Saraswati valley

Saraswati valley

• Saraswati is an ancient river mentioned in the IVth book of the Rigveda. The text describes Saraswati as a sacred and mighty river.

• Its had confluence with Ganga and Yamuna at the Triveni Sangam.

• It is said to be located between the Satluj in the west and Yamuna in the East. It emptied into a ‘samudra’, which could also mean a lake. Later texts mention that the river dried up in a desert.

  • Scholars believe the mythical river coincided with the present-day Ghaggar-Hakra River system (GHRS). GHRS is a monsoon-fed river that ends up in the present-day Thar desert.

    Fig: Ancient Saraswati Valley: 1= ancient river; 2= current river; 3= Thar desert; 4 = ancient shore; 5 = today’s shore; 6 = today’s town; 7 = dried-up Harappan Hakkra course;

    • About 5000 years ago, the Saraswati river fostered some significant Indian sites of the Indus Valley Civilization, such as Kalibangan, Banawali, Rakhigarhi, Dholavira and Lothal. However, the drying of the river about 4000 years ago is one of the reasons proposed for the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization.

    • But, the mention of Saraswati as a mighty river does not fit the above proposal. Therefore, another view is that the “Saraswati” river in Rig Veda is referred to as the Haraxvati river or the Helmand river in southern Afghanistan. The “Sraswati” name may have been reused to refer to the Ghaggar-Hakra system after the Vedic tribes moved to Punjab.

      • • Thus, an influential view is that earlier texts of Rig Vedas used the name Saraswati to mean the Helmand River. In contrast, the more recent Xth Book used Saraswati for Ghaggar-Hakra.

        • Fig: Helmand River

      • A more recent view is that the Rig Vedas may have been older texts than they are currently dated. Possibly, the Vedic cultures and Indus Vally cultures were the same, and the Indus Valley civilization could be renamed to “Sarasvati culture”, the “Sarasvati Civilization”, the “Indus-Sarasvati Civilization” or the “Sindhu-Sarasvati Civilization“. This view also rejects the Indo-Aryan migration theory.