The Hooghly River (Bengali: হুগলী নদী) (Hugli; Anglicized alternatively spelled Hoogli or Hugli) or the Bhāgirathi-Hooghly, called 'Ganga' traditionally, is an approximately 260-kilometre-long (160 mi) distributary of the Ganga river in West Bengal, India. It splits from the Ganges as a canal in Murshidabad District at the Farakka Barrage. The town of Hugli-Chinsura, formerly Hooghly, is located on the river, in the Hooghly (district). The origins of the Hooghly name are uncertain, whether the city or the river was named first.
The Farakka Barrage is a dam that diverts water from the Ganges into a canal near the town of Tildanga in Murshidabad district. This supplies the Hooghly with adequate water even in the dry season. It parallels the Ganges, past Dhulian, until just above Jahangirpur where the canal ends and the river takes its own course. Just south of Jahangirpur it leaves the Ganges area and flows south past Jiaganj Azimganj, Murshidabad, and Baharampur. South of Baharampur and north of Palashi it used to form the border between Bardhaman District and Nadia District, but while the border has remained the same the river is now often east or west of its former bed. The river then flows south past Katwa, Navadwip and Kalna. At Kalna it originally formed the border between Nadia District and Hooghly District, and then further south between Hooghly District and North 24 Parganas District. It flows past Halisahar, Chunchura, Konnagar, and Kamarhati. Then just before entering the twin cities of Kolkata (Calcutta) and Howrah, it turns to the southwest. At Nurpur it enters an old channel of the Ganges and turns south to empty into the Bay of Bengal. Two of its well known tributaries are Damodar and Rupnarayan.
All my friends are down by the river
Washing their sins away
Oh, Gima's risen, goddess of visions
I said, golden, golden, take me down today
Come along and ride holy river
We'll be going down today
Come alive and love holy river
Watch me float away
Someone's singing, twilight's forgiven
And there's temples banging bowls
Tonight they'll sing a song to the river
We're golden, golden, dance the dance today
Come along and love holy river
We'll be going down today
Come alive and love holy river
Watch me float away
Where the fishes a-splish and splatter
Where the time of day don't matter
You know the (????)
I've got something you can do
Let the feeling wash over you, yeah!
Well if we go down together
We could float away forever
On a dream, on a dream...
aggh, yeah yeah yeah!!
Come along and love holy river
We'll be going down today
Come alive and love holy river
Watch me float away
Come and ride, come and ride
Come and ride, come and ride
Oh, I've got the vision, got lots of visions