Saraswati River existed

[Guest guest]

"vishalsagarwal" <vishalsagarwal> wrote:

"In their conclusion, the scientists observed: "A major, abandoned

course of the Saraswati river has been discovered through the

present extreme desert terrain of Jaisalmer. This course was in

existence before the Saraswati occupied the Wahinda or the Raini

courses. Afterwards, the river gradually shifted westward and

occupied the Wahinda and the Raini courses. This was followed by

another westward shift when the river no longer debouched into the

Rann of Kutch independently, but met the Sutlej near Ahmadpur East."

 

Title: River existed

Publication: The Daily Pioneer

By Arabinda Ghose

16 December 2005

URL: http://dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?

main_variable=oped&file_name=opd2%2Etxt&counter_img=2

 

The Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on

Transport, Tourism and Culture, in its 91st report on the

functioning of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), has

described the Saraswati river as a "purely mythological one" and has

upbraided "a scientific organisation like (the) ASI" for not

correctly proceeding (in the matter of the Saraswati Heritage

Project). The committee is headed by Mr Nilotpal Basu, who has been

chairing it since 2003-04.

 

 

 

 

Without referring to the Heritage Project here, one would like to

present before our Members of Parliament (MPs) who constitute this

committee, that there is irrefutable scientific evidence available

which substantiate the claim that a mighty river,originating in the

Himalayas, did flow through today's Haryana and Rajasthan. Moving

through Pakistan, the river used to meet the sea at the Rann of

Kutch.

 

 

 

A judicial document, too, mentions this river repeatedly in its

report on adjudication over a river water dispute.First, the

scientific evidence. For this, one refers to an article in the

Geographical Journal, London (volume l45, part 3, November l979,

page 446-451), entitled "The Lost Course of the Saraswati River in

the Great Indian Desert: New Evidence from LANDSAT Imagery-95". It

was authored by Bimal Ghose, Amal Kar and Zahid Hussain. These

scientists were then working with the Jodhpur-based Central Arid

Zone Research Institute(CAZRI), a unit of the Indian Council of

Agricultural Research (ICAR).

 

 

 

In their conclusion, the scientists observed: "A major, abandoned

course of the Saraswati river has been discovered through the

present extreme desert terrain of Jaisalmer. This course was in

existence before the Saraswati occupied the Wahinda or the Raini

courses. Afterwards, the river gradually shifted westward and

occupied the Wahinda and the Raini courses. This was followed by

another westward shift when the river no longer debouched into the

Rann of Kutch independently, but met the Sutlej near Ahmadpur East.

 

 

 

This last course has also been abandoned and the river fans out on

the alluvial plain before reaching the Sutlej. We suggest that the

alluvium in the extreme western part of the desert was contributed

by the Saraswati river, and that the sub-surface water in the

western part of this desert is mainly derived from precipitation

flowing sub-terraneously through the former courses of the

Saraswati."

 

 

 

At one point of their report, the scientists say that field

investigation through Bap, Pokaran, Jaisalmer and Myajlar (please

see accompanying map) show that the area through which the Saraswati

was traced supports lush green vegetation, even during the hot

Indian summer months... The few wells along the tract provide

additional evidence in support of the earlier course of the

Saraswati.

 

 

 

At Dharmi Khu, Ghantial, Ghotaru and to the west of Shahgarh the

wells have sweet water at 30 to 40 metre depth... The other wells...

also do not dry up in the summer months, suggesting a continuous

supply of water from the upstream side... Hence it may be suggested

that the present sub-surface hydrology of the region is mainly

contributed by precipitation in the catchment of the Saraswati in

the Himalaya and adjoining plains and not by the present meagre

rainfall (less than 150 mm per annum) in the western part of the

Indian Desert.

 

 

 

The preceding paragraphs show that only the 20th and 21st century

scientific methodology - and not "mythological" scientific

arguments - were employed by these scientists in order to prove the

existence of the Saraswati in the past. LANDSAT Imagery is a late

20th century innovation.

 

 

 

The Judicial document mentioned earlier is the report of the Ravi-

Beas Water Disputes Tribunal, headed by Justice V Balakrishna Eradi

of the Supreme Court. The report was released in 1987. In this

document, the tribunal quotes the Irrigation Commission ('Rashtriya

Barh Ayog', 1972) regarding the flow of the river Ghaggar,

saying: "This river flows in a generally south-westerly direction

practically throughout its length. It enters the state of Haryana

near Kalka about 10 kilometres from its source.

 

 

 

Continuing to flow in the same direction, the river criss-crosses

the boundary line between Punjab and Haryana at a number of places.

The Patielwali Nallah joins it at two different places on its right

bank before it receives, through the Saraswati, the combined waters

of its three important left bank tributaries viz Tangri, Markanda

and Saraswati near the village Shatrana..."

 

 

 

This is yet another evidence of the Saraswati river having existed

in the past. In fact, some water courses in north-western India are

still named after this river. It is for our respectable MPs to

decide now whether more evidence are necessary to prove the

existence of the Saraswati sometime in the past. They are available.

 

 

 

(The writer is a former special correspondent of the Hindustan Times

and was a member of the Communications Core Group of the task force

on inter-linking of rivers. He is currently a member of the New

Delhi Chapter of the World Water Council)

 

--- End forwarded message ---