The Hooghly River (also spelled Hoogli or Hugli) is the westernmost distributary of the Ganges, situated in West Bengal, India.

A short distance west, it meets the man-made Farakka Feeder Canal, which massively increases its flow.

At Nurpur it enters an old channel of the Ganges, and turns south to empty into the Bay of Bengal through an estuary about 20 mi (32 km) wide [2].

From Kolkata the main flow of the Hooghly-Bhagirathi (or Ganga) used to run along the side of the Kalighat temple, Baruipur, Jaynagar Majilpur, Chhatrabhog and Hatiagarh.

The tide runs rapidly on the Hooghly, and produces a remarkable example of the fluvial phenomenon known as a tidal bore.

This consists of the head-wave of the advancing tide, hemmed in where the estuary narrows suddenly into the river, and often exceeds 7 ft (2.1 m) in height.

[5] A tidal bore which overcame the banks of the river in 1876 was reported to have killed up to a hundred thousand people.

The word Bhāgirathi literally means "caused by Bhagiratha", a Hindu mythological Solar dynasty prince who was instrumental in bringing the river Ganges from heaven to the earth, in order to release his 60,000 grand-uncles from a curse of the saint Kapila.

[6] In 1974, the Farakka Barrage began diverting water into the Hooghly during the dry season so as to reduce the silting difficulties at Kolkata's port.

The river provides a perennial supply of water to the plain of West Bengal for irrigation and human & industry consumption.

The modern container port of Haldia, on the intersection of lower Hooghly and Haldi River, now carries much of the region's maritime trade.

In September 2015, the Government of West Bengal announced that renovation of the Hooghly riverfront in Kolkata will be completed with the help of World Bank funding under the National Ganga River Basin Project Scheme.

[13] Rudyard Kipling wrote an article, On the Banks of the Hugli (1888),[14] and a short story set on the Hooghli, An Unqualified Pilot (1895).

The 10 places along the Hooghly River are Murshidabad, Krishnagar, Chandernagore, Barrackpore, Jorasanko, Bowbazar, Howrah, Kidderpore, Botanical Gardens and Batanagar.

Ten scrolls, painted in the Patua tradition, depicting the 10 places will be carried along the Hooghly River.