Published by Cruise Critic, UK

Although it’s associated with India river cruises, the Brahmaputra River passes through several countries and has been given many names.

It is known as the Yarlung Tsangpo where it arises in Tibet’s Angsi Glacier on the north side of the Himalayas; in the Arunachal Pradesh region of India it’s called the Dihang and the inhabitants of Bangladesh know it as the Jamuna River.

It is only when it passes through the lush Assam valley in the northeast corner of India that it becomes the Brahmaputra, or ‘Son of Brahma,’ in tribute to one of the greatest Hindu deities.

Being named after a male god gives this rather special river a most particular distinction; it is the only ‘male’ river in India and a potent counterpart to the Great Mother Ganges, with which it conjoins toward the end of its 1,800-mile journey, just before both rivers spill out into the Bay of Bengal.