What will be the correct sequence of cities on the bank of river Ganga if someone moves from west to east?
- (a)Prayagraj, Kanpur, Bhagalpur, Patna
- (b)Prayagraj, Kanpur, Patna, Bhagalpur
- (c)Kanpur, Prayagraj, Bhagalpur, Patna
- (d)Kanpur, Prayagraj, Patna, Bhagalpur
Correct — D, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Patna, Bhagalpur. This is the order in which the Ganga itself passes them, and the river runs broadly west to east across the plain, so downstream order and west-to-east order are the same thing here. Coming down from Haridwar the river reaches Kanpur first, then Prayagraj, where the Yamuna comes in from the west at the Sangam; below that it flows past Varanasi and crosses into Bihar, reaching Patna, and then Bhagalpur, where it begins to turn south-southeast towards the delta. Two independent checks confirm the pairs the options quarrel over. Kanpur is upstream of Prayagraj because the Yamuna has not yet joined at Kanpur, and Patna is upstream of Bhagalpur because the Gandak joins opposite Patna while the Kosi comes in further east near Kursela, below it.
- (a)Prayagraj, Kanpur, Bhagalpur, Patna — Both pairs inverted. Prayagraj is downstream of Kanpur, not above it, and Bhagalpur is downstream of Patna, not above it.
- (b)Prayagraj, Kanpur, Patna, Bhagalpur — The Bihar half is right but the Uttar Pradesh half is not. The Ganga reaches Kanpur before Prayagraj, which is why the Yamuna's confluence — the Sangam — lies at Prayagraj and not upstream of it.
- (c)Kanpur, Prayagraj, Bhagalpur, Patna — The Uttar Pradesh half is right and the Bihar half is not. Patna comes first; Bhagalpur lies further downstream, in eastern Bihar, near where the river bends towards the south-east.
The Ganga rises in the Gangotri glacier, emerges on to the plain at Haridwar, and then swings out in a long arc across northern India before turning south into the delta. On the plain the general direction of flow is eastward, so the sequence of cities on its banks reads as a west-to-east list: Haridwar, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Patna, Bhagalpur. The big left-bank Himalayan tributaries come in one after another along that stretch — Gomti, Ghaghara, Gandak and Kosi, in that order — while the Yamuna joins from the right at Prayagraj.
The four options are two binary choices dressed up as a sequence, so you only need to settle two pairs: Kanpur against Prayagraj, and Patna against Bhagalpur. Both are easier to reason about than to memorise. Prayagraj is where the Yamuna meets the Ganga, and a tributary joins a main river partway along its course, so Prayagraj cannot come before Kanpur on the Ganga. For the Bihar pair, Patna sits where the Gandak comes down from Nepal and Bhagalpur sits further east, near the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary and not far above the Farakka barrage. The trap in the third option is that it rewards half-knowledge — a candidate who is sure about Kanpur and Prayagraj may stop reading and pick it.
- Downstream order on the Ganga: Haridwar, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Patna, Bhagalpur.
- The Yamuna joins the Ganga at Prayagraj, contributing the larger share of the combined flow at that meeting.
- Kanpur and Prayagraj are in Uttar Pradesh; Patna and Bhagalpur are in Bihar.
- The Himalayan tributaries joining below Prayagraj come in the order Gomti, Ghaghara, Gandak, Kosi from west to east.
- At Bhagalpur the river begins to flow south-southeast, heading towards the delta.
- Assuming Prayagraj is upstream because it is the confluence. A tributary joins partway down the main river.
- Placing Bhagalpur above Patna. Bhagalpur is in eastern Bihar, further downstream.
- Reading only the first two names of an option and choosing on that basis, which is exactly what the third option is built to catch.
As a west-to-east or upstream-to-downstream ordering of river-bank cities, or as an ordering of the tributaries that join the Ganga.
With reference to the Himalayan rivers joining the Ganga downstream of Prayagraj from West to East, which one of the following sequences is correct?
- (a) Ghaghara — Gomati — Gandak — Kosi
- (b) Gomati — Ghaghara — Gandak — Kosi
- (c) Ghaghara — Gomati — Kosi — Gandak
- (d) Gomati — Ghaghara — Kosi — Gandak
Answer(b) Gomati — Ghaghara — Gandak — Kosi
The same west-to-east ordering on the same river, run on tributaries instead of cities. It also supplies a cross-check for this question: the Gandak joins opposite Patna and the Kosi further east, which is why Bhagalpur has to come after Patna.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Yamuna joins the Ganga at which one of the following cities?
- (a)Kanpur
- (b)Prayagraj
- (c)Varanasi
- (d)Patna
Answer(b) Prayagraj — the Sangam there is the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following cities on the Ganga lies farthest downstream?
- (a)Kanpur
- (b)Varanasi
- (c)Patna
- (d)Bhagalpur
Answer(d) Bhagalpur — in eastern Bihar, below Patna, where the river begins to turn towards the delta.