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Rigvedic Sarasvati River

Civilization and water development have gone hand in hand in the Indus Valley for over 4,500. Although in the early millennia the region was apparently wetter than it is it now, it was always necessary to develop irrigation agriculture to support civilization. Thus the extent and sophistication of the irrigation systems is closely related to the size and sophistication of the associated civilization.

From 2300 to 1750 BC there was an advanced and large civilization in the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra River Valleys in Pakistan. The Ghaggar-Hakra River system is largely dried up, now. Many sites have been excavated over a large area stretching from the foothills of the Himalayas to the Arabian sea.

The Indus River basin has evolved significantly during the Holocene and may have affected the Harappan Civilization which is believed to have collapsed around 2000 BC. The eastern palaeo-tributary (Ghaggar-Hakra) of Indus drained the Lesser and the Higher Himalayas and is different from the trunk Indus stream which derived mainly from the Karakoram, Transhimalayas, Hindu Kush and Kohistan ranges. Some have suggested that the Ghaggar-Hakra was dominated by reworking from the Thar Desert prior to around 2000 BC. This suggests the hypothesis that cessation of flow in the Ghaggar-Hakra drove the Harappan people from the Indus valley 4,000 years ago. Either due to the uplift of the Siwaliks or some tectonic movements in the Himalayas, the feeding glacier got cut or even due to increasing aridity in Rajasthan or the adjoining areas, the moving sands choked the Saraswati and Chautang Rivers of Haryana.

It is described in superlatives. It is called 'naditama, the best of the rivers' (Rv 2,41.16), which surpasses 'in majesty and might all other rivers' (Rv 7.95.2). It is 'fierce' (Rv 6.62.7), and 'swifter than the other rapid streams' (Rv 6.61.13). It 'comes onward with tempestuous roar' (Rv 6.61.8) 'bursting the ridges of the hills with its strong waves' (Rv 6.61.2). Sarasvati springs from a 'three-fold source' (Rv 6.61.12) in the mountains (Rv 7.95.2), and finally ends in a samudra (literally 'the gatherer of the waters' or sea) (Rv 7.95.2). It is a long river because many kings live on its banks (Rv 8.21.18) and the five tribes (Rv 6.61.12) derive their prosperity from it. It is 'sindhu-mata, the mother of rivers (Rv 7.36.6). It swells with rivers (Rv 6.52.6), said to be seven in number (Rv 6.61.12), Sarasvati being the seventh (Rv 7.36.6). Two rivers, Drishadvati and Apaya, are explicitly named in (Rv 3.23.4) in conjunction with Sarasvati. In addition, it is called 'sapta-svasa', 'with seven sisters' (Rv 6.61.10). Another verse (Rv 8.54.4) speaks of Sarasvati and seven rivers (Sapta-sindhavah). These are the 'seven mighty rivers' that 'seek the seas' (Rv 1.71.7).

The Pakistani segment of the Ghaggar (Hakra) is popularly known as the Cholistan desert, which is divided into lesser and greater Cholistan. The Pakistani segment of the Ghaggar (Hakra) is better represented than the Indian segment in terms of settlements. The history of human activities is also anterior to its Indian counterpart. Analysis of the Harappan settlements in both the (Pakistan and Indian) segments of the Ghaggar (Hakra) does not ascribe any appreciable role to the water course as such.

The Ghaggar-Hakra River has been identified by some as the ancient Saraswati very often referred to in the RigVedic period. The river Ghaggar is important from the Harappan point of view, since as of 1992 there were more than 1000 Harappan sites on its bank as against only 50 on the Indus. The Ghaggar river is thus in a unique position to compare and constrast the archaeological evidence and literary traditions. The earliest enquiry into this problem was made by Surgeon-Major C.F. Oldham. He extensively reviewed the identification of the course of ancient rivers not only geographically but also made an attempt to reconstruct chronology of river flow on the basis of ancient literature, right from the Vedas, Puranas, Mahakavyas to the Medieval chronicles.

But others argue that the attributes of the celebrated Rigvedic river Sarasvati do not match those of the Old Ghaggar, even if one assumes that the Satluj and the Yamuna flowed into it; and in any event, the Ghaggar was already defunct in RigVedic times. An archaeological survey carried out in 2007 in parts of Hanumangarh and Ganganagar Districts of Rajasthan and Bhiwani and Rohtak Districts of Haryana recorded some of the sites with the help of the GPS. Surprisingly, all the sites near Anupgarh area are actually located in the Ghaggar River course. This is very interesting and suggests that the Ghaggar (Saraswati) River had dried much before the emergence of the pre-Harappan culture in this area. The other problem with the identification of the Sarasvati with the Ghaggar is the proposed identification of the Rigvedic people with the Harappans. But the Harappans were sedentary, in sharp contrast the peripatetic Aryans of the Rig-Veda. And the Ghaggar basin neither enjoyed greater frequency of sites during the early and mature Harappan levels, the formative period, nor was it the epicenter of their activities.

The abrupt abandonment of urban centers at ~3500 BP has been explained as a consequence of river diversion, although alternative explanations for cultural decline have also been entertained. These hypotheses have remained untested because the stratigraphy and chronology of the postulated palaeochannel has never been determined. A combination of satellite image analysis, subsurface geophysical analysis and sediment coring to analyse the large-scale planform geometry, and detailed sedimentary and stratigraphic nature of the postulated palaeochannel in NW India has been used in an analysis on a tract of the proposed channel adjacent to the major Harappan urban centre of Kalibangan in Rajastan State. The surface trace of a postulated palaeochannel on satellite imagery is confirmed by subsurface geophysical investigation and detailed coring. Changes in the course of the palaeochannel may have influenced settlement patterns of the Harappan civilisation in present day NW India.