Bagmati

The Bagmati River rises in the Shivapuri hills on the northern rim of the Kathmandu Valley, conventionally traced to the Baghdwar ("Tiger Gate") spring near Sundarijal, inside the Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park, at an elevation of roughly 2,740 metres (about 8,990 feet). At Baghdwar the source water issues from a stone spout carved in the shape of a tiger's mouth, a feature that gives the spot both its name and its long-standing sacred associations.

From its headwaters the river flows generally southwest across the floor of the Kathmandu Valley, where it has historically separated the twin cities of Kathmandu and Patan (Lalitpur). After threading the valley and passing the Pashupatinath temple complex, the Bagmati cuts through the surrounding hills and descends onto the plains of Nepal's Madhesh Province before crossing the international border into the Indian state of Bihar.

The river is reported to have a total length of about 586 kilometres (roughly 364 miles) from its Himalayan source to its end on the Gangetic plain. In Bihar it eventually meets the Kamala River, and its waters ultimately reach the larger Ganges (Ganga) river system. The Bagmati is unusual among major Nepali rivers in that it is fed by rainfall and groundwater rather than by Himalayan glacial melt, which makes its flow highly seasonal and strongly tied to the summer monsoon.

As a monsoon-fed, non-glacial river, the Bagmati's discharge varies dramatically between the dry winter and the wet summer. Flows can shrink to a thin, polluted trickle through Kathmandu in the dry season and then surge enormously during heavy monsoon rains, a regime that drives both its water-scarcity problems in the valley and its flood hazard downstream.

Within and around the Kathmandu Valley the river gathers numerous tributaries. The Bishnumati, which drains the western side of the valley, is among its most important right-bank tributaries, while the Manohara joins from the east near the Pashupatinath area. Smaller valley streams such as the Dhobi Khola (Rudramati) and the Tukucha (Tukucha Khola) also feed into it; several of these urban streams carry large volumes of untreated sewage into the main river.

Below the valley the Bagmati continues to collect tributaries on the plains, including the Marin Khola, Lakhandei, Adhwara and Lalbakaiya. In its lower reaches the river can carry very large flood discharges, illustrating the scale of the flows the river can produce after intense rainfall on its monsoon-dominated catchment.

The Bagmati's greatest economic role lies on the Terai plains, where it supports large-scale irrigation. The Bagmati Irrigation Project, drawing water from the river via the Bagmati Barrage near Karmaiya, is designed to irrigate a substantial command area across Sarlahi and Rautahat districts, supporting paddy and other crops in Nepal's central Terai agricultural belt.

The river basin has also long been studied for hydropower potential. Plans associated with the Bagmati barrage and broader basin development have envisioned a higher dam and electricity generation alongside expanded irrigation, though such schemes have faced lengthy delays and only partial implementation over several decades. The Bagmati River Basin Improvement Project and related government and donor-supported programmes have aimed to modernise infrastructure and improve integrated water management across the basin.

Within the Kathmandu Valley the river's economic value is more closely tied to water supply, religious tourism and the surrounding heritage economy than to large engineering works. Reservoir and recharge schemes such as the Dhap Dam in the upper catchment have been promoted to augment dry-season flow and help restore the river through the city. Figures for irrigated area, project costs and proposed generating capacity have varied over time and across sources, and should be treated as approximate.

The Bagmati is one of the holiest rivers of Nepal and is revered by both Hindus and Buddhists. For Hindus it carries associations with sacred geography and salvation, and its banks are among the most important religious sites in the country. The river is central to the identity of the Kathmandu Valley and figures prominently in the valley's ritual life.

Its most famous stretch runs past the Pashupatinath Temple, the principal shrine of Lord Shiva in Nepal and a major Hindu pilgrimage destination, together with the nearby Guhyeshwari (Guheswori) Temple. The temple complex on the Bagmati is one of the country's most visited sacred sites and the focus of large festivals, most notably Maha Shivaratri.

The river is intimately bound up with Hindu death rites. Cremations are performed on stone platforms (ghats) along its banks, the most prominent being Arya Ghat beside Pashupatinath, where the deceased are traditionally cremated and their ashes committed to the river. By custom the body is dipped into the Bagmati before cremation, and the river is regarded as purifying and as aiding the soul's passage, reflecting the river's role in the cycle of life, death and liberation in Hindu belief.

Despite its sacred status, the Bagmati has become one of Nepal's most polluted rivers, especially through the Kathmandu urban area. Rapid, often unplanned urbanisation has loaded the river with untreated sewage and solid waste; large shares of the valley's wastewater have historically been discharged without treatment, and in the dry season the urban Bagmati can run as a heavily contaminated, low-flow channel. This degradation stands in stark contrast to its religious importance.

In response, restoration efforts have grown over the past decade. The Bagmati Cleanup Mega Campaign, launched in May 2013, has mobilised volunteers for regular Saturday clean-ups along the river over many years, operating largely on voluntary effort. Government bodies, including Kathmandu Metropolitan City, and basin-level programmes have also undertaken sewage interception, river-corridor improvement and flow-restoration measures, though restoring water quality and dry-season flow remains a major long-term challenge.

The river is also a significant flood hazard, a risk worsened by settlement and construction on its floodplains. During the September 2024 monsoon, exceptionally heavy rainfall over the Kathmandu region drove the Bagmati well above its danger level, contributing to severe flooding in parts of the capital and across the wider valley. The wider 2024 floods and landslides across Nepal caused very heavy loss of life nationwide, with the Kathmandu Valley among the hard-hit areas. Analysts have linked the scale of the disaster to record rainfall, climate change and rapid urban encroachment onto the river's floodplain.