Mahananda River  a major tributary of the ganges in Bangladesh. Originating from the himalayas, southwest of Nepal, the river crosses Karsiang and Shiliguri in West Bengal (India). Flowing southeast through the Purniah and Maldaha districts of West Bengal, it enters Bangladesh through Bholahat upazila of Nawabganj (Chapai Nawabganj) district. The Mahananda then falls into the Ganges at Godagari keeping Chapai Nawabganj town on the left. In Bangladesh, the length of the Mahananda is about 36 km. According to the survey of WW Hunter (1876), once the Mahananda was a wide and deep river allowing big cargo boats of 500 maund capacity (1 maund equals to 37.65 kg) to ply. It has neither any tributary nor any distributary.

The Mahananda is an important trans-boundary river. India constructed a dam on the river 3 km north of the border near Shiliguri in spite of objections from Bangladesh. [Sultana Nasrin Baby]

See map in ganges-padma river system.