Jamuna River, Bangladesh

The Jamuna River (Bangla: যমুনা) is second largest of the three main rivers in Bangladesh. It is the 
main distributary channel of the Brahmaputra River as it flows from India to Bangladesh. Actually Jamuna is the downstream course of the Brahmaputra River. The Brahmaputra-Jamuna is one of the largest river in the world, with its basin covering areas in Tibet, China, India and Bangladesh. The Jamuna flows south and joins the Padma river, near Goalundo ghat, before meeting the Meghna river near Chandpur and then flows into the Bay of Bengal as the Meghna river.

It originates in the Chemayung-Dung glacier, approximately at 31°30'N and 82°0'E, some 145 km from Parkha, an important trade centre between lake Manassarowarand Mount Kailas. The Brahmaputra is known as the Dihang in Assam Himalayas before it comes into the Great Plains of Bengal. It enters Bangladesh throughKurigram district (at the border of Kurigram Sadar and Ulipur upazilas).
  

The Jamuna is a braided stream characterized by a network of interlacing channels with numerous sandbars enclosed in between them. The sandbars, known in the Bangla as chars do not, however, occupy a permanent position. The river deposits them in one year very often to destroy and redeposit them in the next rainy season. The process of deposition erosion and redisposition has been going on continuously making it difficult to precisely demarcate the boundary between the district of Pabna on one side and the district of Mymensingh, Tangail and Dhaka on the other. Breaking of a char or the emergence of a new one is also a cause of much violence and litigation.

 

The Jamuna is a very wide river. During the rains it is about 5–8 miles (8.0–13 km) from bank to bank. Even during the dry season when the waters subside, the breadth is hardly less than 2–3 miles (3.2–4.8 km).