History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v2.c29.44

v2.c29.44

The Scene of the War Sikrigali, it flows through a softer ground and gives free play to its fondness for changing its bed or splitting up into many streams. Thus the valley of the Ganges, between the Rajmahal hills on the west and the upland of Barind at the back of Maldah on the east, is intersected by countless thin serpentine brooks and nullahs, dry sandy deposits marking the deserted beds of the river, and the one or more streams of the Ganges and the Mahananda. "The earth is as water" here and travelling is extremely difficult. On the north of this tract, the main artery of the Ganges receives many straggling branches of the lower Kushi, on the east the Kalindi, the Mahananda (the river of Maldah), and several of its own ramifications. On the south, a little east of Suti, the original Ganges branches off in a thin tortuous stream, which still bears the name of Bhagirathi or the Holy Ganges, and flows past Murshidabad, Nadia, and Calcutta, to the sea. But its main current flows eastwards by Rajshahi and Goalnand in a vast volume of water known as the Padma.