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Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Finding River Saraswati


A river is a Mystery; of distance and source,
Touch its flowing body and you touch far off places..
You touch a story that can't stop telling itself,
A story that's always just beginning..
The song of a river ends not at her banks,
But in the hearts of those, Who have truly loved her.

Saraswati means the 'Flowing One', the one that flows like a river as well as the one through whom flows knowledge. Devi Bhagvata Puran mentions that Goddess Saraswati in her full glory became Brahma's consort while a part of her incarnated on earth as the river Saraswati. A part of the goddess descended in Bhârat and is thus also known as Bhârati as well as Brâhmî because she is dear to Brahmâ.

Saraswati is the most sung about river in the Vedas and is called the Ambitame, Naditame, Devitame - the Best of mothers, Best of rivers and Best of goddesses in the Rig Veda. Ancient Sanskrit texts abound with references to the river:
  • Kartikeya was anointed the Commander of Deva forces on its banks,
  • Pururava, the scion of Lunar Dynasty, met Urvashi while galloping along the Saraswati,
  • Parshu-Raam took bath in the purifying waters of the river after cleansing Earth of tyranny,
  • Mahabharat War that ended an Era, was also fought along the banks of Saraswati!


Saraswati, the River Goddess of Arts & Learning

 

Saraswati has the distinction of being the only river-goddess with entire hymns dedicated to it in Rigveda [6.61], [7.95] [7.96 ]. She gave birth to canonical literature, the most scientific language in the world  and a vivid mythology. She is the river that gave birth to a Civilization. Yet, ironically, the existence of this same river has been under debate for a large part of our History! 



Scriptural References to River Saraswati


According to the 7th Mandala of the Rigveda, Saraswati was a mighty river that flowed from the mountain to the sea sustaining the lives of Vedic people. This very reference gives a valuable pointer to Saraswati's geography and the search for the river invariably begins from the Himalayas.


Origin of Saraswati near Indo-Tibet border



The Shalya Parva of Mahabharat quotes Rishi Dadhichi (the one whose bones were later used to make the Vajra) give her a benediction in which he states that she had risen from the Lake of Brahma in days of yore. This lake of Brahma is the Mansarovar Lake in Tibet at the base of Mt. Kailash which is indeed linked to many Indian rivers such as the Brahmaputra and the Indus. So it would not be surprising that Saraswati also originated somewhere in that region.




Rigveda Book 10 Verse 75 lists the prominent rivers of the Puru region and places Saraswati in the vicinity of the various tributaries of Indus. The names of the rivers are from east to west direction:
5 Favour ye this my laud, O Gan!gā, Yamunā, O Sutudri (Sutlej), Paruṣṇī (Ravi) and Sarasvatī: With Asikni (Chenab), Vitasta (Jhelum), O Marudvrdha, O Ārjīkīya with Susoma hear my call.
The Hymn 96 of Book 7 mentions the region she waters:
  1. I SING a lofty song, for she is mightiest, most divine of Streams. Sarasvatī will I exalt with hymns and lauds, and, O Vasiṣṭha, Heaven and Earth. 2 When in the fulness of their strength the Pūrus dwell, Beauteous One, on thy two grassy banks, Favour us thou who hast the Maruts for thy friends: stir up the bounty of our chiefs.
The Vaman Puran clearly mentions it as flowing through the region of Kurus or Kurukshetra.






Still more details are available in the Skanda Purana Section VII.1. 33. 11-100 & Chapter 34 detail the story of how Saraswati was forced to arrive on earth in order to take a terrible devastating fire to the ocean so that it would not destroy the whole world. It moves to the west and even goes underground at places when it can't support the heat of the fire it is carrying! 

 The next verses mention how she splits into five channels just before entering the ocean. This is clearly the description of a delta formed by the river before she joins the sea and this place where it merges into the ocean is mentioned as the Prabhas Kshetra which lies in modern day Gujarat. The Shalya Parva mentions many pilgrimage places linked to Saraswati that Balram travels to. Since he lived in Dwarka which was near the coast of Gujarat, he began his pilgrimage from the aforementioned Prabhas.

Despite all these references, Saraswati is currently not identifiable in the Indian sub-continent and numerous theories have been suggested to trace its route and origin. However, one man took the onus of compiling all this information and set about 'Finding' the Lost river. This man is the French proto-historian, Michel Danino and we will see what science has to say about Saraswati according to the research Mr. Danino has painstakingly conducted.




Finding the Lost River

Michel Danino has researched extensively about Indian history and is the author of numerous works of great scholarship. Based on recent research in a wide range of scientific disciplines, Mr. Danino puts two and two together remarkably well and brings to life the VITAL role this river played in sowing the seeds of Indian civilization. The result of his stupendous efforts is the hugely popular and widely acclaimed book - The Lost River. 

 Michel Danino's Classic


Danino begins his journey of discovery from a tiny seasonal river called Ghaggar. As soon as I came across the name, I realized this is the river that passes through my hometown!! At most places, the river is just a stream expanding to its banks only if the monsoon is really heavy. However, the ancient riverbed is 3 to 10 kilometers wide at places proving that it had indeed been a mighty river once!


Current arrangement of Northern Rivers

Ghaggar flowing near my Home
 




This is corroborated by the presence of the only temple to River Saraswati that I have come across which is situated in Pehowa, a small town in Haryana about 45 kms from Chandigarh.There is a huge water tank here which is supposed to contain the now stagnant waters of the river and where thousands of people come every year to do the Shraadh or Pind Daan of their ancestors. 

It is believed that Shri Krishna Himself came there with the Pandavs before the war to get them the blessings of the goddess. Some legends also say that this was the place where Vishwamitra, the Kshatriya king finally obtained the title of Brahma-rishi!

Michel Danino has painstakingly gathered data from a wide variety of sources - Study of Ancient literature; Recorded Historical accounts; Official reports from archives of the British Raj; Data from Archaeological Survey of India records; Pollen analysis from the lakes of Rajasthan; Studies of  Oxygen-Isotope ratios; Remote sensing satellite etc.

These and other such techniques have helped present a pretty conclusive picture of the ORIGINAL course of the river and the factors leading to its disappearance. According to Danino's research, about 5000 years ago, the flow of Saraswati was supplemented by the waters of Yamuna and Satluj both of which are perennial rivers from Himalayan glaciers. When we envision the combined volume of these three, we can actually visualize the magnificence of Saraswati as extolled in the Vedas.

Another French scientist, Henri-Paul Francfort, had discovered the dry river bed of Saraswati utilizing advanced imagery from the Satellite SPOT. His studies led to the conclusion that the river bed was pre-Harappan and had already started drying up by the middle of 4000 BCE. 

It appears that the river originated from the Har-ki-Dun glacier in West Garhwal along with the river Yamuna. The two rivers flowed parallel for some distance and later joined, proceeding south as the Vedic Saraswati. The seasonal rivers and rivulets, including Ghaggar, joined Saraswati as it followed the course of the present river through Punjab and Haryana. River Sutlej (Shatadru in Sanskrit), joined Saraswati as a tributary at Shatrana, approximately 25 km south of the modern city of Patiala.

Saraswati then followed the course of Ghaggar through Rajasthan and Hakra in Bhawalpur before emptying into the Rann of Kutch via Nara in Sindh province, running parallel to the Indus River. ISRO scientist A.K. Gupta, found fresh-water in the Thar Desert at places, where no sources of water exist.

Saraswati flowing through the Thar Desert


In the Jaisalmer district, even with very little rainfall (less that 150 mm) and extreme weather conditions, groundwater is available at a depth of 50-60 m (!!!) and wells in the vicinity do not dry up throughout the year. Groundwater samples exhibit negligible Tritium content indicating ABSENCE of modern recharge. Independent Isotope analyses have also corroborated this fresh water stored UNDER the sand dunes and Radiocarbon data suggests the groundwater is at least a few thousand years old! Not surprisingly, these stores of fresh water are located on the DRY river-bed of Saraswati!.



So what went wrong?

Imagine the might of Saraswati when you combine it with the waters of Yamuna and Satluj. Such a river would be the perfect water-way for trade and commerce and its fertile deltas and basins would support settlements all along its banks. However, some major earthquake in ancient time altered the topography of Northern India sufficiently enough to DIVERT the old courses of Saraswati's tributaries and while the Satluj changed direction to join Indus in the West, river Yamuna turned East to align with the Ganga.
 
It seems the Tectonic shifts pushed Saraswati underground which BTW tallies quite well with the popular belief about the flow of the river. Satellite images have confirmed the existence of a large number of Ground-Faults in the Saraswati-Sindhu and have caused the seepage of Saraswati water to underground channels, contributing to the legend of the Vedic Saraswati disappearing underground. 

From a practical point of view, if we can somehow revive this ancient source of water, it could become a LIFELINE for the parched desert areas of Western and Northern Rajasthan!

Around the same time, a global drought has been proven to have affected civilizations across an immense belt right from southern Europe to India. The Sumerian civilization of Mesopotamia was practically wiped out around 2200 BCE, while in Egypt, the so-called Old-Empire collapsed because of this change in climate! Incidentally, the Shrimad Bhagavatam holds Balrama, the brother of Shri Krishna, responsible for the alteration of the course of river Yamuna which was originally a major tributary of Saraswati!

Balrama altering the course of Yamuna!


In such a scenario, with BOTH its major tributaries gone, and a GLOBAL drought drying up the rivers, the results were catastrophic for our Saraswati, leading to the desertification of Rajasthan!



The Indus Valley Connection

If you carefully look at the course of the river plotted on the map of Indian sub-continent, you can not fail to grasp the proximity it shared with the course of the Indus. Interestingly, the time-frame of its existence ALSO coincides with what was till now known as the Indus Valley Civilization!

Now, some historians ask, could there be a possibility that this archaeologically OLDEST civilization of the Indian sub-continent was sustained NOT by Indus alone, but by Indus and Saraswati BOTH???  

More than 300 sites have been discovered along the ancient course of the Saraswati


With the work of researchers like Danino, this conjecture has indeed been proven to be true! In the early part of the century, Aurel Stein, a Hungarian archaeologist, had identified scores of Harappan sites in what is NOW recognized as the dry basin of the Saraswati right from Haryana in India to Punjab in Pakistan!

In fact, there are MORE archaeological sites along the bed of Saraswati (around 360!!!) than those along the Indus (just about 3 dozen)!! Moreover, with the latest discoveries of sites like Bhirrana it is now conclusively proven that this civilization did not progress from west to East but in the opposite direction. 

Perhaps THIS is the reason why this river-goddess is also worshiped as the Goddess of Art, Culture, Literature & Knowledge!

For those who do not know what I am talking about, let me explain - Till recently the biggest and oldest (as per Carbon-dating) sites were found in Pakistan. But the efforts of the Archaeological Survey of India have helped discover many new sites on the Indian side of the border thereby bringing to light two major sites. Bhirrana, which is a small village in Haryana has been carbon dated to 7570 BCE, the oldest of any city in the ancient world! Similarly, Rakhigarhi has been shown to be roughly 350 hectares, bigger than even Mohenjodaro which was considered the biggest Harrappan city earlier.

This could well turn out to be the turning point for re-defining our Actual History! BOTH of them are located on the now-discovered dry bed of the Saraswati and clearly this is where the legend about the Goddess being the guardian of civilization emerged from. [Read more about these here - Haryanas-Bhirrana-oldest-Harappan-site-Rakhigarhi-Asias-largest]

Because of the above discovery, it becomes so easy to understand the reason for the decline of the Harappan Civilization! It was NOT because of an invading force from the North composed of white-skinned, chariot-riding, horse-taming, iron-using Aryans as the older archaeologists are fond of claiming. The most ancient civilization of the Indian sub-continent declined because of the MASSIVE change in topography of the region!

Another study titled {Fluvial Landscapes of the Harappan Civilization} has come out after the writing of this article, which also supports this view and declares that waning of monsoons spurred both the rise and fall of the Harappans! The study was conducted by a team of scientists from US, UK, India, Pakistan and Romania between 2003 and 2008. Using state-of-the-art Geoscience technology, the researchers concluded that Harappans lived in a favorable climatic window which saw few floods and sufficient rains but things started changing around 4000 years ago.
s monsoon drying subdued devastating floods, the land nearby the rivers - still fed with water and rich silt - was just right for agriculture. This lasted for almost 2,000 years, but continued aridification closed this favorable window in the end

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-05-climate-collapse-ancient-indus-civilization.html#jCp
s monsoon drying subdued devastating floods, the land nearby the rivers - still fed with water and rich silt - was just right for agriculture. This lasted for almost 2,000 years, but continued aridification closed this favorable window in the end

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-05-climate-collapse-ancient-indus-civilization.html#jCp
s monsoon drying subdued devastating floods, the land nearby the rivers - still fed with water and rich silt - was just right for agriculture. This lasted for almost 2,000 years, but continued aridification closed this favorable window in the end

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-05-climate-collapse-ancient-indus-civilization.html#jCp
s monsoon drying subdued devastating floods, the land nearby the rivers - still fed with water and rich silt - was just right for agriculture. This lasted for almost 2,000 years, but continued aridification closed this favorable window in the end

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-05-climate-collapse-ancient-indus-civilization.html#jCp

The new findings serve to strengthen the premise that what we refer to as the Indus Valley Civilization was largely located on the banks of and in the proximity of the Saraswati river which withered away due to climatic conditions. The sudden change in the course of a river as wide as the Saraswati, would invariably lead to flooding in certain areas as its tributaries change their course, and a drought in the long run as the waters of the mighty river start dwindling and are unable to sustain the vast cities built on its banks.



From Saraswati to Ganga

Because of this dramatic turn of events, the denizens of the Indus-Saraswati had to relocate Northwards, Westwards and Eastwards. The eastward movement formed the major chunk of migration and the sacred attributes of Saraswati were gradually transferred to the other major river of the sub-continent, the Ganga.

Goddess Ganga takes over Saraswati's role


Most Early Harappan sites are located in the middle Ghaggar-Hakra river valley, and some on the Indus and the Saurashtra area of Gujarat. However, in the LATER period, the number of sites in the Ghaggar-Hakra and Indus diminish, while increasing in the Ganges plain and Saurashtra.

Indeed, the community of Saraswat Brahmins still trace their origin from the banks of Saraswati and are today spread all over the country right from Kashmir in the north to Kutch in the West to the Konkan region in the South of the country!


As the senior Indian Archaeologist, S.R. Rao observes - 

In circa 1900 BCE most of the mature Harappa sites were wiped out forcing the inhabitants to seek new lands for settlement. They seem to have left in great hurry and in small groups, seeking shelter initially on the eastern flank of the Sutlej and the Ghaggar and gradually moving towards the Yamuna. The refugees from Mohenjo-Daro and southern sites in Sind fled to Saurashtra and later occupied interior of the Peninsula.

Supporting data is present in the literary evidence where the earliest texts like the Rig-Veda mention Ganga only twice, but later literature like the Upanishads, mention the river repeatedly!



Indus-Saraswati Civilization and Vedic India

Interestingly, archaeological sites discovered on the banks of Saraswati, mirror the descriptions from ancient Vedic texts as well. According to Mahabharat 1.90.25-26, many great kings used to perform Yagnya on Saraswati's banks, which co-relates well with the abundance of fire-altars discovered at places like Kalibangan, a major Harrapan town located on the southern banks of the Ghaggar.

 Fire-altars discovered at Kalibangan


Traditional historians had refused to put faith in the abundant descriptions of Saraswati and had declared the date of arrival of the Aryans in India around 1500 BCE (Before Common Era). Also, they envisioned the Aryans as marauding forces who wiped out the resident Harrapans and branded them as Dasyus!!

However, the findings mentioned above throw up some very important questions viz.-

  • Saraswati is related to the Rig Veda and is worshiped by the Aryans, so how is it that more than 400 Harrapan sites co-relate so perfectly with its course???
  • If the river had dwindled to a stream around 3000 BCE, how does it fit in with the traditional dating of Aryans entering India around 1500 BCE???

The artificial dating of Aryans in India is questioned in what is known as the Frawley's Paradox given by Professor David Frawley, the Founder-Director of American Institute of Vedic Studies at Santa Fe, New Mexico. The paradox brings to fore an extremely pertinent point viz.- 

On one hand we have the vast Vedic literature without any Archaeological evidence to support it, while on the other hand we have almost 2500 Archaeological sites associated with the Indus-Saraswati civilization without any literature associated with it. 

For any sane person, the logical conclusion would be pretty obvious - The Rig Veda was composed while the Saraswati was in full flow much before 3000 BCE and the Vedic AND Harrapan cultures belonged to the SAME civilization!


There is NO need to assume that Indus-Saraswati people were DIFFERENT from the Vedic Aryans. This assumption was created out of thin air by early British historians who found it difficult to believe the existence of an Asian civilization pre-dating the Hellenistic civilizations of Europe.
 

Indeed Harrapan Seals show a preponderance of Hindu motifs such as the Swastika, the Bull, and the Peepal leaf. Numerous figurines display Yogic postures and various seals have been identified with Shiva and the Goddess.

Harrapan seal identified with Shiva
Seals with Trident, Bull and Peepal motifs


As mentioned before, the Mahabharat states that Balram traveled from from Dwarka to Mathura, on river Saraswati, to immerse the ashes of the Yadavs after the battle.This implies, the river was still navigable at the time of the Mahabharat War and the Epic was written BEFORE it had dried up i.e. at least before 3000 BCE (instead of 300 BCE given by older historians). Quite fittingly, this corresponds with the astrological dating of the War in 3rd Millenium BCE.


Krishna and Arjun on Battlefield Mahabharat



The discovery of vast number of sites on the banks of Saraswati, the co-relation with excerpts from Vedic scriptures, the revision of dates of these scriptures based on latest findings about the river, all these are tied to each other and lead to a common conclusion - The till now considered MYTHICAL Saraswati was HISTORICALLY present in the Indian sub-continent, sowing the seeds of Hindu religion and giving birth to the OLDEST Civilization in the World, that of Indus-Saraswati.. 



Saraswati Flows On

The worship of Saraswati is not limited to India alone and she has a huge fan following in Japan where she is revered as BENZAITEN - the only goddess in a group of seven lucky gods! In fact many other Indian gods also find place in the Japanese pantheon.



Benzaiten - Saraswati
Benzaiten (Saraswati), Kangiten (Ganpati) and Bishamonten (Kuber) in Japan



Our Scriptures were written on its banks, numerous Yagnyas performed in its vicinity, the very FOUNDATION of our religion was laid using the fertile kilns of the Saraswati. No wonder then, that the river is worshiped as Bharati, the Mother of Bharatiya civilization and many old Indian script supports her appellation like the Sharada that was used in Kashmir and the more widespread Brahmi. 

I consider myself lucky enough to have seen the river and touched its HOLY waters even before I knew of its real significance, and I was lucky enough to have also met the MAN who achieved the Himalayan task of tracing its origins :o)


 My fortunate meeting with Mr. Danino

 
I hope I was able to kindle a spark of excitement in my readers about this brilliant phase of our Cvilizational history and for those interested in knowing more, I highly recommend the book by Mr. Danino. For all who believe in the divinity of the river, I'm sharing this image by the brilliant artist Swapnil Singh, depicting Goddess Saraswati in all her sublime glory.


Saraswati, the Goddess of Learning


I pay obeisance to Saraswati, the Fountainhead of Knowledge, for awakening my mind to this reality and helping me believe in what, at some level, I instinctively knew was the truth. May the river Saraswati re-attain her lost glory and find its True place in the History of our ancient land..

The Goddess who is fair as the Jasmine flower,
Whose hands are adorned by the Celestial Veena,
Whose seat is the pure White Lotus;
O Mother Goddess, remove our Ignorance!  

The purifying Saraswati in All her forms of Plenty,
Enriching all substance, the Creatrix of Word,
May she desire the offered sacrifice;
O Mother Goddess, remove our Ignorance!
 

She, the Impeller of all Auspicious Truths,
The Inspirer of All the right Musings,
May Saraswati, uphold the Sacrifice;
O Mother Goddess, remove our Ignorance!

She who Awakens the Consciousness,
The awakener of the movement of Reet,
And the Illuminator of our Thoughts;
O Mother Goddess, remove All our Ignorance!
.
Aum Shanti: Shanti: Shanti:
.

160 comments:

  1. thanx vineet for this valuable information

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    1. Always took pride in being hindu and firmly beleived in our ancient scriptures which are based on knowledge,science,truth and not just a mythological story

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  2. after going with all information...I want to say that..I am feeling highly confident...and super proud to be a Indian and Hindu...plz keep posting your collections..thanks...

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  3. Thanx guys :) gud to know my efforts r being appreciated!

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  4. Actually, finding the location and path of 'Saraswati River' is a matter of Great Pride for the 'Bharathiyas'. .'Gaggar-Hakra' is indeed our Ancient 'Saraswati River'. . :)

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  5. Thanx @Rajesh... and it flows right through my hometown!!!

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  6. Loved d prayer to Saraswati!

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  7. Ofcourse.. Its true. we have to shut the mouth of crooked historians for distorting our history

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  8. Just read it. Great work Vineet Aggarwal. thar desert is relatively recent. So there had to be a big river in its place. Saraswati fits in every way. Looking forward for your next blog. :)

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  9. Thanx @Lawrence n @Vidyanath..

    @Pritee Mehta :) ur rite.. plus the marshland of Kutch in Gujarat became so and is still so coz it used to b the delta of this huge river!!!!

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  10. You are a genius.thk u

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  11. @Pratik thanx a ton!

    @Vijayen lol m so not!!! just try n analyze d available historical n mythological data n co-relate it with the scientific theories available today... :)
    thnx for d appreciation though!!

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  12. Superb... Brilliant.. Have you been to pondicherry Shri Maa Shri aurobindo Ashram... Its wortha visit atleast once in your life time... Specially Auroville :)

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  13. Hey Sridhar.. thanx buddy.. m yet to visit Puducherry... hope to do that soon though :)

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  14. It was an interesting read ...and most of the inferences seemed logical to me. I once again appreciate the hard work and logical correlations put across in this post..brilliant work! I am intrigued by the portion where you mentioned about the Vedic Aryans and Indus Saraswati civilization, though I am aware of the fallacy of Macaulayian version of history..I would love to read anything further on this, please share if you have any information or better still write on this topic, it would be a terrific read.

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  15. @Harsh thanx a lot for the appreciation!!

    As regards the dating of Aryans and Indus Valley, the Aryan Invasion theory has already been debunked by most archeologists and the research done by historians such as Danino n Frawley actually pushes us in the direction mentioned in the post.. it is more than likely that the two groups were NOT separate from each other at all but were a part of the same civilization... wil def write on it more in some later post.. thanx again :)

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  16. The river saraswati most probably vanished below the earth and is now an underground river. See there are many underground rivers in the world. The Amazon is believed to have larger parts of itself flowing underground at many places. The river Princesa in Philippines is called a wonder of the world and it flows entirely underground

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  17. Nicely Written, Keep it Up vineet

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  18. @Mandar right said dude..

    @Ankit.. thanx a lot buddy :)

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  19. yes it was confirmed a couple of years back the route of saraswati river. it existed, i think NASA published the route map also ASI, i search, i got it some where in my files

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  20. vineet, Thank you very much for the information

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  21. Saraswati River is the symbol of our civilization, Culture and Religion.. We have to anyhow prove its existence. It is widely believed that Saraswati River has fallen into underground because of change in the angle of earths axis of rotation. Few studies also showed that it is still flowing in the underground.

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  22. @Suman n Rishi thanks..

    @Vidyanath absolutley.. the exact cause may not be very clear yet but something catastrophic definitely happened to turn the course of Saraswati and CHANGE the course of events in the Indian sub-continent!!

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  23. India's 'miracle river'

    The legend of the mighty Saraswati river has lived on in India since time immemorial. Ancient Hindu scriptures called the Vedas, recorded thousands of years ago, are full of tantalising hymns about it being the life-stream of the people.

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  24. Through satellite photography, scientists have mapped the course of an enormous river that once flowed through the north western region of India. The images show that it was 8 km wide in places and that it dried up 4,000 years ago.

    Dr JR Sharma who heads the Remote Sensing Services Centre in Jodhpur which is mapping the images, believes a major earthquake may have played a part in the demise of the Saraswati. There was, he says, a big tectonic activity that stopped the water supply to the river.

    Sharma and his team believe they have found the Saraswati and are excited about what this discovery could mean for India. The idea is to tap its potential as a water source. They are working with India¿s leading water experts who are using the satellite images as clues.

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  25. Deep in the western Rajasthan desert, not far from the security-conscious border with Pakistan, an extraordinary programme is underway. Giant drilling rigs probe deep into the dry, arid earth pulling out undisturbed layers of soil and sediment for scientists to study and test.

    Water engineers are exploring the region's ancient riverbeds for what they call groundwater - underground reservoirs that contain perfectly drinkable water. If they are successful, their discovery could transform the lives of thousands of locals who currently experience harsh water shortages.

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  26. The modern search for the Saraswati was first sparked by an English engineer called CF Oldham in 1893 when he was riding his horse along the dry bed of a seasonal Rajasthani river called the Ghaggar.

    Over 1000 archaeological sites have been found on the course of this river and they date from 3000 BC. One of these sites is the prehistoric town of Kalibangan in northern Rajasthan.

    The town has proved a treasure trove of information about the Bronze Age people who actually lived on the banks of the Saraswati. Archaeologists have discovered that there were priests, farmers, merchants and very advanced artists and craftsmen living there.

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  27. Recent Research on the Sarasvati River

    http://www.stephen-knapp.com/recent_research_on_the_sarasvati_river.htm

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  28. Thanx @Chidamabaram for sharing all this info :)

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  29. Thanks for the info.

    That proves what VEDS say.

    In BRAZIL also scientists have discovered a huge river flowing underground
    similar in size to AMAZON.
    Hope one day we will get sweet water of SARASWATI river also.

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  30. Very nice! An eye opener !

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  31. And a fantastic attempt it is!

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  32. Thanx a lot vineet,all indians an hindu can proud to you.actually i never belive that british or american or european can want to show reality of INDIA.they are making rumors and mughol was also wants to destroy the original history of INDIA with burn the NALANDA AND another university which one i m not remembber now.Thanx a lot again we want to see more articles.

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  33. @Ashok Thanx a lot for ur kind words!! Plz share the info wid ur friends as well :)

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  34. There was a time, when the Sarasvati was the supreme river in the Indian subcontinent by far. It was the time when the Arya tribes were finding their feet in Northern India, Pakistan and then later Afghanistan. A time of many great battles, wars and also the composition of the Rig Veda - perhaps the most ancient texts in the world.

    The Sarasvati stood witness to cataclysmic events for centuries until one day it just dried up....

    Blood on the river Sarasvati is my attempt to bring to life events that may have occurred several thousand years ago, when the river was at its mightiest.

    http://rigvedafiction.blogspot.com/2011/08/birth-of-divodasa-part-i.html

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  35. Went thru ur blog.. looks very promising Yatin :)would b great to c it in book form soon!!!

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  36. " The refugees from Mohenjo-Daro and southern sites in Sind fled to Saurashtra and later occupied interior of the Peninsula."

    -- Most valuable information --

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  37. awesome information and thanks for the same. Mr.D.K.Hari from Barath Gyan has also done extensive study on the same subject.

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  38. Thanx a lot @Arun Kumar :) will check Mr. Hari's work as well..

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  39. i'm so happy i came across this amazing and approachable post, which helped me to understand what I've been confused about for so long. thank you

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  40. My pleasure totally :) m glad I could be of help

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  41. vineet, i should say it as a great effort from your side...a detailed study make it worth reading.... people usually speaks myths and stories. but yours is far ahead and i appreciate your effort behind this article....

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    1. @Nana thanx a lot :)
      when i read comments like this it gives me encouragement to continue further.. thanx again :)

      Delete
  42. Hi Vineet.. Absolutely great work boss! Awsome collection and more awsome write up and most awsome dedication!! keep going man!!

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  43. Hey buddy...hw r u? This is swapnil. I ve been a regular reader of ur blog for a long time...and i must say ur work is really amazing! The ancient Indian history has always enthralled me and I have been reading about it for a long time; but still, many a times, the information you provided on the blog was new to me...I wonder where you get all this information from!!! Well...awesome work I must say...keep it up!

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    1. Hey buddy thanx a ton! It feels gud to know ur efforts are appreciated and that too by people close to you :)

      Delete
  44. hey you know its a belief that river saraswati flows secretly inside lake in pushkar ajmer rajasthan and even it was proven that there are two kinds of water in there

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  45. till now it was mystic and many thought it is a myth, till recently NASA unearthed it through satellites, which is flowig beneth the ground.One of the reasons why Pushkar became a place of pilgrimage is because the sacred Saraswati river, which is almost invisible, appears here in five streams.

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  46. sometimes back scholars were upholding the view that river saraswathi was just a myth. now recently proved as a hard core truth.saraswaths is a community who were dwellimg on the banks of saraswathi performing vedic rituals .they are the people who kept on vedic life. even today they are the brahmins of highest brahmanical order. that is what irritates other brahmins.till adi shankara these other brahmins did not have guru peetham at all. it is from saraswath mutt/swamiji govindapada who gave sanyasa deeksha to shankaracharya. majority shankarite peethams do not know that govinda pada guru of shankara was a saraswath community swamiji of shri gaudapadacharya mutt.

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  47. let us know more about our mother saraswati and share this new knowledge and denounce the bogus theories of invading aryans thank u, brother.

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  48. Truly Enlightening. Thank you for sharing these information, they are priceless. I was fortunate that i accidentally found your blog like finding a hidden treasure, your blog is indeed hidden treasure of Knowledge. Keep up the good work, Let Goddess Saraswati guide us in the path of eternal knowledge.

    Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma

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    1. All is Brahman indeed :) Thanx for visiting and writing the kind words... am humbled

      Delete
  49. So we are all progeny of great Rishis. Their blood is running still in our vein. Spirituality is our birth right. We will show light to the world again.

    Whether Shudra was really untouchable at the time of vedic civilization or it was forcefully implanted in later stage? In your post there was a verse which said Shudra originated from leg of God. Why Shudra originated from leg or is it deliberately discriminated?

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    1. Shudras were never untouchables but because of the work they do which was later (and still) considered menial, these restrictions developed. Showing them as the legs does not denigrate them in any way instead it shows how important they are for the society because no man can be truly independent with the loss of legs!

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    2. nice reply to his answer! and nice explanation of shudras! i am also a blogger:- www.hindu4u.blogspot.in , i would love to invite u to my blog....... and plz reply me in my blog!!!!!!

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    3. Indian society formed on professional classification lived happily with mutual respect and lead a life of contentment.S.Rajendrappa. Bengaluru.

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  50. The Indian society was classified in such a way that no one thought it is disgraceful: Likwise even the shudras never thought that they are inferior just because they were doing menial work. The reason is simple. No society or individual can live independently on their own. Because, one can't do all his work all alone. The priest looked panchanga, farmer engaged in agriculture,warrior gave protection, merchant provided market to the surplus produce, like wise bagagis, ironsmiths, washermen, talawar and other working class engaged in their work on mutual understanding. There was contentment in life. Every one lived happily in good faith with mutual respect. S.Rajendrappa Bengaluru, Karnataka 9916578821

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  51. How much is fact and how much is fiction in the Shiva Trilogy by Tripathi and the other 3 books by Sanghi?

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  52. Well the Shiva Trilogy is of course fiction completely.. Sanghi's books are based on a mix of facts and fiction though the facts are more in number

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  53. Good work !! I dont normally read blogs (long blogs) unless they are technical and are of help to me. But the moment I started reading ur blog, I just got glued to it, majorly because of the information and of course, history is interesting only if explained well. Which is exactly what you've done. Keep up the good work :)

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    1. Thanx a lot Pramod :) History is interesting if read like a story and my aim is to present the hidden facts from our storis so that they can be actually RECOGNIZED as our True History!

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  54. river saraswathi and banks of which dwellers were saraswaths. saraswathi culture is saraswath culture a culture and tradition still exists of their own. dhanyavad to all those confirmed the existence of that river

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  55. I would like to know what the relationship is between the saraswati river as identified flowing east of the indus river and the sarawati which is now submerged in the sea along with the city and island of the dwarka of shri krishna. are we talking here about the same river?

    Ian

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    1. Well Ian there was only one Saraswati river in history and it flowed from the Himalayas right to the sea possibly close to Dwarka. It wasn't submerged along with the city but as detailed in the post above, had its own demise due to earthquakes and tectonic upheavals.

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  56. Hi vineet ,
    Beautiful and a very informative article . I am a saraswat brahmin myself and proud of this lineage . I am already aware of this history which u have blogged .. But u have put it very nicely . Did u know that the river ganga was manmade .. Read the history/ story carefully u will get the facts ..

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    1. Thanks a lot :) can you elaborate more on the Ganga angle?

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    2. i agree with Vineet. Please provide more detail on this.

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  57. Great work. I read about Dr. Frawley's work several years back. I'm glad finally we are able to show the world we were far more superior than the western civilization. Put an end to the Aryan fallacy.

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    1. Indeed! Thank God there are people like him who are interested in the real history of humanity rather than just the hypothetical version of it!

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    2. Its about rediscovering our heritage and not proving our superiority to someone else right?

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  58. Sir you did great job i appreciate that and i read shiva triology and the krishna key books those writers stories are totally around the vedic river saraswathi but you did great job
    and i have a small doubt your blog views are so high but why you not listed in google adsence account
    i am also blogger please tell me why
    my blog is iamtheindian.blogspot.com

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    1. Well thanx Nagaraj.. btw it is purely voluntary to enrol on adsense.. i did not wish to make it commercial so have not listed on it yet..

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  59. great work Vinnetji. I am very much proud to be an Indian. And I believe our invaders destroys our true history and we swallowed it from our childhood. Now the scholars like you are enlightened our mind and open a new view and bring more confident to be an Indian Thank you...

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    1. The pleasure is all mine my friend.. it is for all of us to rediscover our true history :)

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  60. sir which is the triveni sangam in ganga and yamuna saraswathi,

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    1. There's no actual sangam of three rivers buddy.. Yamuna used to join the Saraswati earlier and later moved to Ganga that is the only link the three rivers have with each other..

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  61. Great work!! Would love to read more such Analysis of our ancient India.
    Though m suprised to knw about "The Sangam" theory.

    Thanks for sharing the information!

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    1. My pleasure completely.. there may be some underground channel of Saraswati meeting at Triveni Sangam but it hasn't been proved yet..

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  62. NICE WORK SIR.... I NEED LOTZ OF INFORMATION.... THANK U..

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  63. Its amazingly well written and very enlightening.
    One questions however that still remains in my mind is : how do we explain the river Saraswati at MANA village?

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    1. Well that could very well be one of the tributaries my friend.. Thanx for visiting :)

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  64. Interesting , i would love to read the original book .

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    1. You should.. in fact everyone who's interested in our REAL history should :)

      Delete
  65. Dear Dr. Vineet Aggarwal,
    I can't tell how pleased am I to read (with logical reasoning) what I always believed in heart. I believe (and read also) that Dwarka city of Lord Krishna drowned way back in 5000-7000 BC (please correct me if I'm wrong). If it was the case then Mahabharat period was some where around this only. Lord Krishna is believed to have incarnated around 5000 BC. This can be validated by this article of yours.

    Now, what i want to know is, whether Sarswati still flows underground? The discovery of himalayan waters in Jaisalmer and rest of rajasthan which don't have tritium isotope of hydrogen, mean that saraswati has lost its source of waters after tectonic stuff ! Has anybody discovered present day himalayan quality water which can be referred to as water of saraswati? I can't believe (don't know why) that saraswati is not flowing underground.

    please reply. thankyou so much....

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    1. Dear Abhishek, thanks a lot for visiting and writing.. it is only because of readers like you that the blog finds its purpose fulfilled :) Dwarka got submerged somewhere arnd 3500 BCE not 5000.. you can check the post on Dwarka for more details..
      As for your question about Saraswati, the waters stopped because out of the three main tributaries changed course or dried.. just one that is the ghaggar remains and its waters are the only representative of Saraswati today..

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  66. Thank you Very much Vineet for the Great Information provided. The disappearance of Sarawati has always been haunting me since my childhood.

    As I was finding answers to my queries about Saraswati on the internet and, I found this blog. I feel so great and relieved after reading this article that finally I got the answers.
    further, the reasons provided for the disappearance seemed to be very logical and I don't believe there could be any other reasons than these.

    I have also shared this information with my friends.
    I think this information has to be shared with every Hindu for whom the religious importance of Saraswati is no lesser than Ganga.

    I also think that if anyhow the waters of saraswati could be revived, it would be great achievement from Spiritual as well as practical point of view.

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    1. Thank you so much Amit.. yes everyone should know it since this is the true history of our country not what was taught to us in the school! There are some efforts on to revive the river as per some news article I had read let's see to what extent they can be successful!

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  67. Sir, I am seriously indebted to you as a proud Indian. I have read books of Michel Danino and have also watched his videos, what makes me feel bad is that our culture is attracting thousands if not lakhs of foreigners and we Indians feel bad about our culture and make fun of it. I don't remember how I actually got to your blog, but it's the only blog which I am following. I am seriously very proud of our culture and also of our marvelous history. As your articles are quite long and I don't have enough time to read everything in a single day, I haven't seen any article which is on Mahabharata, so if you haven't written any article on it, I request you to please do write it, and please can you lemme know where can we get the full book of Mahabharata in english? I started my blog before I saw your blog, but now I take you as an inspiration for my blog. Please do visit my blog and gimme your feedback. If I have any queries on running my blog, I shall ask you and please do help me out. Please do lemme know where I can drop a private message on the same. Below I have put the link to my blog.
    http://nanjeshpatel.blogspot.in/

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    1. Thanks so much @Nanjesh for your kind words and please feel free to drop me a mail on drumbeatsofeden@yahoo.com in case you need any help.. I shall definitely check ur blog out :)

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  68. Good work.. I have already read 5 great pieces of work in a day.. Will keep doing it and ask my friends to do it.. Vivek..

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  69. Decoding Aryan history, Sarswati River and ancient history before 600 BC is interesting. Majority of the Himalayan rivers originated and developed before 7000 BC. Himalaya was different then. Majority of Himalayan region was under snow before 8000 BC. During Rigvedic or before it, river valleys were not as deep as today and communication in Himalayas was not difficult as today. Height was relatively less; a large area was like plateau, terrain was not difficult, river valleys were shallow and a large area was pathar-plateau. Perhaps people and animals enjoyed such terrain and life of people was easy. That is the reason that Dewas and Aryans rehabilitated this area due to richness of resources and then they cone down in plains. Before Rigvedic period, part of the Himalayas and Tibbatan valley was good area for people.

    Decoding of ancient history and Saraswati river may be possible if climatic and geomorphological changes are considered properly.

    Dr H S Singh
    EX PCCF and Chairman, GBB, Gandhinagar

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  70. your work regarding tracing the most sacred river The Saraswati,The Godess of purity & knowledge is highly commendable

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  71. The whole tale of Saraswati is narrated in the Shalya Parva as Balram journey from Dwarka to Kurukshetra, there is mention of start from Mansarovar and ending in Prabhas, with Yamuna joining in north, there is mention of time when the river broke up into five stream, then turned red for some time, also there are mentions of 12 year droughts, loss of vedas, and subsequent finding, viswasmitra and vasistha rivalry, and washing away of the south bank, and many other interesting facts, The cat is long out of the bag and the history has been open to see throughout but people have failed to see it

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  72. Namaste Dr. vineet Aggarwarl-ji,

    I can imagine the immense happiness you would have had by touching great river Saraswati and the contributor Mr. Danino. I envy (like a child) your luck, but frankly thanks for sharing details and making me visualize Ma Saraswati.

    I have been part of search (on and off) reg. Indian true history... bumped upon , myth of aryan invasion theory, Macaulayism for twisted sub-continent history, present system following same history in academics, dating of Mahabharat war-immersion of dwaraka-brahmastra usage-saraswati river disappearance, through discussion forums, learning ones, books.

    Can you show some light on relevance of Mahabharat war and Saraswati river disappearance more.

    Strangely, our guruji had taken us to Somnath(Gujarath) and conducted homa in river's sangam with sea at Triveni Ghat. He mentioned Kapil, Hiran and a mystical River Saraswati meets Arabian Sea. From the above maps, I find Saraswati river bed is on north portion of Gujarat... Any information on this?
    Thanks again,

    Usha







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    1. hi Usha, thanx for writing.. yes the Mahabharat mentions that the river has begun drying up but is still navigable and Balraam even makes the journey on it from Gujarat to Mathura. I dont think the river reached as far as Somnath but one of its distributory may have as mentioned by your Guruji.

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  73. Dear Sir,

    This is with respect to your article on the Saraswathi river. The identification of the Saraswathi River with the Ghaggra-Hakkar is accepted by leading archaeologists such as the late Gregory Possehl as well and i don’t think any other scenario is feasible. This is because of the following factors (a) The River Saraswathi explains the desertification of Rajasthan. It also explains the transfer of populations to the Ganga-Yamuna doab. The Indus Valley Civilization could not have flourished or taken shape with the Thar Desert sitting right in the middle. However, the IVC was pre-Vedic as was explained in my papers, and the transfer of power happened through a series of acculturations.

    Sujay Rao Mandavilli
    D-402, Ittina Akkala apartments,
    Hoodi,
    Bangalore -560048

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    Replies
    1. Hi Sujay, yes that is what has been described in the article as well :)

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  74. Beautifully written Vinay. I came across your blog by accident & I just love it! The way you write about things, going in depth, is beautiful. I am an artist by profession. My paintings & artworks are all based on spiritual themes, so something like this is very close to my heart. All the best!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Sonali for your wishes! Btw the name is Vineet ;)

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  75. Some say Brahma is Abraham and Saraswati is none but Sara the wife of Abraham. The Aryas brought this story to India. Do you agree?

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    1. Naah i dont agree with that since the timelines are vastly different.. also the Aryan Invasion Theory is completely wiped out now and doesn't have any takers in the scientific community!

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    2. This is the second time a search has led me to your posts. Each time I have found your work most enlightening. This time, I was also doing a search connecting the Abram/Sarai/Haggar to Brahma/Sarasvati/Ghaggar. The proof of a Harappan diaspora is far more sensible than an invasion. And if the diaspora spread east to the Ganges Valley and west into Iran then into the Russian steppes, it is reasonable the culture dispersed into the Fertile Crescent and Anatolia. (I know that I-E culture did spread east to west through Anatolia an d on into Northern Greece.) Our cultures and faiths have more commonalities than many of us are aware.

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  76. Danava WHITE AS CLOUDS fought the Devas. A Danava named Kalayavana attacked Krishna. Kalayavana means black Yavana because he was the son of a Yavana princes and a Brahmin. So he was dark like his father. Yavana was a subdivision of Danava. Arjuna fought the Danava in his northern conquest. The celts called themselves children of Danu, Tautha De Danaan. You can see Asura's who were white as milk. People in India have a misconception that Asura's were all dark skinned. Danava were called Mleccha Danava because they deviated from the vedic system. Krishna orders Danava armies to come to Kurukshetra. A composite army from the fart North comes to war under the leadership of Sudakshina Kamboja. Rishikas from far north and neibors to Kambojas who particpiated in the war is believed to be Russians. Rishikas fought for Pandavas.

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    1. http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m08/m08020.htm

      Pandya king Malayadwaja who fought the war. He is mentioned as a world famous hero. Even Udra-Keralas are mentioned as fighting the war. Kerala king is said to be in charge of making food for the armies in the war and he used to try to make peace between two sides because both sides respected him. Mahishaka's are identified with people of Mysore. Mushaka janapada is identified with Hydrabad. Ustrakarnika is said to be Telugu. Simhala is mentioned as siding with Kaurava's.

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  77. Dear Vineet,

    First of all, I commend you for creating this EXTREMELY RESOURCEFUL site on Hinduism and our great culture. I don't consider it mythology, so won't say it like that. I'm gonna go through each one of your articles which blend science, tradition, culture and yes, mythology to present such a fantastic outcome.

    I'm a mumumkshu myself, definitely not at your scale. However, what you've started here is a fulfilling and enriched and journey. I could only wish I join you in your exciting endeavors in whatever capacity I'm capable of.
    If ever, you do see a need of an accomplice (much like Sherlock sees Dr. Watson), I would be very much interested to hear of, and play that role.

    All the very best with your work. Keep up this incredible initiative of decoding Hindu Mythology, aka Life itself!

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    Replies
    1. Haha thanx a ton for your offer!! I would definitely welcome any help that can come from a like-minded person.. you can contact me through my facebook page the link to which is given on the top right corner of the blog.. shall wait to hear more from u :)

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  78. Great knowledge abt sarawati ..I was searching some connection between river saraswati a d the kumbh mela ..I just came across a text which says ujjain is also linked with the underlying sarawati river at the triveni sangam at ujjain ..so do u have any idea if there is any relation between the godavari of nasik and sarawati river .?

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    1. Havent found any such connection yet.. seems unlikely that they could be connected though since Saraswati generally emptied into the sea much above this point..

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  79. Good info. Depth of research has brought out very interesting facts abt river Saraswati. Thank you. Happen to see this wonderful blog. Will follow for more info.

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  80. AH! You solved a lot of my problems!!!! Now I can concentrate on the job at hand, which being touncover all the Malba on at least one site and uncover it to something like Mohenjodaro.....
    Like to chip in if you have the time? Would love to have your company, through N through!
    CHEERS

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  81. River Saraswati was mentioned along with river Ganga in Srimad Ramayana also.

    After receiving orders from Sage Vasista, Bharata embarks upon a journey from Kekeya Kingdom to Ayodhya. It was described he saw Saraswati enroute.

    सरस्वतीम् च गङ्गाम् च उग्मेन प्रतिपद्य च |
    उत्तरम् वीरमत्स्यानाम् भारुण्डम् प्राविशद्वनम् || २-७१-५

    Arriving at the confluence of Saraswati and Ganga rivers, Bharata entered the woods of Bharmuda, the north of Viramatsaya region.

    Here, Sage Valmiki was saying that Bharata crossed the confluence of Saraswati and Ganga rivers.

    Can we conclude that during Ramayana period Saraswati and Ganga rivers might have met at some point and thereafter got separated?

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    1. That is interesting.. the course of the Ganga itself may have been a little different than what it is now but its hard to imagine how or where they could have joined... unless the connection between them is that of Yamuna which by that time might have started to move away from the Saraswati towards Ganga!

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    2. Can you clarify the following issues?

      The Sapta-Sindhu region was bounded by Saraswati in the east, by the Sindhu in the west and the five in between were Satudru, Vipasa, Asikni, Parusni and Vitasta.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigvedic_rivers

      Then how was it concluded that Yamuna had been subsidiary river to Saraswati and it changed its course later? Was it anywhere mentioned in Rig Veda that Yamuna was infact a subsidiary river to Saraswati?

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    3. No this deduction comes from the analysis of paleo channels of the rivers in the northern region of India which show that both Satluj as well as Yamuna at some point of time used to flow into the Saraswati.. read the book I mentioned in the article above by Michel Danino for more details

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  82. Many archaeologists/authors say that after drying up of Saraswati, people of this side of land moved to Gangetic plains and people on the other side moved towards Iran and other places. And that as the Vedic Literature did not mention about any cities in Gangetic plains, the Vedic Culture slowly developed over there.

    My doubts are:

    1. We do not see archaeological finds of the Saraswati type in the rest of India, because the rest of India continued with life, at existing settlements. Most Indian cities have been settled for centuries – and have not seen vast archaeological excavations. And in all these centuries, Indic peoples moved up and down from South to North to South to East and West – from living settlements to living settlements.

    So, when no archaeological finds of the Saraswati type in the rest of India, how was it inferred that people did not reside in Gangetic plains, when people at the beds of Saraswati used to compile the Vedic Literature?

    2. River Saraswati was mentioned along with river Ganga in both Srimad Ramayana .

    After receiving orders from Sage Vasista, Bharata embarks upon a journey from Kekeya Kingdom to Ayodhya. It was described he saw Saraswati enroute.

    सरस्वतीम् च गङ्गाम् च उग्मेन प्रतिपद्य च |
    उत्तरम् वीरमत्स्यानाम् भारुण्डम् प्राविशद्वनम् || २-७१-५

    Arriving at the confluence of Saraswati and Ganga rivers, Bharata entered the woods of Bharmuda, the north of Viramatsaya region.

    Here, Sage Valmiki was saying that Bharata crossed the confluence of Saraswati and Ganga rivers.

    So, in the absence of archaeological finds of the Saraswati type in the rest of India, as mentioned above, why should not we consider that at the time of Ramayana, The 2 rivers Ganga and Saraswati were used to confluence somewhere after the points of origin and thereafter due to tectonic disturbances, as were happened around 4000 b.c., they got separated?

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    1. 1. This is based on the analysis of arceological remains excavated in the Indian sub-continent. The oldest cities were around Saraswati while at that time the Gangetic plain did not have much evidence of advanced cities like those of the Sindhu-Saraswati Civilization.

      2. This I think is the only mention of such a confluence. Only if the paleo-channels of both rivers show an overlap can it be inferred scientifically.

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  83. By the time the British started doing their archaeological excavations in Harappa area and Indus area, the Gangetic plain was already covered with human settlements. So possibility of finding human settlements in the Gangetic plain similar to that existed in the era of Rig Veda at Saraswati river area, could be remote possibility. Hence, existence of human settlements in the Gangetic plain in the era of Rig Veda at Saraswati river area cannot be ruled out.

    Yajurveda might not have been composed in Sarasvati river banks, My presumption is that some scholars might have composed Yajurveda in Gangetic plain, later to composition of Rig Veda, while some scholars were still in Saraswati river area.

    -------------------

    Sage Valmiki mentioned in his EPIC Srimad Ramayana about existence of 3 Vedas. And, Sri Rama was described as yajurvEdavinItascha (trained in Yajurveda) - Sundara Kanda,

    यजुः वेद विनीतः च वेदविद्भिः सुपूजितः |
    धनुः वेदे च वेदे च वेद अन्गेषु च निष्ठितः || ५-३५-१४

    "He got trained in Yajurveda, the sacrificial Veda. He is highly honoured by those well-versed in Vedas. He is skilled in Dhanurveda, the science of archery, other Vedas and the six limbs* of Vedangas."

    So by time Ramayana occurred, Yajurveda might have come in to existence. 

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    1. Thats possible yes.. but short of that digging there's nothing that we can conclusively say

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  84. Saraswati is a mighty river with purifying and nourishing properties. Even at Allahabad at the time of Kumbh Mela People bathe where the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati converge.

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  85. Very well documented. Thanks for all the information consolidated in this blog. I am a saraswat brahmin and our ancestors' origin is traced back to the banks of mighty Saraswati river.

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  86. can this change the history taught in textboks?can it deem us hindus as bharat as the oldest civilization and give a backbone to our culture. which due to invasions by mughals and britishers lost its significance.i believe in my culture but it will br breathtaking when the history will be rewritten and the world acknowledges it. hope it happens soon,wil look forward to more updates.

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    1. We certainly hope so! Till then keep spreading the knowledge and making others aware :)

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  87. If the River Indus had also existed parallel to the River Saraswati, to its West, the Rig Veda would also have had some reference s about it. It is not so. Then could the Indus have also been a tributary of the Saraswati - then imagine the expanse of the river. no wonder it is referred to as Goddess, Mother etc. The Indus could also have drifted West due to the tctonic shift that moved Sutlej to the West and the Yamuna to the East. A food for thought!!

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    1. Indus does have reference in the Vedas whre it is called Sindhu. But yes regardless of that, Saraswati was indeed the biggest river of all!

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  88. Hi Vineet, I really appreciate the writings you do, great job. I was wondering have you publish any of this work like a research paper? You made me think that even our education syllabus should be updated according to the new findings which are happening around.

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    1. Hi Revathi, no unfortunately our country doesn't have a way to publish these as research papers unless you are affiliated to a course or a university. So no for now these are just ramblings of an idle mind available online for all fellow seekers of Truth :)

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  89. Hi this s Himanshu,,, it's a nice article as you always write,,, your approach towards the Truth is brilliant,,, thr is no mess,,, hve gone through your other writings also,,, one thing s common Jainism talks about thirthankars Islam talks about messengers Mahavir and Mohammed being the last ones so they too claim to be oldest,,, probably they have become religion in latest History,,, infact Lord shiva is said to be Adam ala salam,,, thr shud be some connection and infact you have compared Egyptian deities also with Hindus,,, I don't want to prove my God is real or better but my point is all were one once,,, Jqmbudwepa theory aligns with ths thought,,, and until unless we prove that all originated from same power we cannot bring peace,,, Allah, Param Brahma,,, God are same

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    1. Indeed we need to find common ground if humanity wants to survive another generation!

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  90. Great job, true knowlegde, wisdom, can only be unifying to all humans.....thank you, inescapably timely....peace is our true nature, even if many push us to believe it otherwise. And this is the real value in searching our past, to reconnect with our essence, nothing else matters.
    The perfection of Vedic teachings has been very meticulously recollected in the past 30 years by a great sage Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (so much of this vast body of knowledge was getting forgotten, lost in its true meaning), with the help of so many learned Pandits, Vaidyas, Jyotishis, allowing our modern society to reconnect with and apply its principles in daily life, for harmony and success on all levels of life, personnal, family and society. Namaste.

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  91. grt knowelge about the great river of history inspiring....and still flourishing beneath the ground

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  92. Hi Vineet,
    Great writeup. I am just about to finish the book my Michel and greatly inspired by it and by reality of our History. Now I realize that the History is written with the creative minds of the writers but the truth and reality is way beyond it. Was wonder-stuck by the facts and proofs collected by the author.

    You have done an amazing job. I will certainly read your other works too. Do keep up and Thanx a ton.

    Regards,

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  93. I just published an article 'Finding the Saraswati River & Restoring the Flow of Her Vedic Wisdom'. It also discusses the matter of decoding Hindu mythology ... focusing on the Geometry underlying the mythology of Saraswati. http://circumsolatious.blogspot.com/2018/07/finding-saraswati-river-restoring-flow.html

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  94. Thanks Vineetji. Good work. Something for us Bharatiya to be proud of, but we need to be careful not to get drawn into emotions. We know the that History can be, in many ways, verified by science and technology.
    The Vedas were formed, not by publishers but those who were curious to know the Truth. We need not try to prove or disprove Vedas to anybody. It is a pure science for human life. It needs no proof. None-the-less, to regain the faith of our own people and for the benefit of our forth coming generations, we need to do more of what you have done.
    Thank you Sir for inspiring so many.

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    1. My pleasure completely :)
      Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

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  95. Sir, I have another perspective
    - Saraswati "River" was a river of "knowledge" (BrahmaGyan or Knowledge of the Soul) which used to be prevalent centuries ago, before the start of KaliYuga. Ma Saraswati is the Goddess of Knowledge and not a "River". The meaning has itself been lost because of exit of knowledge
    - Saraswati "drying" up means disappearance of that knowledge in KaliYuga.
    - Someone taking bath in Saraswati and becoming Rishi means attaining BrahmaGyan with help of Goddess Saraswati and becoming enlightened (and not by taking just a "bath" in any river)

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    1. Yes that can be one interpretation as well but our puranas explicitly mention Saraswati the goddess coming down to earth as a river due to a curse so I guess the truth is a mix of both

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