the city from where China intends to extend its railway towards Nepal

@@ Line 176: / Line 176: @@
 and raw cotton from Assam ; and jute, oilseeds, tobacco, rice, and
 other food-grains from Eastern Bengal.
 [[Category:India|BRIVER BRAHMAPUTRARIVER BRAHMAPUTRARIVER BRAHMAPUTRA

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
   {| class="wikitable"
 |-
 |colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%">
-This article has been extracted from <br/>
+This section has been extracted from <br/>
 THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908.<br/>
@@ Line 8: / Line 13: @@
 OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.
 </div>
 |}
-[[Category:India|B]]
-[[Category:Places|B]]
+'Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value. ''
-''Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value. ''
-=Brahmaputra=
 ('Son of Brahma ').— River of Tibet and North-
@@ Line 175: / Line 178: @@
 and raw cotton from Assam ; and jute, oilseeds, tobacco, rice, and
 other food-grains from Eastern Bengal.

River Brahmaputra - Revision history

Jyoti: /* As of 1908 */

Pdewan: /* Brahmaputra */

Jyoti: /* Flood risk */

Jyoti: /* Flood risk */

Jyoti at 10:39, 28 December 2020

Pdewan: Pdewan moved page Brahmaputra to River Brahmaputra without leaving a redirect

Pdewan: /* Chinese control of the head waters */

Pdewan: /* The Lalho project */

Pdewan at 18:03, 5 October 2016

Pdewan: Created page with " {| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"| This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLA..."

Pdewan: Created page with " {| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|
This article has been extracted from
THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908.
OXFORD, AT THE CLA..."