Sarasvati River

The Sarasvati River (IAST: sárasvatī nadī́) was one of the Rigvedic rivers mentioned in the Rig Veda and later Vedic and post-Vedic texts. The Sarasvati River played an important role in the Vedic religion, appearing in all but the fourth book of the Rigveda.

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B

• When the [Rig Vedic] hymns were written the focus of Āryan culture was the region between the Jamnā (Sanskrit Yamunā) and Satlaj (Shutudrī), south of the modern Ambālā, and along the upper course of the river Sarasvatī. The latter river is now an insignificant stream, losing itself in the desert of Rajasthan, but it then [in Rig Vedic times] flowed broad and strong...
  • Basham, A.L., The Wonder That Was India, third edn, Rupa & Co., Calcutta, 1981, pp. 31-32. quoted in Danino, M. (2010). The lost river : on the trail of the Sarasvatī. Penguin Books India.

• Sarasvati's rediscovery, although arguably suggestive of considerable Vedic antiquity, cannot be used to prove absolute synonymity of the Indus Valley residents and the Vedic Aryans.
  • Bryant, E. F. (2001). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture : the Indo-Aryan migration debate. Oxford University Press. chapter 9, p. 169.

C

• The Ghaghar river . . . does not in the heaviest season pass in force beyond Bhatnir . . . and the period when this river ceased to flow as one is far beyond record, and belongs to the fabulous periods of which even tradition is scanty... When the depopulation took place, I am not prepared to say; it must have been long since, as none of the village sites present[s] one brick standing on another, above ground,—though, in digging beneath it, very frequent specimens of an old brick are met with, about 16 inches by 10 inches, and 3 inches thick, of most excellent quality: buildings erected of such materials could not have passed away in any short period. The evident cause of this depopulation of the country is the absolute absence of water.
  • Colvin, Major, ‘On the Restoration of the Ancient Canals of the Delhi Territory’, Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. II, March 1833, p. 107. quoted in Danino, M. (2010). The lost river : on the trail of the Sarasvatī. Penguin Books India.

• The most sacred and eastern source of the Sarasvatī is said to be Adi-Badri Kunda north of Katgadh [Kathgarh], while the latter is still remembered to be the place where the sacred stream came out of the hills.
  • Alexander Cunningham, quoted in Bhargava, M.L., Geography of Rgvedic India, , p. 71, with reference to Archaeological Survey of India Report, vol. XIV, p. 75. quoted from Danino, M. (2010). The lost river : on the trail of the Sarasvatī. Penguin Books India.

G

• Often enough it seemed as though, like the river Sarasvatī, the lost stream of the old Sapta-sindhavas, the river of Indian thought had disappeared beneath the surface or had become lost in shallow marshes and morasses . . . But, sooner or later, we see the stream reappear, and then old ideas resume their way.
  • Gowen, Herbert H., A History of Indian Literature from Vedic Times to the Present Day, D. Appleton, New York & London, 1931, p. 9, quoted in Danino, M. (2010). The lost river : on the trail of the Sarasvatī. Penguin Books India.

• In view of Stein’s statement which had led us to believe that nothing very ancient would be found in the region, it was a great thrill for us when even on the first and second days of our exploration we found sites with unmistakable affinities with the culture of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. And a few subsequent days’ work convinced us that the Sarasvatī valley had been really a commingling of many rivers, not only geographically, but culturally... ‘the valleys of the Sarasvatī and the Drishadvatī must be regarded as very rich indeed in archaeological remains’.
  • Ghosh, A., ‘The Rajputana Desert: Its Archaeological Aspect’, in Bulletin of the National Institute of Sciences in India, 1952, vol. I, pp. 37-42, reproduced in An Archaeological Tour°, p. 101., quoted in Danino, M. (2010). The lost river : on the trail of the Sarasvatī. Penguin Books India.
  • Amalananda Ghosh who discovered Harappan sites along the bed of the Ghaggar

From Hindu texts

• Sarasvati, pure in her course from the mountains to the sea.
  • Rigveda, VII, 95, 2, as quoted in David Frawley, "Witzel’s Vanishing Ocean – How to Read Vedic Texts Any Way You Like", in The Hindu (25 June 2002), 'Open Page'

• O Sarasvati, lead us on to better, Do not spurn us, do not deprive us of your plenty; Rejoice in our company, and that we’re neighbours, Let us not go away from you to foreign fields.
  • Rigveda 6.61.14, as quoted in Thomson, K. (2009). A still undeciphered text: How the scientific approach to the Rigveda would open up Indo-European studies. Journal of Indo-European Studies, 37(1-2), 1-72.