Lakshman River

This is also called Byundar Ganga, and can be classified one of the smaller rivers that enrich the beauty of the Bhuyandar Valley running through the same.  Its origin can be traced back to the Lake of Hemkund. After a considerable distance of journey, and quite a few areas that are covered, at the city of Ghangaria, it joins with river Pushpawati.

The other important fact about the Lakshman Ganga river while flowing through the city of Govindghat is that it is sometimes classified as being the tributary of River Alakananda. River Alakananda is itself the tributary of the River Ganga, so Lakshman Ganga can also be called as the distributary of River Alakananda. Since the river is connected to the river Ganga, this rives assumes some religious importance amongst the rivers in Uttaranchal.

There are some theories that believe that the Lakshman Ganga is not just one river but made up of two rivers that have merged at some point into one. The two rivers that supposedly make up the Lakshman Ganga are the Pushpavati and the Hem Ganga. Of these, the Pushpavathi has been traced to be starting from the beautiful and mesmerising valley of flowers, while the Hem Ganga seems to originate from the Hem Kund.

The Pushpavathi seems to have been in existence right from the days of the Pandavas in the Mahabaratha. In fact, they were the ones who gave this name to the River, when they saw a beautiful water body that was full of fragrant flowers. So, this goes to prove that the river has been in existence for a long time. This starts flowing from the lower Himalayas, and the upper part of the river is frozen and snow-capped all through the year. The river that flows down, meets up with the River Bhyundar Ganga at thecity of Ghangaria and from there the river is rechristened as Lakshman Ganga from that point. Hem Ganga is a tributary of the mighty Ganga and starts from the foot hills of Rishikesh well known as a religious destination. The tourists throng this place as well for spiritual reasons and also for the scenic beauty that is found in abundance here. These mighty rivers enhance the fertility of the regions that they flow through and the Hem Ganga or the combined force of the Laxman Ganga is no exception. The river brings the best of the greenery of the region that it waters and the mighty snow-capped mountains on one side and the flowing rivers on the other side make these ideal tourist spots and these mighty rivers are even contributing to the tourism industry, thereby increasing the revenue that flows into our country.

Course

The length of the Lakshman Ganga from Ghangaria to the point where it forms a tributary to Alakananda, GovindGhat is a total of 14 kms. This journey is a beautiful trekking exercise and there are a lot of tourists who come here to enjoy this beautiful trek with the river running across the length. As the tourists can climb the precipitous mountains while the river flows down adding to the beauty of the surroundings. The river and the mountains on the backdrop give a very beautiful look to the city of Bhyundar and add to the scenic look making it an important place to visit in the trip to Uttaranchal.

The trek along the river Lakhman Ganga and on the way to reach the village of Bhyundar is a trip that no one will like to miss and adding beauty and fragrance to already mesmerising hill station is the valley of flowers – where you can spot all the flowers that are present in this whole world. In a way these flowers also act as a motivational factor for the tourists to climb up the mountains and have a wonderful view of the entire village and Lakshman Ganga.

Tributaries

Since the Lakshman Ganga itself is considered to be a tributary of the Alakananda which is considered to be the tributary of Ganges, there are no major tributaries of this river. In spite of the lack of tributaries, Lakshman Ganga is a river that is famous for its beauty and the area it waters.