Saraswati – The ancient river lost in the desert - A paper from Current Science

This Current Science paper uses secondary data to discuss the disappearance of the river Saraswati. The enigma that was the disappearance of this river, which according to the author once upon a time greened Rajasthan and had nurtured civilizations on its shore, brought archaeologists, geologists, geophysicists, and climatologists to find answers. The author uses the body of work created by these scientists to solve the puzzle of the disappearance of the Saraswati.

Ancient Hindu texts including the Vedas, Manusmriti and Puranas call the river by many names which include Markanda, Hakra, Suprabha, Kanchanakshi, Visala, Manorama. The Mahabharata names Saraswati as one of the 7 great rivers; the others include Shatadru (Sutlej), Vipasa (Beas), Askini (Chenab), Parsoni or Airavati (Ravi), Vitasta (Jhelum) and Sindhu (Indus). Saraswati flowed for a period of 2000 years and was then obliterated.

Saraswati, was a glacier fed river and the author mentions research where the melting of glaciers has been explained as an outcome of war between the Hindu god Indra and the demon Vitra. The author mentions research which through geological and glaciological studies determined that Saraswati was supposed to have originated in Sarawati-Rupin glacier confluence at Naitwar in western Garhwal.  The river descended through Adibadri, Bhavanipur and Balchapur in the foothills to the plains and took a southwesterly course, passing through the plains of  Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat. The river was finally believed to have ended at the Great Rann of Kutch.

The author also mentions the philological debates around the name Saraswati which was also known as Harkhaiti or Haravaiti in the western regions of India. This debate, according to the author, centres around whether Aryans are indigenous people who on migration carried the name 'Saraswati' westwards where the 'Sa' was changed to 'Ha' or whether they were migrants from west of India and brought with them, the name Harakhaiti.

The author uses research on ancient Hindu mythology to find answers to the Saraswati. He says that every aspect of the river's life from birth to its journey through the Himalayas and plains has been recorded in some form in such texts. Legends have helped cataloging natural events that happened in that period.

The author makes mention of a description of a war between the Gods and Demons and the use of fire (Agni) to destroy a Demon hiding in the mountains which could refer to volcanic and seismic activity in that period.

From the study of secondary literature, the author concludes that the decline of the Saraswati began between 5000–3000 BC possibly caused by major tectonic activity in the Siwalik Hills of Sirmur region. The author mentions geologic studies that find destabilizing tectonic events occurring around the beginning of Pleistocene era.

This activity covered  the entire Siwalik domain and extended from Potwar in Pakistan to Assam in India. This resulted in massive landslides and avalanches which could have led to the the river being cut-off from the glacier feeding it. Thus the river became non-perennial and dependent on the monsoons. The author also mentions studies of changes in climatic patterns in this region which may have also caused the decline of the river.

The author concludes that it is very difficult to pin-point one reason for the disappearance of the river. It is a combination of various natural phenomena that led to its decline and disappearance.

Download paper here: