NEWS

In a bid to revive the Saraswati river, the governments of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh will enter into an agreement that entails the building of a dam to supply round-the-year water flow to the river channel

SARASWATHI

• Originated from Kapal Tirith in the Himalayas in the west of Kailash
• Flowed southward to Mansarovar and then turned towards the west.
• Flowed through Haryana, Rajasthan and North Gujarat.
• It also flowed through Pakistan before meeting the Western Sea through the Rann of Kutch and was approximately 4,000 km in length.
• The river had two branches: western and eastern.
• The Himalayan-born Satluj “of the PAST”, which flowed through the channels of present-day Ghaggar-Patialiwali rivulets, represents the western branch of the ancient river.
• On the other hand, Markanda and Sarsuti represented the western branch of Saraswati, known as Tons-Yamuna.
• The confluence of the branches was near Shatrana, 25 km south of Patiala. And suddenly, it flows across the desert (Rann of Kutch) and meets the Gulf of the western sea.
• Evidence
  • One of the main Rigvedic rivers
  • Rig Veda includes a hymn called the ‘Nadistuti Sukta’, which sings praises of the Saraswati as being “perfect mother, unsurpassed river, supreme goddess”.
  • For 2000 years, between 6000 and 4000 B.C, the Saraswati flowed as a great river