Himalayan River

Brahmaputra

Tsangpo / Luit / Dilao
🏔️ Angsi Glacier, Tibet (near Lake Mansarovar, 5300 m) → Bay of Bengal (joins Ganga-Meghna delta)
2,900 kmTotal Length
712,035Basin km²
PerennialFlow Type
2States
Irrawaddy DolphinFlagship Species

About the Brahmaputra

The Brahmaputra is one of the great rivers of the world — at 2900 kilometres total length, it is also one of the few rivers that cuts through the entire Himalayan massif in a spectacular antecedent gorge before sweeping across Assam in a vast braided channel up to 20 kilometres wide during flood season. In Tibet it is the Yarlung Tsangpo; in Arunachal Pradesh it is the Dihang; in Assam it becomes the Brahmaputra (Sanskrit for 'Son of Brahma'). The transition from the world's deepest river gorge (deeper than the Grand Canyon) to the world's widest braided floodplain happens within 400 kilometres.

The Brahmaputra valley in Assam is one of the world's most ecologically rich river systems, sheltering Indian rhinoceroses in their world's largest concentration at Kaziranga, herds of wild water buffalo, and thousands of Asian elephants. The river's annual floods — catastrophic for human settlements — are ecologically essential, depositing nutrient-rich silt that maintains the vast grassland ecosystems that India's rhino, buffalo, and elephant populations depend on. The river also harbours the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin and the Gangetic dolphin.

States along this river
Arunachal PradeshAssam
Length (vs Ganga, 2525 km)
2,900 km — 100% of India's longest river
Key tributaries

Teesta · Subansiri · Manas · Lohit · Dibang · Jiabharali

Wildlife along this river
Irrawaddy Dolphin 🐬Indian Rhinoceros 🦏Asian Elephant 🐘Hoolock Gibbon 🐒Golden Langur 🐒Wild Water Buffalo 🐃Gangetic Dolphin 🐬
Best time to explore
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