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| Yarlung Tsangpo |
Yarlung Tsangpo is the Tibetian name for the upper course of the river Brahmaputra flowing through Arunachal Pradesh and Assam of India.
With its origin in the Angsi Glacier, located on the northern side of the Himalayas in Burang County of Tibet as the Yarlung Tsangpo River, the river flows across southern Tibet to break through the Himalayas in great gorges (including the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon) and into Arunachal Pradesh (India) where it is known as Dihang or Siang. It flows southwest through the Assam Valley as Brahmaputra and south through Bangladesh as the Jamuna (not to be mistaken with Yamuna of India). In the vast Ganges Delta it merges with the Padma, the main distributary of the Ganges, then the Meghna, before emptying into the Bay of Bengal.
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| Siang |
The Yarlung Tsangpo River is the highest major river in the world. The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, formed by a horse-shoe bend in the river where it leaves the Tibetan Plateau and flows around Namcha Barwa, is the deepest, and possibly longest canyon in the world.
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| Brahmaputra |
Well, I have not seen Brahmaputra in its Yarlong Tsangpo form, but I have seen it and experienced it at different points across Assam. I have crossed it a number of times via the Saraighat bridge in Guwahati and Kolia Bhomora bridge in the Sonitpur district. I have picnicked on its banks several times. I have lived near it. And I have experienced a flood cause by it as a child. In Assam, the river is more plain as it has no falls or rapids. But it creates havoc every year during the rains. You can read more on that in my post "Rain Bane".
This mighty river has such a remarkable journey. Starting as Yarlung Tsangpo, becoming Siang, transforming into Brahmaputra, mingling to become Jamuna and finally merging into the Bay of Bengal. In India, all river names are feminine except Brahmaputra (it means son of Brahma). Hence, it is often referred to as the only male river of India.
Jamuna
I would love to see the gorgeous beginnings of this gorgeous river someday, Yarlung Tsangpo.
I am taking part in the Blogging From A to Z Challenge [April 2014].