Bots, trusted
7,437
edits
Cleanup: Source modification. Information added.
ImportMaster (talk | contribs) (robot: Import article using Special:Import) |
WikiDwarfBOT (talk | contribs) (Cleanup: Source modification. Information added.) |
||
| Line 12: | Line 12: | ||
7 = dried-up Harappan Hakkra course, and pre-Harappan Sutlej paleochannels ({{harvtxt|Clift et al.|2012}}).]] | 7 = dried-up Harappan Hakkra course, and pre-Harappan Sutlej paleochannels ({{harvtxt|Clift et al.|2012}}).]] | ||
[[File:Painted_Grey_Ware_sites_map_1.svg|alt=|thumb|Cemetery H, Late Harappan, OCP, Copper Hoard and Painted Grey ware sites]] | [[File:Painted_Grey_Ware_sites_map_1.svg|alt=|thumb|Cemetery H, Late Harappan, OCP, Copper Hoard and Painted Grey ware sites]] | ||
The '''Sarasvati River''' ({{IAST3|Sárasvatī-nadī́}}) is a deified [[Rigvedic rivers|river first mentioned in the | The '''Sarasvati River''' ({{IAST3|Sárasvatī-nadī́}}) is a deified [[Rigvedic rivers|river first mentioned in the Rigveda]]{{sfn|Kinsley|1998|p=11, 13}} and later in [[Vedic]] and post-Vedic texts. It played an important role in the [[Historical Vedic religion|Vedic religion]], appearing in all but the fourth book of the [[Rigveda]]. | ||
As a physical river, in the oldest texts of the | As a physical river, in the oldest texts of the Rigveda it is described as a "great and holy river in north-western [[Indian subcontinent|India]],"{{sfn|Wilke|Moebus|2011|p=310}} but in the middle and late Rigvedic books it is described as a small river ending in "a terminal lake (samudra)."{{sfn|Witzel|2001|p=93}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name=Witzel1}} As the goddess [[Sarasvati]], the other referent for the term "Sarasvati" which developed into an independent identity in post-Vedic times,{{sfn|Kinsley|1998|p=10, 55-57}} the river is also described as a powerful river and mighty flood.{{sfn|Ludvík|2007|p=11-13}} The Sarasvati is also considered by [[Hindus]] to exist in a [[metaphysical]] form, in which it formed a confluence with the sacred rivers [[Ganges]] and [[Yamuna]], at the [[Triveni Sangam]].<ref name="EB-Sarasvati"/> According to [[Michael Witzel]], superimposed on the Vedic Sarasvati river is the "heavenly river": the Milky Way, which is seen as "a road to immortality and heavenly after-life."<ref name="Witzel 2012"/> | ||
Rigvedic and later Vedic texts have been used to propose identification with present-day rivers, or ancient riverbeds. The [[Nadistuti]] hymn in the [[Rigveda]] (10.75) mentions the Sarasvati between the [[Yamuna]] in the east and the [[Sutlej]] in the west, while [[Mandala 7|RV 7]].95.1-2, describes the Sarasvati as flowing to the [[samudra]], a word now usually translated as 'ocean', {{refn|group=lower-alpha|name="95.1-2"}} but which could also mean "lake."{{sfn|Witzel|2001|p=93}}<ref name="Klaus"/><ref name="DOW"/><ref name="Bhargava 1964 5">{{cite book |first=M.L. |last=Bhargava |year=1964 |title=The Geography of Rigvedic India |publisher=Lucknow |page=5}}</ref>{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name="samudra"}} Later Vedic texts such as the [[Tandya Brahmana]] and the [[Jaiminiya Brahmana]], as well as the [[Mahabharata]], mention that the Sarasvati dried up in a desert. | Rigvedic and later Vedic texts have been used to propose identification with present-day rivers, or ancient riverbeds. The [[Nadistuti]] hymn in the [[Rigveda]] (10.75) mentions the Sarasvati between the [[Yamuna]] in the east and the [[Sutlej]] in the west, while [[Mandala 7|RV 7]].95.1-2, describes the Sarasvati as flowing to the [[samudra]], a word now usually translated as 'ocean',{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name="95.1-2"}} but which could also mean "lake."{{sfn|Witzel|2001|p=93}}<ref name="Klaus"/><ref name="DOW"/><ref name="Bhargava 1964 5">{{cite book |first=M.L. |last=Bhargava |year=1964 |title=The Geography of Rigvedic India |publisher=Lucknow |page=5}}</ref>{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name="samudra"}} Later Vedic texts such as the [[Tandya Brahmana]] and the [[Jaiminiya Brahmana]], as well as the [[Mahabharata]], mention that the Sarasvati dried up in a desert. | ||
Since the late 19th | Since the late 19th century, numerous scholars have proposed to identify the Sarasvati with the [[Ghaggar-Hakra River]] system, which flows through modern-day northwestern-[[India]] and eastern-[[Pakistan]], between the Yamuna and the Sutlej, and ends in the Thar desert. Recent geophysical research shows that the supposed downstream Ghaggar-Hakra paleochannel is actually a paleochannel of the Sutlej, which flowed into the [[Nara Canal|Nara river]], a [[Distributary|delta channel]] of the [[Indus River]]. 10,000-8,000 years ago this channel was abandoned when the Sutlej diverted its course, leaving the Ghaggar-Hakra as a system of monsoon-fed rivers which did not reach the sea.{{sfn|Giosan et al.|2012}}{{sfn|Maemoku|Shitaoka|Nagatomo|Yagi|2013}}{{sfn|Clift et al.|2012}}{{sfn|Singh|2017}} | ||
The Indus Valley Civilisation prospered when the monsoons that fed the rivers diminished around 5,000 years ago,{{sfn|Giosan et al.|2012}}{{sfn|Clift et al.|2012}}{{sfn|Singh et al.|2017}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|In contrast to the mainstream view, {{harvtxt|Chatterjee|Ray|Shukla|Pande|2019}} suggest that the river remained perennial till 4,500 years ago.}} and [[ISRO]] has observed that major [[Indus Valley | The Indus Valley Civilisation prospered when the monsoons that fed the rivers diminished around 5,000 years ago,{{sfn|Giosan et al.|2012}}{{sfn|Clift et al.|2012}}{{sfn|Singh et al.|2017}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|In contrast to the mainstream view, {{harvtxt|Chatterjee|Ray|Shukla|Pande|2019}} suggest that the river remained perennial till 4,500 years ago.}} and [[ISRO]] has observed that major [[Indus Valley civilization]] sites at [[Kalibangan]] ([[Rajasthan]]), [[Banawali]] and [[Rakhigarhi]] ([[Haryana]]), [[Dholavira]] and [[Lothal]] ([[Gujarat]]) lay along this course.{{sfn|Sankaran|1999}}<ref group=web name=PIB>[http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelcontent.aspx?relid=94098 Mythical Saraswati River], Press Information Bureau, Government of India, 20 March 2013.{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009182551/http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelcontent.aspx?relid=94098 |date=9 October 2016}}</ref> When the monsoons that fed the rivers further diminished, the Hakra dried-up some 4,000 years ago, becoming an intermittent river, and the urban Harappan civilisation declined, becoming localized in smaller agricultural communities.{{sfn|Giosan et al.|2012}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name="Giosan"}}{{sfn|Clift et al.|2012}}{{sfn|Maemoku|Shitaoka|Nagatomo|Yagi|2013}}{{sfn|Singh|2017}} | ||
Identification of a mighty ''physical'' | Identification of a mighty ''physical'' Rigvedic Sarasvati with the Ghaggar-Hakra system is therefore problematic, since the Gagghar-Hakra had dried up well before the time of the composition of the Rigveda.{{sfn|Wilke|Moebus|2011}}{{sfn|Giosan et al.|2012|p=1688-1689}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name="Giosan"}}{{sfn|Clift et al.|2012}}{{sfn|Maemoku|Shitaoka|Nagatomo|Yagi|2013}}{{sfn|Singh|2017}} In the words of Wilke and Moebus, the Sarasvati had been reduced to a "small, sorry trickle in the desert" by the time that the Vedic people migrated into north-west India.{{sfn|Wilke|Moebus|2011|pp=310–311}} Rigvedic references to a physical river also indicate that the Sarasvati "had already lost its main source of water supply and must have ended in a terminal lake (samudra) approximately 3000 years ago,"{{sfn|Witzel|2001|p=93}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name=Witzel1}} "depicting the present-day situation, with the Sarasvatī having lost most of its water."{{sfn|Witzel|2001|p=81}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name=Witzel1}}{{sfn|Mukherjee|2001|p=2, 8-9}} Also, Rigvedic descriptions of the Sarasvati do not fit the actual course of the Gagghar-Hakra.<ref name="Thapar2004"/><ref name="Kocchar"/> | ||
"Sarasvati" has also been identified with the [[Helmand River|Helmand]] or Haraxvati | "Sarasvati" has also been identified with the [[Helmand River|Helmand]] [in the Arachosia or Haraxvati region] in southern [[Afghanistan]],<ref name=Kochhar/> the name of which may have been reused from the more ancient Sanskrit name of the Ghaggar-Hakra river, after the Vedic tribes moved to the [[Punjab]].<ref name=Kochhar>{{citation |last=Kochhar |first=Rajesh |chapter=On the identity and chronology of the Ṛgvedic river Sarasvatī |title=Archaeology and Language III; Artefacts, languages and texts |editor1=Roger Blench |editor2=Matthew Spriggs |publisher=Routledge |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-415-10054-0 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h8jfBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA257}}</ref><ref name="Thapar2004"/>{{refn|group=lower-alpha|The Helmand river historically, besides Avestan ''Haetumant'', bore the name ''Haraxvaiti'', which is the [[Avestan]] form cognate to Sanskrit ''Sarasvati''.}} The ''Sarasvati'' of the Rigveda may also refer to two distinct rivers, with the family books referring to the Helmand River, and the more recent 10th mandala referring to the Ghaggar-Hakra.<ref name=Kochhar/> | ||
The identification with the Ghaggar-Hakra system took on new significance in the early 21st century,<ref name="EB"/> with some suggesting an earlier dating of the | The identification with the Ghaggar-Hakra system took on new significance in the early 21st century,<ref name="EB"/> with some [[Hindutva]] apologists suggesting an earlier dating of the Rigveda; renaming the Indus Valley Civilisation as the "Sarasvati culture", the "Sarasvati Civilization", the "Indus-Sarasvati Civilization" or the "Sindhu-Sarasvati Civilization,"<ref name="Singh2008">{{cite book|author=Upinder Singh|title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century|year=2008|publisher=Pearson Education India|isbn=978-81-317-1677-9|pages=137–8}}</ref><ref name="Maisels2003">{{cite book|author=Charles Keith Maisels|title=Early Civilizations of the Old World: The Formative Histories of Egypt, The Levant, Mesopotamia, India and China|date=16 December 2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-83731-1|page=184|chapter=The Indus/'Harappan'/Sarasvati Civilization}}</ref><ref name="CushRobinson2008">{{cite book|author1=Denise Cush|author2=Catherine A. Robinson|author3=Michael York|title=Encyclopedia of Hinduism|year=2008|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-7007-1267-0|page=766}}</ref> suggesting that the Indus Valley and [[Vedic period|Vedic cultures]] can be equated;{{sfn|Danino|2010|p=258}} and rejecting the [[Indo-Aryan migration hypothesis|Indo-Aryan migrations theory]], which postulates an extended period of migrations of Indo-European speaking people into the Indian subcontinent between ca. 1900 BCE and 1400 BCE.{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name=IE}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name="scale"}} | ||
== Etymology == | == Etymology == | ||
''{{IAST| | ''{{IAST|Sárasvatī}}'' is the feminine nominative singular form of the adjective ''{{IAST|sárasvat}}'' (which occurs in the [[Rigveda]]<ref>e.g. 7.96.4, 10.66.5</ref> as the name of the keeper of the [[celestial waters]]), derived from ‘sáras’ + ‘vat’, meaning ‘having sáras-’. Sanskrit ''{{IAST|sáras-}}'' means ‘lake, pond’ (cf. the derivative ''{{IAST|sārasa-}}'' ‘lake bird = [[Sarus crane]]’). [[Manfred Mayrhofer|Mayrhofer]] considers unlikely a connection with the root *''{{IAST|sar-}}'' ‘run, flow’ but does agree that it could have been a river that connected many lakes due to its abundant volumes of water-flow.<ref>Mayrhofer, ''[[EWAia]]'', s.v. Saraswatī as a common noun in Classical Sanskrit means a region abounding in pools and lakes, the river of that name, or any river, especially a holy one. | ||
Like its cognates [[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''hêl, heledd'' ‘river meadow’ and Greek {{lang|grc|ἕλος}} (''hélos'') ‘swamp’; the root is otherwise often connected with rivers (also in river names, such as [[Sarayu]] or [[Susartu]]); the suggestion has been revived in the connection of an "[[out of India]]" argument, [http://www.omilosmeleton.gr/english/documents/RVpH.pdf N. Kazanas, "Rig-Veda is pre-Harappan"], p. 9.</ref> | Like its cognates [[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''hêl, heledd'' ‘river meadow’ and Greek {{lang|grc|ἕλος}} (''hélos'') ‘swamp’; the root is otherwise often connected with rivers (also in river names, such as [[Sarju|Sarayu]] or [[Susartu]]); the suggestion has been revived in the connection of an "[[out of India]]" argument, [http://www.omilosmeleton.gr/english/documents/RVpH.pdf N. Kazanas, "Rig-Veda is pre-Harappan"], p. 9.</ref> | ||
''{{IAST|Sarasvatī}}'' may be a cognate of Avestan ''Harax<sup>v</sup>atī'', perhaps<ref>by Lommel (1927); Lommel, Herman (1927), ''Die Yašts des Awesta'', Göttingen-Leipzig: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht/JC Hinrichs</ref> | ''{{IAST|Sarasvatī}}'' may be a cognate of Avestan ''Harax<sup>v</sup>atī'', perhaps.<ref>by Lommel (1927); Lommel, Herman (1927), ''Die Yašts des Awesta'', Göttingen-Leipzig: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht/JC Hinrichs</ref> In the younger Avesta, ''Harax<sup>v</sup>atī'' is [[Arachosia]], a region described to be rich in rivers, and its [[Old Persian]] cognate ''Harauvati''. | ||
== Importance in Hinduism == | == Importance in Hinduism == | ||
| Line 42: | Line 42: | ||
====As a river==== | ====As a river==== | ||
The Sarasvati River is mentioned in all but the fourth book of the [[Vedas]] Macdonell and Keith provided a comprehensive survey of Vedic references to the Sarasvati River in their ''Vedic Index''.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Vedic Index of names and subjects|last1=Macdonell|first1=Arthur Anthony|last2=Keith|first2=Arthur Berriedale| date=1912 |publisher=Murray |volume=2 |location=London |pages=434| language=en|oclc = 1014995385}}</ref>{{refn|group=lower-alpha|According to Shaffer, the reason for the predominance of the Sarasvati in the [[Rigveda]] is the [[late Harappan]] (1900-1300 BCE) population shift eastwards to [[Haryana]].<ref name="ReferenceA">J. Shaffer, in: J. Bronkhorst & M. Deshpande (eds.), Aryans and Non-Non-Aryans, Evidence, Interpretation and Ideology. Cambridge ([[Harvard Oriental Series]], Opera Minora 3) 1999</ref>}} In the late book 10, only two references are unambiguously to the river: 10.64.9, calling for the aid of three "great rivers", Sindhu, Sarasvati and [[Sarayu]]; and 10.75.5, the geographical list of the [[Nadistuti sukta|Nadistuti Sukta]]. In this hymn, the Sarasvati River is placed between the [[Yamuna]] and the [[Sutlej]]. | The Sarasvati River is mentioned in all but the fourth book of the [[Vedas]] Macdonell and Keith provided a comprehensive survey of Vedic references to the Sarasvati River in their ''Vedic Index''.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Vedic Index of names and subjects|last1=Macdonell|first1=Arthur Anthony|last2=Keith|first2=Arthur Berriedale| date=1912 |publisher=Murray |volume=2 |location=London |pages=434| language=en|oclc = 1014995385}}</ref>{{refn|group=lower-alpha|According to Shaffer, the reason for the predominance of the Sarasvati in the [[Rigveda]] is the [[late Harappan]] (1900-1300 BCE) population shift eastwards to [[Haryana]].<ref name="ReferenceA">J. Shaffer, in: J. Bronkhorst & M. Deshpande (eds.), Aryans and Non-Non-Aryans, Evidence, Interpretation and Ideology. Cambridge ([[Harvard Oriental Series]], Opera Minora 3) 1999</ref>}} In the late book 10, only two references are unambiguously to the river: 10.64.9, calling for the aid of three "great rivers", Sindhu, Sarasvati and [[Sarju|Sarayu]]; and 10.75.5, the geographical list of the [[Nadistuti sukta|Nadistuti Sukta]]. In this hymn, the Sarasvati River is placed between the [[Yamuna]] and the [[Sutlej]]. | ||
In the oldest texts of the | In the oldest texts of the Rigveda she is described as a "great and holy river in north-western India,"{{sfn|Wilke|Moebus|2011|p=310}} but Michael Witzel notes that the Rigveda indicates that the Sarswati "had already lost its main source of water supply and must have ended in a terminal lake (samudra) approximately 3000 years ago."{{sfn|Witzel|2001|p=93}} The middle books 3 and 7 and the late books 10 "depict the present-day situation, with the Sarasvatī having lost most of its water."{{sfn|Witzel|2001|p=81}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name=Witzel1|{{harvtxt|Witzel|2001|p=81}}: "The autochthonous theory overlooks that RV 3.33206 already speaks of a necessarily smaller Sarasvatī: the Sudås hymn 3.33 refers to the confluence of the Beas and Sutlej (Vipåś, Śutudrī). This means that the Beas had already captured the Sutlej away from the Sarasvatī, dwarfing its water supply. While the Sutlej is fed by Himalayan glaciers, the Sarsuti is but a small local river depending on rain water.<br/>In sum, the middle and later RV (books 3, 7 and the late book, 10.75) already depict the present-day situation, with the Sarasvatī having lost most of its water to the Sutlej (and even earlier, much of it also to the Yamunå). It was no longer the large river it might have been before the early Rgvedic period."}} The Sarasvati acquired an extalted status in the mythology of the [[Kuru Kingdom]],{{sfn|Ludvík|2007|p=84-85}} where the Rigveda was compiled.{{sfn|Ludvík|2007|p=4-5}} | ||
==== As a goddess ==== | ==== As a goddess ==== | ||
| Line 50: | Line 50: | ||
{{main|Saraswati}} | {{main|Saraswati}} | ||
Sarasvati is mentioned some fifty times in the hymns of the | Sarasvati is mentioned some fifty times in the hymns of the Rigveda.{{sfn|Prasad|2017|loc=Chapter-2}} It is mentioned in thirteen hymns of the late books (1 and 10) of the Rigveda.<ref>1.3, 13, 89, 164; 10.17, 30, 64, 65, 66, 75, 110, 131, 141</ref> | ||
The most important hymns related to Sarasvati goddess are [[Mandala 6|RV 6]].61, [[Mandala 7|RV 7]].95 and RV 7.96.{{sfn|Ludvík|2007|p=11}} As a river goddess, she is described as a mighty flood, and is clearly not an earthly river.{{sfn|Ludvík|2007|p=11-13}} According to Michael Witzel, superimposed on the Vedic Sarasvati river is the heavenly river Milky Way, which is seen as "a road to immortality and heavenly after-life."<ref name="Witzel 2012">{{harvtxt|Witzel|2012|pp=74, 125, 133}}: "It can easily be understood, as the Sarasvatī, the river on earth and in the nighttime sky, emerges, just as in Germanic myth, from the roots of the world tree. In the Middle Vedic texts, this is acted out in the Yātsattra... along the Rivers Sarasvatī and Dṛṣadvatī (northwest of Delhi)..."</ref><ref name="CL">{{harvtxt|Ludvík|2007|p=85}}: "The Sarasvatī river, which, according to Witzel,... personifies the Milky Way, falls down to this world at Plakṣa Prāsarvaṇa, "the world tree at the center of heaven and earth," and flows through the land of the Kurus, the center of this world."</ref>{{refn|group=lower-alpha|{{harvtxt|Wilke|Moebus|2011|p=310, note 574}}: "Witzel suggests that Sarasvatī is not an earthly river, but the Milky Way that is seen as a road to immortality and heavenly after-life. In `mythical logic,' as outlined above, the two interpretations are not however mutually exclusive. There are passages which clearly suggest a river."}} The description of the Sarasvati as the river of heavens, is interpreted to suggest its mythical nature.<ref name="AgarwalSingh2007"/> | The most important hymns related to Sarasvati goddess are [[Mandala 6|RV 6]].61, [[Mandala 7|RV 7]].95 and RV 7.96.{{sfn|Ludvík|2007|p=11}} As a river goddess, she is described as a mighty flood, and is clearly not an earthly river.{{sfn|Ludvík|2007|p=11-13}} According to Michael Witzel, superimposed on the Vedic Sarasvati river is the heavenly river Milky Way, which is seen as "a road to immortality and heavenly after-life."<ref name="Witzel 2012">{{harvtxt|Witzel|2012|pp=74, 125, 133}}: "It can easily be understood, as the Sarasvatī, the river on earth and in the nighttime sky, emerges, just as in Germanic myth, from the roots of the world tree. In the Middle Vedic texts, this is acted out in the Yātsattra... along the Rivers Sarasvatī and Dṛṣadvatī (northwest of Delhi)..."</ref><ref name="CL">{{harvtxt|Ludvík|2007|p=85}}: "The Sarasvatī river, which, according to Witzel,... personifies the Milky Way, falls down to this world at Plakṣa Prāsarvaṇa, "the world tree at the center of heaven and earth," and flows through the land of the Kurus, the center of this world."</ref>{{refn|group=lower-alpha|{{harvtxt|Wilke|Moebus|2011|p=310, note 574}}: "Witzel suggests that Sarasvatī is not an earthly river, but the Milky Way that is seen as a road to immortality and heavenly after-life. In `mythical logic,' as outlined above, the two interpretations are not however mutually exclusive. There are passages which clearly suggest a river."}} The description of the Sarasvati as the river of heavens, is interpreted to suggest its mythical nature.<ref name="AgarwalSingh2007"/> | ||
| Line 65: | Line 65: | ||
The first reference to the disappearance of the lower course of the Sarasvati is from the [[Brahmana]]s, texts that are composed in [[Vedic Sanskrit]], but dating to a later date than the Veda Samhitas. The Jaiminiya Brahmana (2.297) speaks of the 'diving under (upamajjana) of the Sarasvati', and the [[Tandya Brahmana]] (or Pancavimsa Br.) calls this the 'disappearance' (vinasana). The same text (25.10.11-16) records that the Sarasvati is 'so to say meandering' (kubjimati) as it could not sustain heaven which it had propped up.{{sfn|Witzel|1984}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name="Witzel"|See Witzel (1984){{sfn|Witzel|1984}} for discussion; for maps (1984) of the area, p. 42 sqq.}} | The first reference to the disappearance of the lower course of the Sarasvati is from the [[Brahmana]]s, texts that are composed in [[Vedic Sanskrit]], but dating to a later date than the Veda Samhitas. The Jaiminiya Brahmana (2.297) speaks of the 'diving under (upamajjana) of the Sarasvati', and the [[Tandya Brahmana]] (or Pancavimsa Br.) calls this the 'disappearance' (vinasana). The same text (25.10.11-16) records that the Sarasvati is 'so to say meandering' (kubjimati) as it could not sustain heaven which it had propped up.{{sfn|Witzel|1984}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name="Witzel"|See Witzel (1984){{sfn|Witzel|1984}} for discussion; for maps (1984) of the area, p. 42 sqq.}} | ||
The Plaksa Prasravana (place of appearance/source of the river) may refer to a spring in the | The Plaksa Prasravana (place of appearance/source of the river) may refer to a spring in the [[Sivalik hills]]. The distance between the source and the Vinasana (place of disappearance of the river) is said to be 44 [[Ashwin]] (between several hundred and 1,600 miles) (Tandya Br. 25.10.16; cf. Av. 6.131.3; Pancavimsa Br.).<ref>D.S. Chauhan in Radhakrishna, B.P. and Merh, S.S. (editors): Vedic Saraswati 1999. According to this reference, 44 asvins may be over 2,600 km</ref> | ||
In the [[Latyayana Srautasutra]] (10.15-19) the Sarasvati seems to be a perennial river up to the Vinasana, which is west of its confluence with the Drshadvati (Chautang). The Drshadvati is described as a seasonal stream (10.17), meaning it was not from Himalayas. Bhargava<ref>{{cite conference |first=Sudhir |last=Bhargava |title=Location of Brahmavarta and Drishadwati river is important to find earliest alignment of Saraswati river |pages=114–117 |conference=Saraswati river – a perspective |date=20-22 November 2009 |publisher=Kurukshetra University |location=Kurukshetra |others=organised by: Saraswati Nadi Shodh Sansthan, Haryana }}</ref> has identified Drashadwati river as present-day Sahibi river originating from Jaipur hills in Rajasthan. The Asvalayana Srautasutra and Sankhayana Srautasutra contain verses that are similar to the Latyayana Srautasutra. | In the [[Latyayana Srautasutra]] (10.15-19) the Sarasvati seems to be a perennial river up to the Vinasana, which is west of its confluence with the Drshadvati (Chautang). The Drshadvati is described as a seasonal stream (10.17), meaning it was not from Himalayas. Bhargava<ref>{{cite conference |first=Sudhir |last=Bhargava |title=Location of Brahmavarta and Drishadwati river is important to find earliest alignment of Saraswati river |pages=114–117 |conference=Saraswati river – a perspective |date=20-22 November 2009 |publisher=Kurukshetra University |location=Kurukshetra |others=organised by: Saraswati Nadi Shodh Sansthan, Haryana }}</ref> has identified Drashadwati river as present-day Sahibi river originating from Jaipur hills in Rajasthan. The Asvalayana Srautasutra and Sankhayana Srautasutra contain verses that are similar to the Latyayana Srautasutra. | ||
| Line 75: | Line 75: | ||
According to the [[Mahabharata]] the Sarasvati River dried up to a desert (at a place named Vinasana or Adarsana)<ref>Mhb. 3.82.111; 3.130.3; 6.7.47; 6.37.1-4., 9.34.81; 9.37.1-2</ref><ref>Mbh. 3.80.118</ref> and joins the sea "impetuously".<ref>Mbh. 3.88.2</ref> MB.3.81.115 locates the state of Kurupradesh or [[Kuru Kingdom]] to the south of the Sarasvati and north of the [[Drishadvati]]. The dried-up, seasonal [[Ghaggar River]] in [[Rajasthan]] and [[Haryana]] reflects the same geographical view described in the [[Mahabharata]]. | According to the [[Mahabharata]] the Sarasvati River dried up to a desert (at a place named Vinasana or Adarsana)<ref>Mhb. 3.82.111; 3.130.3; 6.7.47; 6.37.1-4., 9.34.81; 9.37.1-2</ref><ref>Mbh. 3.80.118</ref> and joins the sea "impetuously".<ref>Mbh. 3.88.2</ref> MB.3.81.115 locates the state of Kurupradesh or [[Kuru Kingdom]] to the south of the Sarasvati and north of the [[Drishadvati]]. The dried-up, seasonal [[Ghaggar River]] in [[Rajasthan]] and [[Haryana]] reflects the same geographical view described in the [[Mahabharata]]. | ||
According to Hindu scriptures, a journey was made during the Mahabharata by Balrama along the banks of the Saraswati from Dwarka to Mathura. There were ancient kingdoms too (the era of the Mahajanapads) that lay in parts of north Rajasthan and that were named on the | According to Hindu scriptures, a journey was made during the Mahabharata by Balrama along the banks of the Saraswati from Dwarka to Mathura. There were ancient kingdoms too (the era of the Mahajanapads) that lay in parts of north Rajasthan and that were named on the Sarasvati River.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/1615237 |year= 2011 |title=Interpreting the Sarasvati Tirthayatra of Shri Balarāma |journal= Research Journal of Akhil Bhartiya Itihas Sankalan Yojana, ABISY (New Delhi) |volume=16 |issue=2 | pages=179–193 |issn= 0974-3065|first=Martin|last=Haigh|via=www.academia.edu}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://indology.info/email/members/kalyanaraman/|title=INDOLOGY - Sarasvati-Sindhu civilization (c. 3000 B.C.)|first=Richard MAHONEY - r dot mahoney at indica-et-buddhica dot|last=org|website=indology.info}}</ref><ref>Studies in Proto-Indo-Mediterranean culture, Volume 2, page 398</ref> | ||
====Puranas==== | ====Puranas==== | ||
Several [[Purana]]s describe the Sarasvati River, and also record that the river separated into a number of lakes (''saras'').<ref name="Radhakrishna, B.P 1999, p.35-44">D.S. Chauhan in Radhakrishna, B.P. and Merh, S.S. (editors): Vedic Saraswati, 1999, p.35-44</ref> | Several [[Purana]]s describe the Sarasvati River, and also record that the river separated into a number of lakes (''saras'').<ref name="Radhakrishna, B.P 1999, p.35-44">D.S. Chauhan in Radhakrishna, B.P. and Merh, S.S. (editors): Vedic Saraswati, 1999, p.35-44</ref> | ||
In the [[Skanda Purana]], the Sarasvati originates from the water pot of [[Brahma]] and flows from [[Plaksa]] on the Himalayas. It then turns west at Kedara and also flows underground. Five distributaries of the Sarasvati are mentioned.<ref>compare also with Yajurveda 34.11, D.S. Chauhan in Radhakrishna, B.P. and Merh, S.S. (editors): Vedic Saraswati, 1999, p.35-44</ref> The text regards Sarasvati as a form of Brahma's consort [[Brahmani (Matrika)|Brahmi]].<ref name="Eck149"/> According to the [[Vamana Purana]] 32.1-4, the Sarasvati rose from the | In the [[Skanda Purana]], the Sarasvati originates from the water pot of [[Brahma]] and flows from [[Plaksa]] on the Himalayas. It then turns west at Kedara and also flows underground. Five distributaries of the Sarasvati are mentioned.<ref>compare also with Yajurveda 34.11, D.S. Chauhan in Radhakrishna, B.P. and Merh, S.S. (editors): Vedic Saraswati, 1999, p.35-44</ref> The text regards Sarasvati as a form of Brahma's consort [[Brahmani (Matrika)|Brahmi]].<ref name="Eck149"/> According to the [[Vamana Purana]] 32.1-4, the Sarasvati rose from the Plaksa tree ([[Pipal tree]]).<ref name="Radhakrishna, B.P 1999, p.35-44"/> | ||
The ''[[Padma Purana]]'' proclaims: | The ''[[Padma Purana]]'' proclaims: | ||
| Line 95: | Line 95: | ||
Diana Eck notes that the power and significance of the Sarasvati for present-day India is in the persistent symbolic presence at the confluence of rivers all over India.{{sfn|Eck|2012|p=145}} Although "materially missing",{{sfn|Eck|2012|p=148}} she is the third river, which emerges to join in the meeting of rivers, thereby making the waters thrice holy.{{sfn|Eck|2012|p=148}} | Diana Eck notes that the power and significance of the Sarasvati for present-day India is in the persistent symbolic presence at the confluence of rivers all over India.{{sfn|Eck|2012|p=145}} Although "materially missing",{{sfn|Eck|2012|p=148}} she is the third river, which emerges to join in the meeting of rivers, thereby making the waters thrice holy.{{sfn|Eck|2012|p=148}} | ||
After the Vedic Sarasvati dried, new myths about the rivers arose. Sarasvati is described to flow in the [[Patala|underworld]] and rise to the surface at some places.{{sfn|Wilke|Moebus|2011|pp=310–311}} For centuries, the Sarasvati river existed in a "subtle or mythic" form, since it corresponds with none of the major rivers of present-day South Asia.<ref name="EB-Sarasvati"/> The [[confluence]] (''sangam'') or joining | After the Vedic Sarasvati dried, new myths about the rivers arose. Sarasvati is described to flow in the [[Patala|underworld]] and rise to the surface at some places.{{sfn|Wilke|Moebus|2011|pp=310–311}} For centuries, the Sarasvati river existed in a "subtle or mythic" form, since it corresponds with none of the major rivers of present-day South Asia.<ref name="EB-Sarasvati"/> The [[confluence]] (''sangam'') or joining of the [[Ganges]] and [[Yamuna]] rivers at [[Triveni Sangam]], [[Allahabad]], is believed to also converge with the unseen Sarasvati river, which is believed to flow underground. This is despite Allahabad being at a considerable distance from the possible historic routes of an actual Sarasvati river. | ||
At the [[Kumbh Mela]], a mass bathing festival is held at Triveni Sangam, literally "confluence of the three rivers", every 12 years.<ref name="EB-Sarasvati"/>{{sfn|Ludvík|2007|p=1}}<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071230102815/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,798222,00.html At the Three Rivers] ''[[TIME]]'', 23 February 1948</ref> The belief of Sarasvati joining at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna originates from the [[Puranas|Puranic scriptures]] and denotes the "powerful legacy" the Vedic river left after her disappearance. The belief is interpreted as "symbolic".<ref name="Eck2012"/> The three rivers Sarasvati, Yamuna, Ganga are considered consorts of the Hindu Trinity ([[Trimurti]]) [[Brahma]], [[Vishnu]] (as [[Krishna]]) and [[Shiva]] respectively.<ref name="Eck149">Eck p. 149</ref> | At the [[Kumbh Mela]], a mass bathing festival is held at Triveni Sangam, literally "confluence of the three rivers", every 12 years.<ref name="EB-Sarasvati"/>{{sfn|Ludvík|2007|p=1}}<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071230102815/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,798222,00.html At the Three Rivers] ''[[TIME]]'', 23 February 1948</ref> The belief of Sarasvati joining at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna originates from the [[Puranas|Puranic scriptures]] and denotes the "powerful legacy" the Vedic river left after her disappearance. The belief is interpreted as "symbolic".<ref name="Eck2012"/> The three rivers Sarasvati, Yamuna, Ganga are considered consorts of the Hindu Trinity ([[Trimurti]]) [[Brahma]], [[Vishnu]] (as [[Krishna]]) and [[Shiva]] respectively.<ref name="Eck149">Eck p. 149</ref> | ||
| Line 116: | Line 116: | ||
Others consider Sarasvati a mythical river, an [[allegory]] not a "thing".{{sfn|Mukherjee|2001|p=2, 6-9}} | Others consider Sarasvati a mythical river, an [[allegory]] not a "thing".{{sfn|Mukherjee|2001|p=2, 6-9}} | ||
The identification with the Ghaggar-Hakra system took on new significance in the early 21st century,<ref name="EB">Encyclopædia Britannica, [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sarasvati#ref946781 ''Sarasvati'']</ref> suggesting an earlier dating of the | The identification with the Ghaggar-Hakra system took on new significance in the early 21st century,<ref name="EB">Encyclopædia Britannica, [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sarasvati#ref946781 ''Sarasvati'']</ref> suggesting an earlier dating of the Rigveda, and renaming the Indus Valley Civilisation as the "Sarasvati culture", the "Sarasvati Civilization", the "Indus-Sarasvati Civilization" or the "Sindhu-Sarasvati Civilization,"<ref name="Singh2008"/><ref name="Maisels2003"/><ref name="CushRobinson2008"/> suggesting that the Indus Valley and [[Vedic period|Vedic cultures]] can be equated.{{sfn|Danino|2010|p=258}} | ||
=== | ===Rigvedic course=== | ||
[[File:Rigvedic geography.jpg|thumb|right|Vedic rivers]] | [[File:Rigvedic geography.jpg|thumb|right|Vedic rivers]] | ||
The | The Rigveda contains several hymns which give an indication of the flow of the geography of the river, and an identification of the Sarasvati as described in the later books of the Rigveda with the Ghaggra-Hakra:{{citation needed|date=January 2021}} | ||
* [[Mandala 3|RV 3]].23.4 mentions the Sarasvati River together with the [[Drsadvati River]] and the Āpayā River.{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name=Witzel1}} | * [[Mandala 3|RV 3]].23.4 mentions the Sarasvati River together with the [[Drsadvati River]] and the Āpayā River.{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name=Witzel1}} | ||
* [[Mandala 6|RV 6]].52.6 describes the Sarasvati as swollen (pinvamānā) by the rivers (sindhubhih). | * [[Mandala 6|RV 6]].52.6 describes the Sarasvati as swollen (pinvamānā) by the rivers (sindhubhih). | ||
| Line 132: | Line 132: | ||
* [[Mandala 10|RV 10]].75.5, the late Rigvedic [[Nadistuti sukta]], enumerates all important rivers from the Ganges in the east up to the Indus in the west in a clear geographical order. The sequence "Ganges, [[Yamuna]], Sarasvati, [[Shutudri]]" places the Sarasvati between the Yamuna and the [[Sutlej]], which is consistent with the Ghaggar identification.{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name=Witzel1}} | * [[Mandala 10|RV 10]].75.5, the late Rigvedic [[Nadistuti sukta]], enumerates all important rivers from the Ganges in the east up to the Indus in the west in a clear geographical order. The sequence "Ganges, [[Yamuna]], Sarasvati, [[Shutudri]]" places the Sarasvati between the Yamuna and the [[Sutlej]], which is consistent with the Ghaggar identification.{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name=Witzel1}} | ||
Yet, the | Yet, the Rigveda also contains clues for an identification with the Helmand river in Afghanistan: | ||
* The Sarasvati River is perceived to be a great river with perennial water, which does not apply to the Hakra and Ghaggar.<ref name= "Kalyanaraman"/> | * The Sarasvati River is perceived to be a great river with perennial water, which does not apply to the Hakra and Ghaggar.<ref name= "Kalyanaraman"/> | ||
* The | * The Rigveda seems to contain descriptions of several Sarasvatis. The earliest Sararvati is said to be similar to the Helmand in Afghanistan which is called the Harakhwati in the Āvestā.<ref name= "Kalyanaraman">S. Kalyanaraman (ed.), ''Vedic River Sarasvati and Hindu Civilization'', {{ISBN|978-81-7305-365-8}} PP.96</ref> | ||
* Verses in [[Mandala 6|RV 6]].61 indicate that the Sarasvati river originated in the hills or mountains (giri), where she "burst with her strong waves the ridges of the hills (giri)". It is a matter of interpretation whether this refers only to the Himalayan [[foothills]], where the present-day Sarasvati (Sarsuti) river flows, or to higher mountains. | * Verses in [[Mandala 6|RV 6]].61 indicate that the Sarasvati river originated in the hills or mountains (giri), where she "burst with her strong waves the ridges of the hills (giri)". It is a matter of interpretation whether this refers only to the Himalayan [[foothills]], where the present-day Sarasvati (Sarsuti) river flows, or to higher mountains. | ||
The | The Rigveda was composed during the latter part of the late Harappan period, and according to Shaffer, the reason for the predominance of the Sarasvati in the [[Rigveda]] is the [[late Harappan]] (1900-1300 BCE) population shift eastwards to [[Haryana]].<ref name="ReferenceA">J. Shaffer, in: J. Bronkhorst & M. Deshpande (eds.), Aryans and Non-Non-Aryans, Evidence, Interpretation and Ideology. Cambridge ([[Harvard Oriental Series]], Opera Minora 3) 1999</ref> | ||
=== Ghaggar-Hakra River === | === Ghaggar-Hakra River === | ||
| Line 157: | Line 157: | ||
Older publications have suggested that the Sutlej and the Yamuna drained into the Hakra well into Mature Harappan times, providing ample volume to the supply provided by the monsoon-fed Ghaggar. The Sutlej and Yamuna then changed course between 2500 BCE and 1900 BCE, due to either tectonic events or "slightly altered gradients on the extremely flat plains," resulting in the drying-up of the Hakra in the [[Thar Desert]].{{sfn|McIntosh|2008|p=20-21}}{{sfn|Jain|Agarwal|Singh|2007|p=312}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name=tectonics}}<!-- **START OF NOTE** -->{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name="Possehl_Keonoyer"|Anthropologists [[Gregory Possehl]] (1942–2011) and [[J. M. Kenoyer]], writing in the 1990s, have suggested that many religious and literary invocations to Sarasvati in the Rig Veda were to a real Himalayan river, whose waters, on account of seismic events, were diverted, leaving only a seasonal river, the Ghaggar-Hakra, in the original river bed.{{sfn|Possehl|1997}}{{sfn|Kenoyer|1997}} Archaeologists Gregory Possehl and Jane McIntosh refer to the Ghaggar-Hakra river as "Sarasvati" throughout their respective 2002 and 2008 books on the Indus Civilisation,{{sfn|McIntosh|2008}}{{sfn|Possehl|2002|p=8}} supposing that the Sutlej and Yamuna diverged their courses during late Harappan times.{{sfn|McIntosh|2008|p=19-21}}}}<!-- **END OF NOTE** --><!-- **START OF NOTE** -->{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Chatterjee et al. (2019) identify the Sarasvati with the Ghaggar, arguing that during "9-4.5 ka the river was perennial and was receiving sediments from the Higher and Lesser Himalayas" by distributaries of the Sutlej, which "likely facilitated development of the early Harappan settlements along its banks."{{sfn|Chatterjee|Ray|Shukla|Pande|2019}} In response, Sinha et al. (2020) state that "most workers have documented the cessation of large scale fluvial activity in NW India in early Holocene, thereby refuting the sustenance of the Harappan civilization by a large river."{{sfn|Sinha|Singh|Tandon|2020|p=240}}}}<!-- **END OF NOTE** --> More recent publications have shown that the Sutlej and the Yamuna shifted course well before Harappan times,{{sfn|Clift et al.|2012}}{{sfn|Singh|2017}}{{sfn|Khonde et al.|2017}} leaving the monsoon-fed Ghaggar-Hakra which dried-up during late Harappan times.{{sfn|Giosan et al.|2012}} | Older publications have suggested that the Sutlej and the Yamuna drained into the Hakra well into Mature Harappan times, providing ample volume to the supply provided by the monsoon-fed Ghaggar. The Sutlej and Yamuna then changed course between 2500 BCE and 1900 BCE, due to either tectonic events or "slightly altered gradients on the extremely flat plains," resulting in the drying-up of the Hakra in the [[Thar Desert]].{{sfn|McIntosh|2008|p=20-21}}{{sfn|Jain|Agarwal|Singh|2007|p=312}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name=tectonics}}<!-- **START OF NOTE** -->{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name="Possehl_Keonoyer"|Anthropologists [[Gregory Possehl]] (1942–2011) and [[J. M. Kenoyer]], writing in the 1990s, have suggested that many religious and literary invocations to Sarasvati in the Rig Veda were to a real Himalayan river, whose waters, on account of seismic events, were diverted, leaving only a seasonal river, the Ghaggar-Hakra, in the original river bed.{{sfn|Possehl|1997}}{{sfn|Kenoyer|1997}} Archaeologists Gregory Possehl and Jane McIntosh refer to the Ghaggar-Hakra river as "Sarasvati" throughout their respective 2002 and 2008 books on the Indus Civilisation,{{sfn|McIntosh|2008}}{{sfn|Possehl|2002|p=8}} supposing that the Sutlej and Yamuna diverged their courses during late Harappan times.{{sfn|McIntosh|2008|p=19-21}}}}<!-- **END OF NOTE** --><!-- **START OF NOTE** -->{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Chatterjee et al. (2019) identify the Sarasvati with the Ghaggar, arguing that during "9-4.5 ka the river was perennial and was receiving sediments from the Higher and Lesser Himalayas" by distributaries of the Sutlej, which "likely facilitated development of the early Harappan settlements along its banks."{{sfn|Chatterjee|Ray|Shukla|Pande|2019}} In response, Sinha et al. (2020) state that "most workers have documented the cessation of large scale fluvial activity in NW India in early Holocene, thereby refuting the sustenance of the Harappan civilization by a large river."{{sfn|Sinha|Singh|Tandon|2020|p=240}}}}<!-- **END OF NOTE** --> More recent publications have shown that the Sutlej and the Yamuna shifted course well before Harappan times,{{sfn|Clift et al.|2012}}{{sfn|Singh|2017}}{{sfn|Khonde et al.|2017}} leaving the monsoon-fed Ghaggar-Hakra which dried-up during late Harappan times.{{sfn|Giosan et al.|2012}} | ||
Clift et al. (2012), using dating of zircon sand grains, have shown that subsurface river channels near the [[Indus Valley | Clift et al. (2012), using dating of zircon sand grains, have shown that subsurface river channels near the [[Indus Valley civilisation]] sites in [[Cholistan]] immediately below the presumed Ghaggar-Hakra channel show sediment affinity not with the Ghagger-Hakra, but instead with the [[Beas River]] in the western sites and the Sutlej and the Yamuna in the eastern ones. This suggests that the Yamuna itself, or a channel of the Yamuna, along with a channel of the Sutlej may have flowed west some time between 47,000 BCE and 10,000 BCE. The drainage from the Yamuna may have been lost from the Ghaggar-Hakra well before the beginnings of Indus civilisation.{{sfn|Clift et al.|2012}} | ||
Ajit Singh et al. (2017) show that the paleochannel of the Ghaggar-Hakra is a former course of the Sutlej, which diverted to its present course between 15,000 and 8,000 years ago, well before the development of the Harappan Civilisation. Ajit Singh et al. conclude that the urban populations settled not along a perennial river, but a monsoon-fed seasonal river that was not subject to devastating floods.{{sfn|Singh|2017}}<ref name="MV">Malavika Vyawahare (29 November 2017), [https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/new-study-challenges-existence-of-saraswati-river-says-it-was-sutlej-s-old-course/story-D1I3r9VVvr29V0v7dugLvJ.html ''New study challenges existence of Saraswati river, says it was Sutlej’s old course''], HindustanTimes</ref> | Ajit Singh et al. (2017) show that the paleochannel of the Ghaggar-Hakra is a former course of the Sutlej, which diverted to its present course between 15,000 and 8,000 years ago, well before the development of the Harappan Civilisation. Ajit Singh et al. conclude that the urban populations settled not along a perennial river, but a monsoon-fed seasonal river that was not subject to devastating floods.{{sfn|Singh|2017}}<ref name="MV">Malavika Vyawahare (29 November 2017), [https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/new-study-challenges-existence-of-saraswati-river-says-it-was-sutlej-s-old-course/story-D1I3r9VVvr29V0v7dugLvJ.html ''New study challenges existence of Saraswati river, says it was Sutlej’s old course''], HindustanTimes</ref> | ||
| Line 167: | Line 167: | ||
=====IVC and diminishing of the monsoons===== | =====IVC and diminishing of the monsoons===== | ||
[[File:IVC rivers map.jpg|thumb|Outline of the Indus Civilization, with concentration of settlements along the Ghaggar-Hakra, which had dried-up by the time of the [[Indo-Aryan migrations]]. See [https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Map-of-Greater-Indus-Valley-Civilization-adapted-from-Tokai-University-2000_fig2_329600632 Sameer et al. (2018)] for a more detailed map.]] | [[File:IVC rivers map.jpg|thumb|Outline of the Indus Civilization, with concentration of settlements along the Ghaggar-Hakra, which had dried-up by the time of the [[Indo-Aryan migrations]]. See [https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Map-of-Greater-Indus-Valley-Civilization-adapted-from-Tokai-University-2000_fig2_329600632 Sameer et al. (2018)] for a more detailed map.]] | ||
Many [[Indus Valley | Many [[Indus Valley civilisation]] (Harrapan Civilisation) sites are found on the banks of and in the proximity of the Ghaggar-Hakra fluvial system, due to the "high monsoon rainfall" which fed the Ghaggar-Hakra in Mature Harappan Times.<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/oct252004/1141.pdf | title=Is River Ghaggar, Saraswati? Geochemical constraints | author1=Jayant K. Tripathi|author2=Barbara Bock|author3=V. Rajamani|author4=A. Eisenhauer | journal=Current Science | date=25 October 2004 | volume=87 | issue=8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stein |first=Aurel |date=1942 |title=A Survey of Ancient Sites along the "Lost" Sarasvati River |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1788862 |journal=The Geographical Journal |volume=99 |issue=4 |pages=173–182 |doi=10.2307/1788862 |jstor=1788862 |issn=0016-7398}}</ref> | ||
Giosan et al., in their study ''Fluvial landscapes of the Harappan civilisation'', make clear that the Ghaggar-Hakra fluvial system was not a large glacier-fed Himalayan river, but a monsoonal-fed river.{{sfn|Giosan et al.|2012}} They concluded that the Indus Valley Civilisation prospered when the monsoons that fed the rivers diminished around 5,000 years ago. When the monsoons, which fed the rivers that supported the civilisation, further diminished and the rivers dried out as a result, the IVC declined some 4000 years ago.{{sfn|Giosan et al.|2012}} This in particular effected the Ghaggar-Hakra system, which became an [[intermittent river]] and was largely abandoned.{{sfn|Giosan et al.|2012|p=1693}} Localized Late IVC-settlements are found eastwards, toward the more humid regions of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, where the decentralised late Harappan phase took place.{{sfn|Giosan et al.|2012|p=1693}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name="Giosan"}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Painted Grey Ware sites (ca. 1000 BCE) have been found in the bed and not on the banks of the Ghaggar-Hakra river, suggesting that the river had dried up before this period.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Stein|first=Aurel|date=1942|title=A Survey of Ancient Sites along the "Lost" Sarasvati River|journal=The Geographical Journal|volume=99|issue=4|pages=173–182|doi=10.2307/1788862|jstor=1788862}}</ref><ref>Gaur, R. C. (1983). Excavations at Atranjikhera, Early Civilization of the Upper Ganga Basin. Delhi.</ref>}} | Giosan et al., in their study ''Fluvial landscapes of the Harappan civilisation'', make clear that the Ghaggar-Hakra fluvial system was not a large glacier-fed Himalayan river, but a monsoonal-fed river.{{sfn|Giosan et al.|2012}} They concluded that the Indus Valley Civilisation prospered when the monsoons that fed the rivers diminished around 5,000 years ago. When the monsoons, which fed the rivers that supported the civilisation, further diminished and the rivers dried out as a result, the IVC declined some 4000 years ago.{{sfn|Giosan et al.|2012}} This in particular effected the Ghaggar-Hakra system, which became an [[intermittent river]] and was largely abandoned.{{sfn|Giosan et al.|2012|p=1693}} Localized Late IVC-settlements are found eastwards, toward the more humid regions of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, where the decentralised late Harappan phase took place.{{sfn|Giosan et al.|2012|p=1693}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name="Giosan"}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Painted Grey Ware sites (ca. 1000 BCE) have been found in the bed and not on the banks of the Ghaggar-Hakra river, suggesting that the river had dried up before this period.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Stein|first=Aurel|date=1942|title=A Survey of Ancient Sites along the "Lost" Sarasvati River|journal=The Geographical Journal|volume=99|issue=4|pages=173–182|doi=10.2307/1788862|jstor=1788862}}</ref><ref>Gaur, R. C. (1983). Excavations at Atranjikhera, Early Civilization of the Upper Ganga Basin. Delhi.</ref>}} | ||
| Line 183: | Line 183: | ||
====Textual and historical objections==== | ====Textual and historical objections==== | ||
Ashoke Mukherjee (2001), is critical of the attempts to identify the Rigvedic Sarasvati. Mukherjee notes that many historians and archaeologists, both Indian and foreign, concluded that the word "Sarasvati" (literally "being full of water") is not a [[noun]], a specific "thing". However, Mukherjee believes that "Sarasvati" is initially used by the | Ashoke Mukherjee (2001), is critical of the attempts to identify the Rigvedic Sarasvati. Mukherjee notes that many historians and archaeologists, both Indian and foreign, concluded that the word "Sarasvati" (literally "being full of water") is not a [[noun]], a specific "thing". However, Mukherjee believes that "Sarasvati" is initially used by the Rigvedic people as an adjective to the Indus as a large river and later evolved into a "noun". Mukherjee concludes that the Vedic poets had not seen the palaeo-Sarasvati, and that what they described in the Vedic verses refers to something else. He also suggests that in the post-Vedic and Puranic tradition the "disappearance" of Sarasvati, which to refers to "[going] under [the] ground in the sands", was created as a complementary myth to explain the visible non-existence of the river.{{sfn|Mukherjee|2001|p=2, 6-9}} | ||
[[Romila Thapar]] terms the identification controversial and dismisses it, noticing that the descriptions of Sarasvati flowing through the high mountains does not tally with Ghaggar's course and suggests that Sarasvati is Haraxvati of Afghanistan.<ref name="Thapar2004"/> Wilke and Moebus suggest that the identification is problematic since the Ghaggar-Hakra river was already dried up at the time of the composition of the Vedas,{{sfn|Wilke|Moebus|2011|pp=310–311}} let alone the migration of the Vedic people into northern India.{{sfn|Witzel|2001|p=93}}{{sfn|Mukherjee|2001|p=2, 8-9}} | [[Romila Thapar]] terms the identification controversial and dismisses it, noticing that the descriptions of Sarasvati flowing through the high mountains does not tally with Ghaggar's course and suggests that Sarasvati is Haraxvati of Afghanistan.<ref name="Thapar2004"/> Wilke and Moebus suggest that the identification is problematic since the Ghaggar-Hakra river was already dried up at the time of the composition of the Vedas,{{sfn|Wilke|Moebus|2011|pp=310–311}} let alone the migration of the Vedic people into northern India.{{sfn|Witzel|2001|p=93}}{{sfn|Mukherjee|2001|p=2, 8-9}} | ||
Rajesh Kocchar further notes that, even if the Sutlej and the Yamuna had drained into the Ghaggar during | Rajesh Kocchar further notes that, even if the Sutlej and the Yamuna had drained into the Ghaggar during Rigvedic, it still would not fit the Rigvedic descriptions because "the snow-fed Satluj and Yamuna would strengthen lower Ghaggar. Upper Ghaggar would still be as puny as it is today."<ref name="Kocchar"/> | ||
=== Helmand river === | === Helmand river === | ||
[[File:Helmand River - panoramio.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Helmand River]], Afghanistan, known in ancient Iranian Avestan as | [[File:Helmand River - panoramio.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Helmand River]], Afghanistan, known in ancient Iranian Avestan as ''Harahvaiti'', is identified by some as the ancient Sarasvati river.{{sfn|Danino|2010|p=260}}]] | ||
[[File:Afghanistan_physical_en.png|thumb|[[Helmund]] river basin with tributary [[Arghandab River]] | [[File:Afghanistan_physical_en.png|thumb|[[Helmund]] river basin with tributary [[Arghandab River]] originates in [[Hindu Kush]] mountain in north [[Afghanistan]] and falls in to [[Hamun Lake]] in southern Afghanistan at the border of [[Iran]].]] | ||
{{main|Helmand River|Arghandab River}} | {{main|Helmand River|Arghandab River}} | ||
An alternative suggestion for the identity of the early Rigvedic Sarasvati River is the [[Helmand River]] and its tributary [[Arghandab River|Arghandab]]{{sfn|Danino|2010|p=260}} in the [[Arachosia]] region in [[Afghanistan]], separated from the watershed of the Indus by the [[Sanglakh Range]]. The Helmand historically besides Avestan ''Haetumant'' bore the name ''Haraxvaiti'', which is the [[Avestan]] form cognate to Sanskrit ''Sarasvati''. The [[Avesta]] extols the Helmand in similar terms to those used in the Rigveda with respect to the Sarasvati: "The bountiful, glorious Haetumant swelling its white waves rolling down its copious flood".{{sfn|Kochhar|2012|p=263}} However unlike the Rigvedic Sarasvati, Helmand river never attained the status of a deity despite the praises in the Avesta.{{sfn|Prasad|2017|p=42}} | An alternative suggestion for the identity of the early Rigvedic Sarasvati River is the [[Helmand River]] and its tributary [[Arghandab River|Arghandab]]{{sfn|Danino|2010|p=260}} in the [[Arachosia]] region in [[Afghanistan]], separated from the watershed of the Indus by the [[Sanglakh Range]]. The Helmand historically besides Avestan ''Haetumant'' bore the name ''Haraxvaiti'', which is the [[Avestan]] form cognate to Sanskrit ''Sarasvati''. The [[Avesta]] extols the Helmand in similar terms to those used in the Rigveda with respect to the Sarasvati: "The bountiful, glorious Haetumant swelling its white waves rolling down its copious flood".{{sfn|Kochhar|2012|p=263}} However unlike the Rigvedic Sarasvati, Helmand river never attained the status of a deity despite the praises in the Avesta.{{sfn|Prasad|2017|p=42}} The identification of the ''Sarasvati'' river with the ''Helmand'' river was first proposed by Thomas (1886), followed by Alfred Hillebrandt a couple of years thereafter.{{sfn|Danino|2010|p=260}} | ||
The identification of the ''Sarasvati'' river with the ''Helmand'' river was first proposed by Thomas (1886), followed by Alfred Hillebrandt a couple of years thereafter | |||
According to Konrad Klaus (1989), the geographic situation of the Sarasvati and the Helmand rivers are similar. Both flow into terminal lakes: The Helmand flows into a swamp on the [[Iranian plateau]] (the extended [[wetland]] and lake system of [[Hamun-i-Helmand]]). This matches the Rigvedic description of the Sarasvati flowing to the ''[[samudra]]'', which according to him at that time meant 'confluence', 'lake', 'heavenly lake', 'ocean'; the current meaning of 'terrestrial ocean' was not even felt in the Pali Canon.<ref name="Klaus">Klaus, K. Die altindische Kosmologie, nach den Brāhmaṇas dargestellt. Bonn 1986</ref><ref name="DOW">Samudra, XXIII Deutscher Orientalistentag Würzburg, ZDMG Suppl. Volume VII, Stuttgart 1989, 367–371</ref> | According to Konrad Klaus (1989), the geographic situation of the Sarasvati and the Helmand rivers are similar. Both flow into terminal lakes: The Helmand flows into a swamp on the [[Iranian plateau]] (the extended [[wetland]] and lake system of [[Hamun-i-Helmand]]). This matches the Rigvedic description of the Sarasvati flowing to the ''[[samudra]]'', which according to him at that time meant 'confluence', 'lake', 'heavenly lake', 'ocean'; the current meaning of 'terrestrial ocean' was not even felt in the Pali Canon.<ref name="Klaus">Klaus, K. Die altindische Kosmologie, nach den Brāhmaṇas dargestellt. Bonn 1986</ref><ref name="DOW">Samudra, XXIII Deutscher Orientalistentag Würzburg, ZDMG Suppl. Volume VII, Stuttgart 1989, 367–371</ref> | ||
Rajesh Kocchar, after a detailed analysis of the Vedic texts and geological environments of the rivers, concludes that there are two Sarasvati rivers mentioned in the Rigveda. The early Rigvedic Sarasvati, which he calls ''Naditama Sarasvati'', is described in suktas 2.41, 7.36, etc. of the family books of the Rigveda, and drains into a ''[[samudra]]''. The description of the ''Naditama Sarasvati'' in the Rigveda matches the physical features of the [[Helmand River]] in Afghanistan, more precisely its tributary the [[Harut River]], | Rajesh Kocchar, after a detailed analysis of the Vedic texts and geological environments of the rivers, concludes that there are two Sarasvati rivers mentioned in the Rigveda. The early Rigvedic Sarasvati, which he calls ''Naditama Sarasvati'', is described in suktas 2.41, 7.36, etc. of the family books of the Rigveda, and drains into a ''[[samudra]]''. The description of the ''Naditama Sarasvati'' in the Rigveda matches the physical features of the [[Helmand River]] in Afghanistan, more precisely its tributary the [[Harut River]] (Heu Rúd or Sabzawar River). Rajesh Kocchar, however, believes that the name 'Harut' is traced to 'Harauvaiti' (the name for the region of Arachosia, not a river) and Harut is not actually a part of Arachosia but of [[Dragiana]]. The later Rigvedic Sarasvati, which he calls ''Vinasana Sarasvati'', is described in the Rigvedic Nadistuti sukta (10.75), which was composed centuries later, after an eastward migration of the bearers of the Rigvedic culture to the western [[Ganges River|Gangetic]] plain some 600 km to the east. The Sarasvati by this time had become a mythical "disappeared" river, and the name was transferred to the [[Ghaggar]] which disappeared in the desert.<ref name=Kochhar/> The later Rigvedic Sarasvati is only in the post-Rigvedic Brahmanas said to disappear in the sands. According to Kocchar the Ganga and Yamuna were small streams in the vicinity of the Harut River. When the Vedic people moved east into Punjab, they named the new rivers they encountered after the old rivers they knew from Helmand, and the ''Vinasana Sarasvati'' may correspond with the Ghaggar-Hakra river.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kochhar |first=Rajesh |year=1999 |chapter=On the identity and chronology of the Ṛgvedic river Sarasvatī |series=Archaeology and Language |volume=III |title=Artefacts, Languages, and Texts |editor1=Blench, Roger |editor2=Spriggs, Matthew |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-10054-0 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h8jfBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA257}}</ref><ref name="Kocchar">{{cite web |first=Rajesh |last=Kocchar |title=The rivers Sarasvati: Reconciling the sacred texts |website=RajeshKochhar.com |type=blog post |url=http://rajeshkochhar.com/tag/rigveda/ |postscript=;}} based on {{cite book |title=The Vedic People: Their history and geography}}</ref> | ||
Romila Thapar (2004) declares the identification of the Ghaggar with the Sarasvati controversial. Furthermore, the early references to the Sarasvati could be the Haraxvati plain in Afghanistan. The identification with the Ghaggar is problematic, as the Sarasvati is said to cut its way through high mountains, which is not the landscape of the Ghaggar.<ref name="Thapar2004"/> | Romila Thapar (2004) declares the identification of the Ghaggar with the Sarasvati controversial. Furthermore, the early references to the Sarasvati could be the Haraxvati plain in Afghanistan. The identification with the Ghaggar is problematic, as the Sarasvati is said to cut its way through high mountains, which is not the landscape of the Ghaggar.<ref name="Thapar2004"/> | ||
| Line 208: | Line 206: | ||
==== Drying-up and dating of the Vedas ==== | ==== Drying-up and dating of the Vedas ==== | ||
The Vedic description of the goddess Sarasvati as a mighty river, and the Vedic and Puranic statements about the drying-up and diving-under of the Sarasvati, have been used by some as a reference point for a [[Historical revisionism|revised]] dating of the Vedic culture.<ref name="EB-Sarasvati">{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sarasvati|title=Sarasvati | Hindu deity|website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> Some see these descriptions as a mighty river as evidence for an earlier dating of the | The Vedic description of the goddess Sarasvati as a mighty river, and the Vedic and Puranic statements about the drying-up and diving-under of the Sarasvati, have been used by some as a reference point for a [[Historical revisionism|revised]] dating of the Vedic culture.<ref name="EB-Sarasvati">{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sarasvati|title=Sarasvati | Hindu deity|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|date=2 May 2023 }}</ref> Some see these descriptions as a mighty river as evidence for an earlier dating of the Rigveda, identifying the Vedic culture with the Harappan culture, which flourished at the time that the Gaggar-Hakra had not dried up, and rejecting the [[Indo-Aryan migration hypothesis|Indo-Aryan migrations theory]], which postulates a migration at 1500 BCE.{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name=IE|According to David Anthony, the [[Yamna culture]] was the [[Proto-Indo-European Urheimat hypotheses|"Urheimat"]] of the Indo-Europeans at the Pontic steppes.{{sfn|Anthony|2007}} From this area, which already included various subcultures, Indo-European languages spread west, south and east starting around 4,000 BCE.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|p=29}} These languages may have been carried by small groups of males, with patron-client systems which allowed for the inclusion of other groups into their cultural system.{{sfn|Anthony|2007}} Eastward emerged the [[Sintashta culture]] (2100–1800 BCE), from which developed the [[Andronovo culture]] (1800–1400 BCE). This culture interacted with the [[BMAC]] (2300–1700 BCE); out of this interaction developed the Indo-Iranians, which split around 1800 BCE into the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=408}} The Indo-Aryans migrated to the Levant, northern India, and possibly south Asia.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009}}}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name="scale"|The migration into northern India was not a large-scale immigration, but may have consisted of small groups,{{sfn|Witzel|2005|p=342-343}} which were genetically diverse. Their culture and language spread by the same mechanisms of acculturalisation, and the absorption of other groups into their patron-client system.{{sfn|Anthony|2007}} }} | ||
[[Michel Danino]] places the composition of the Vedas therefor in the third millennium BCE, a millennium earlier than the conventional dates.{{sfn|Danino|2010|p=256}} Danino notes that accepting the | [[Michel Danino]] places the composition of the Vedas therefor in the third millennium BCE, a millennium earlier than the conventional dates.{{sfn|Danino|2010|p=256}} Danino notes that accepting the Rigveda accounts as a mighty river as factual descriptions, and dating the drying up late in the third millennium, are incompatible.{{sfn|Danino|2010|p=256}} According to Danino, this suggests that the Vedic people were present in northern India in the third millennium BCE,{{sfn|Danino|2010|p=256, 258}} a conclusion which is controversial amongst professional archaeologists.{{sfn|Danino|2010|p=256}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name=Witzel2|Witzel: "If the RV is to be located in the Panjab, and supposedly to be dated well before the supposed 1900 BCE drying up of the Sarasvatī, at 4000-5000 BCE (Kak 1994, Misra 1992), the text should not contain evidence of the domesticated horse (not found in the subcontinent before c. 1700 BCE, see Meadow 1997,1998, Anreiter 1998: 675 sqq.), of the horse-drawn chariot (developed only about 2000 BCE in S. Russia, Anthony and Vinogradov 1995, or Mesopotamia), of well developed copper/bronze technology, etc."{{sfn|Witzel|2001|p=31}}}} Danino states that there is an absence of "any intrusive material culture in the Northwest during the second millennium BCE,"{{sfn|Danino|2010|p=256}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Michael Witzel points out that this is to expected from a ''mobile'' society, but that the [[Gandhara grave culture]] is a clear indication of new cultural elements.{{sfn|Witzel|2005}} Michaels points out that there are linguistic and archaeological data that shows a cultural change after 1750 BCE,{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=33}} and Flood notices that the linguistic and religious data clearly show links with Indo-European languages and religion.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=33}}}} a biological continuity in the skeletal remains,{{sfn|Danino|2010|p=256}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name="scale"}} and a cultural continuity. Danino then states that if the "testimony of the Sarasvati is added to this, the simplest and most natural conclusion is that the Vedic culture was present in the region in the third millennium."{{sfn|Danino|2010|p=258}} | ||
Danino acknowledges that this asks for "studying its tentacular ramifications into linguistics, archaeoastronomy, anthropology and genetics, besides a few other fields".{{sfn|Danino|2010|p=258}} | Danino acknowledges that this asks for "studying its tentacular ramifications into linguistics, archaeoastronomy, anthropology and genetics, besides a few other fields".{{sfn|Danino|2010|p=258}} | ||
| Line 219: | Line 217: | ||
[[Romila Thapar]] points out that an alleged equation of the Indus Valley civilization and the carriers of Vedic culture stays in stark contrast to not only linguistic, but also archeological evidence. She notes that the essential characteristics of Indus valley urbanism, such as planned cities, complex fortifications, elaborate drainage systems, the use of mud and fire bricks, monumental buildings, extensive craft activity, are completely absent in the [[Rigveda]]. Similarly the Rigveda lacks a conceptual familiarity with key aspects of organized urban life (e.g. non-kin labour, facets or items of an exchange system or complex weights and measures) and doesn't mention objects found in great numbers at Indus Valley civilization sites like terracotta figurines, sculptural representation of human bodies or seals.<ref name="Early India">{{cite book|author1=[[Romila Thapar]]|title=Early India|year=2002|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-1430-2989-2|page=110}}</ref> | [[Romila Thapar]] points out that an alleged equation of the Indus Valley civilization and the carriers of Vedic culture stays in stark contrast to not only linguistic, but also archeological evidence. She notes that the essential characteristics of Indus valley urbanism, such as planned cities, complex fortifications, elaborate drainage systems, the use of mud and fire bricks, monumental buildings, extensive craft activity, are completely absent in the [[Rigveda]]. Similarly the Rigveda lacks a conceptual familiarity with key aspects of organized urban life (e.g. non-kin labour, facets or items of an exchange system or complex weights and measures) and doesn't mention objects found in great numbers at Indus Valley civilization sites like terracotta figurines, sculptural representation of human bodies or seals.<ref name="Early India">{{cite book|author1=[[Romila Thapar]]|title=Early India|year=2002|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-1430-2989-2|page=110}}</ref> | ||
Hetalben Sindhav notes that claims of a large number of Ghaggar-Hakra sites are politically motivated and exaggerated. While the Indus remained an active river, the Ghaggar-Hakra dried-up, leaving | Hetalben Sindhav notes that claims of a large number of Ghaggar-Hakra sites are politically motivated and exaggerated. While the Indus remained an active river, the Ghaggar-Hakra dried-up, leaving many sites undisturbed.{{sfn|Sindhav|2016|p=103}} Sidhav further notes that the Ghaggar-Hakra was a tributary of the Indus, so the proposed Sarasvati nomenclatura is redundant.{{sfn|Sindhav|2016|p=103}} According to archaeologist Shereen Ratnagar, many Ghaggar-Hakra sites in India are actually those of local cultures; some sites display contact with Harappan civilization, but only a few are fully developed Harappan ones.<ref name="Ratnagar">{{cite book |last=Ratnagar |first=Shereen |year=2006 |title=Understanding Harappa: Civilization in the Greater Indus Valley |location=New Delhi |publisher=Tulika Books |isbn=978-81-89487-02-7 |ref=Shereen-2006b |pages=7–8 |quote=If in an ancient mound we find only one pot and two bead necklaces similar to those of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, with the bulk of pottery, tools and ornaments of a different type altogether, we cannot call that site Harappan. It is instead a site with Harappan contacts. ... Where the Sarasvati valley sites are concerned, we find that many of them are sites of local culture (with distinctive pottery, clay bangles, terracotta beads, and grinding stones), some of them showing Harappan contact, and comparatively few are full-fledged Mature Harappan sites.}}</ref> Moreover, around 90% of the [[Indus script|Indus script seals and inscribed objects]] discovered were found at sites in Pakistan along the Indus river, while other places accounting only for the remaining 10%.{{efn|Number of Indus script inscribed objects and seals obtained from various Harappan sites: Mohanjodaro (1540), Harappa (985), Chanhudaro (66), Lothal (165), Kalibangan (99), | ||
Banawali (7), Ur, Iraq (6), Surkotada(5) Chandigarh (4)}}<ref>[[Iravatham Mahadevan]], 1977, [https://archive.org/details/masi77indusscripttextsconcordancestablesiravathammahadevanalt_443_h ''The Indus Script: Text, Concordance and Tables''], pp. 6-7</ref><ref>[[Upinder Singh]], 2008, [https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC | Banawali (7), Ur, Iraq (6), Surkotada(5) Chandigarh (4)}}<ref>[[Iravatham Mahadevan]], 1977, [https://archive.org/details/masi77indusscripttextsconcordancestablesiravathammahadevanalt_443_h ''The Indus Script: Text, Concordance and Tables''], pp. 6-7</ref><ref>[[Upinder Singh]], 2008, [https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PA169 ''A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India From the Stone Age to the 12th Century''], p. 169</ref> | ||
==== Revival ==== | ==== Revival ==== | ||
In 2015, [[Reuters]] reported that "members of the [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]] believe that proof of the physical existence of the Vedic river would bolster their concept of a golden age of Hindu India, before invasions by Muslims and Christians." The [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] Government had therefore ordered archaeologists to search for the river.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-rss-specialreport/special-report-battling-for-indias-soul-state-by-state-idUSKCN0S700A20151013 |title= Special Report: Battling for India's soul, state by state |author= Rupam Jain Nair, Frank Jack Daniel |work= [[ | In 2015, [[Reuters]] reported that "members of the [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]] believe that proof of the physical existence of the Vedic river would bolster their concept of a golden age of Hindu India, before invasions by Muslims and Christians." The [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] Government had therefore ordered archaeologists to search for the river.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-rss-specialreport/special-report-battling-for-indias-soul-state-by-state-idUSKCN0S700A20151013 |title= Special Report: Battling for India's soul, state by state |author= Rupam Jain Nair, Frank Jack Daniel |work= [[Reuters]] |date= 12 October 2015 |access-date= 29 May 2018}}</ref> | ||
According to the government of Indian state of [[Haryana]], research and satellite imagery of the region has confirmed to have found the lost river when water was detected during digging of the dry river bed at [[Yamunanagar]].<ref name="Haryana">{{cite web |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/team-at-work-to-revive-the-mythical-saraswati-river/story-pckyZSUzgULEDUIMaMQeVL.html |title=Hunt for mythical Saraswati river a test of history and science - india news - Hindustan Times |date=26 January 2018 |access-date=11 July 2020}}</ref> Surveys and satellite photographs confirm that there was once a great river that rose in the Himalayas, entered the plains of Haryana, flowed through the Thar-Cholistan desert of Rajasthan and eastern Sindh (running roughly parallel to the Indus) and then reached the sea in the Rann of Kutchh in Gujarat. The strange marshy landscape of the Rann of Kutchh is partly due to the fact that it was once the estuary of a great river.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bhadra |first1=B. K. |last2=Gupta |first2=A. K. |last3=Sharma |first3=J. R. |date=February 2009 |title=Saraswati Nadi in Haryana and its linkage with the Vedic Saraswati River — Integrated study based on satellite images and ground based information |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12594-009-0084-y |journal=Journal of the Geological Society of India |volume=73 |issue=2 |pages=273–288 |doi=10.1007/s12594-009-0084-y |s2cid=140635500 |issn=0016-7622}}</ref> | According to the government of Indian state of [[Haryana]], research and satellite imagery of the region has confirmed to have found the lost river when water was detected during digging of the dry river bed at [[Yamunanagar]].<ref name="Haryana">{{cite web |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/team-at-work-to-revive-the-mythical-saraswati-river/story-pckyZSUzgULEDUIMaMQeVL.html |title=Hunt for mythical Saraswati river a test of history and science - india news - Hindustan Times |date=26 January 2018 |access-date=11 July 2020}}</ref> Surveys and satellite photographs confirm that there was once a great river that rose in the Himalayas, entered the plains of Haryana, flowed through the Thar-Cholistan desert of Rajasthan and eastern Sindh (running roughly parallel to the Indus) and then reached the sea in the Rann of Kutchh in Gujarat. The strange marshy landscape of the Rann of Kutchh is partly due to the fact that it was once the estuary of a great river.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bhadra |first1=B. K. |last2=Gupta |first2=A. K. |last3=Sharma |first3=J. R. |date=February 2009 |title=Saraswati Nadi in Haryana and its linkage with the Vedic Saraswati River — Integrated study based on satellite images and ground based information |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12594-009-0084-y |journal=Journal of the Geological Society of India |volume=73 |issue=2 |pages=273–288 |doi=10.1007/s12594-009-0084-y |s2cid=140635500 |issn=0016-7622}}</ref> | ||
| Line 284: | Line 282: | ||
* {{Citation | last =Danino | first =Michel |year =2010 | title =The Lost River - On the trail of the Sarasvati | publisher =Penguin Books India}} | * {{Citation | last =Danino | first =Michel |year =2010 | title =The Lost River - On the trail of the Sarasvati | publisher =Penguin Books India}} | ||
* {{Citation | last =Darian | first =Steven G. | year =2001 | chapter =5.Ganga and Sarasvati: The Transformation of Myth | title =The Ganges in Myth and History | publisher =Motilal Banarsidass Publ. | isbn =978-81-208-1757-9}} | * {{Citation | last =Darian | first =Steven G. | year =2001 | chapter =5.Ganga and Sarasvati: The Transformation of Myth | title =The Ganges in Myth and History | publisher =Motilal Banarsidass Publ. | isbn =978-81-208-1757-9}} | ||
* {{Citation | last1 =Dave | first1 =Aditi Krishna | year =2019 | ref={{sfnref|Dave et al.|2019}} | last2 =Courty | first2 =Marie-Agnes| last3 =Fitzsimmons | first3 =Kathryn E. | last4 =Singhvia | first4 =Ashok Kumar | title =Revisiting the contemporaneity of a mighty river and the Harappans: Archaeological, stratigraphic and chronometric constraints | journal =Quaternary Geochronology | volume =49 | pages =230–235 | doi =10.1016/j.quageo.2018.05.002| s2cid =134501741 }} | * {{Citation | last1 =Dave | first1 =Aditi Krishna | year =2019 | ref={{sfnref|Dave et al.|2019}} | last2 =Courty | first2 =Marie-Agnes| last3 =Fitzsimmons | first3 =Kathryn E. | last4 =Singhvia | first4 =Ashok Kumar | title =Revisiting the contemporaneity of a mighty river and the Harappans: Archaeological, stratigraphic and chronometric constraints | journal =Quaternary Geochronology | volume =49 | pages =230–235 | doi =10.1016/j.quageo.2018.05.002| bibcode =2019QuGeo..49..230D | s2cid =134501741 }} | ||
* {{Citation | last =Demkina | first =T.S. | year =2017 | title =Paleoecological crisis in the steppes of the Lower Volga region in the Middle of the Bronze Age (III–II centuries BC) | journal =Eurasian Soil Science | volume =50 | issue =7 | doi =10.1134/S1064229317070018 | pages =791–804 | bibcode =2017EurSS..50..791D | s2cid =133638705 | url =https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9496c0b5521cce4102147dd016c4282e83de022c }} | * {{Citation | last =Demkina | first =T.S. | year =2017 | title =Paleoecological crisis in the steppes of the Lower Volga region in the Middle of the Bronze Age (III–II centuries BC) | journal =Eurasian Soil Science | volume =50 | issue =7 | doi =10.1134/S1064229317070018 | pages =791–804 | bibcode =2017EurSS..50..791D | s2cid =133638705 | url =https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9496c0b5521cce4102147dd016c4282e83de022c }} | ||
<!-- E --> | <!-- E --> | ||
| Line 328: | Line 326: | ||
<!-- S --> | <!-- S --> | ||
* {{citation |last=Sankaran |first=A. V. |title=Saraswati – The ancient river lost in the desert |journal=Current Science |volume=77 |number=8 |date=25 October 1999 |pages=1054–1060 |jstor=24103577 |url=http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/oct25/articles20.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040919123504/http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/oct25/articles20.htm |archive-date=19 September 2004 }} | * {{citation |last=Sankaran |first=A. V. |title=Saraswati – The ancient river lost in the desert |journal=Current Science |volume=77 |number=8 |date=25 October 1999 |pages=1054–1060 |jstor=24103577 |url=http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/oct25/articles20.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040919123504/http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/oct25/articles20.htm |archive-date=19 September 2004 }} | ||
* {{Citation | last1 =Schuldenrein | first1 =Joseph | first2 =Rita P.| last2 =Wright |first3=M. Rafique |last3=Mughal |first4=M. Afzal |last4=Khan| ref={{sfnref|Schuldenrein et al.|2004}} | year =2004 | title =Landscapes, soils, and mound histories of the Upper Indus Valley, Pakistan: New insights on the Holocene environments near ancient Harappa | journal =Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=31 |issue=6 |pages=777–797 | doi =10.1016/j.jas.2003.10.015}} | * {{Citation | last1 =Schuldenrein | first1 =Joseph | first2 =Rita P.| last2 =Wright |first3=M. Rafique |last3=Mughal |first4=M. Afzal |last4=Khan| ref={{sfnref|Schuldenrein et al.|2004}} | year =2004 | title =Landscapes, soils, and mound histories of the Upper Indus Valley, Pakistan: New insights on the Holocene environments near ancient Harappa | journal =Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=31 |issue=6 |pages=777–797 | doi =10.1016/j.jas.2003.10.015| bibcode =2004JArSc..31..777S }} | ||
* {{citation | last =Shaffer |first= Jim G. |chapter=Cultural tradition and Palaeoethnicity in South Asian Archaeology |title=Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia |editor=George Erdosy |year=1995 |isbn=978-3-11-014447-5}} | * {{citation | last =Shaffer |first= Jim G. |chapter=Cultural tradition and Palaeoethnicity in South Asian Archaeology |title=Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia |editor=George Erdosy |year=1995 |isbn=978-3-11-014447-5}} | ||
* {{Citation | last =Sindhav | first =Hetalben Dhanabhai | year =2016 | title =The Indus Valley Civilisation (Harappan Civilisation) | journal =International Journal of Social Impact |volume=1 |issue=2}} | * {{Citation | last =Sindhav | first =Hetalben Dhanabhai | year =2016 | title =The Indus Valley Civilisation (Harappan Civilisation) | journal =International Journal of Social Impact |volume=1 |issue=2}} | ||
* {{Citation |last =Singh |first=Ajit |year=2017 |title=Counter-intuitive influence of Himalayan river morphodynamics on Indus Civilisation urban settlements |journal=Nature Communications |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=1617 |doi=10.1038/s41467-017-01643-9 |pmid=29184098 |pmc=5705636 |bibcode=2017NatCo...8.1617S }} | * {{Citation |last =Singh |first=Ajit |year=2017 |title=Counter-intuitive influence of Himalayan river morphodynamics on Indus Civilisation urban settlements |journal=Nature Communications |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=1617 |doi=10.1038/s41467-017-01643-9 |pmid=29184098 |pmc=5705636 |bibcode=2017NatCo...8.1617S }} | ||
* {{Citation | last1 =Sinha |first1=Rajiv | first2=Ajit| last2 =Singh |first3=Sampat | last3 =Tandon | title =Fluvial archives of north and northwestern India as recorders of climatic signatures in the late Quaternary: review and assessment | journal =Current Science |volume=119 |issue=2 |date=25 July 2020|page=232 |doi=10.18520/cs/v119/i2/232-243 |s2cid=239534661 }} | * {{Citation | last1 =Sinha |first1=Rajiv | first2=Ajit| last2 =Singh |first3=Sampat | last3 =Tandon | title =Fluvial archives of north and northwestern India as recorders of climatic signatures in the late Quaternary: review and assessment | journal =Current Science |volume=119 |issue=2 |date=25 July 2020|page=232 |doi=10.18520/cs/v119/i2/232-243 |s2cid=239534661 |doi-access=free }} | ||
<!-- T --> | <!-- T --> | ||
* S. G. Talageri, The RigVeda - A Historical Analysis [http://www.tri-murti.com/ancientindia/rigHistory/ch4.htm chapter 4] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180115044119/http://www.tri-murti.com/ancientindia/rigHistory/ch4.htm |date=15 January 2018 }} | * S. G. Talageri, The RigVeda - A Historical Analysis [http://www.tri-murti.com/ancientindia/rigHistory/ch4.htm chapter 4] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180115044119/http://www.tri-murti.com/ancientindia/rigHistory/ch4.htm |date=15 January 2018 }} | ||
| Line 350: | Line 348: | ||
{{reflist|group=web|refs= | {{reflist|group=web|refs= | ||
<!-- PIB --> | <!-- PIB --> | ||
<!-- <ref group=web name=PIB>[http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelcontent.aspx?relid=94098 Mythical Saraswati River], Press | <!-- <ref group=web name=PIB>[http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelcontent.aspx?relid=94098 Mythical Saraswati River], Press Information Bureau, Government of India, 20 March 2013.{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009182551/http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelcontent.aspx?relid=94098 |date=9 October 2016}}</ref> --> | ||
}} | }} | ||
| Line 358: | Line 356: | ||
== External links == | == External links == | ||
* [http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/oct252004/1141.pdf Is River Ghaggar, Saraswati? by Tripathi, Bock, Rajamani, Eir] | * [http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/oct252004/1141.pdf Is River Ghaggar, Saraswati? by Tripathi, Bock, Rajamani, Eir] | ||
| Line 368: | Line 366: | ||
{{Rigveda}} | {{Rigveda}} | ||
{{Mahabharata}} | |||
{{Hydrography of Uttar Pradesh}} | {{Hydrography of Uttar Pradesh}} | ||
| Line 375: | Line 373: | ||
[[Category:Mythological rivers]] | [[Category:Mythological rivers]] | ||
[[Category:Ancient Indian rivers]] | [[Category:Ancient Indian rivers]] | ||
[[Category:Rigvedic deities]] | |||
[[Category:Rigvedic rivers]] | [[Category:Rigvedic rivers]] | ||
[[Category:Sacred rivers]] | [[Category:Sacred rivers]] | ||
[[Category:Sea and river goddesses]] | [[Category:Sea and river goddesses]] | ||
[[Category:Indigenous Aryanism]] | [[Category:Indigenous Aryanism]] | ||
[[Category:Rivers in Buddhism]] | [[Category:Rivers in Buddhism]] | ||
[[Category:Rivers of | [[Category:Indus basin]] | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:Rivers of Haryana]] | ||
[[Category:Rivers of Uttarakhand]] | |||
[[Category:Rivers of Rajasthan]] | |||
[[Category:Rivers of Gujarat]] | |||
[[Category:Former rivers]] | |||