The Yamuna rises on the slopes of the Bandarpunch massif in the Great Himalayas near Yamnotri (Jamnotri) in western Uttarakhand. It flows in a southerly direction swiftly through the Himalayan foothills and, exiting Uttarakhand, onto the Indo-Gangetic Plain, along the border between Uttar Pradesh and Haryana state to the west. The Eastern and Western Yamuna canals are fed from the river at that point.
The Yamuna then passes Delhi, where it feeds the Agra Canal. South of Delhi, and now wholly within Uttar Pradesh, it turns southeastward near Mathura and passes Agra, Firozabad, and Etawah. Below Etawah it receives a number of southern tributaries, the largest of which are the Chambal, the Sindh, the Betwa, and the Ken. Near Allahabad, after a course of about 855 miles (1,376 km), the Yamuna joins the Ganges (Ganga) River. The confluence of the two rivers is an especially sacred place to Hindus and is the site of annual festivals, as well as the Kumbh Mela, which is held every 12 years and is attended by millions of devotees.