How Saraswati - India's Most Sacred River - Disappeared

     
      Hey guys. I'm trying to post a content every Saturday and Sunday. My third translation of my mom's Mahaperiyava Satsangam is under way. I'm about half way done and I'm expecting to finish before Thanksgiving break ends. I'm again doing another interesting information article about India. Read the full description below to really know how this relates to Hinduism. With that said, I'll be happy to introduce the article, "How Saraswati - India's Most Sacred River - Disappeared."



      For most Indians, Saraswati is known to them as a divine Goddess representing learning and knowledge or as a consort of Brahma. Saraswati owns her share of the Hindu Scriptures, but she also has a muddled share of the geography of India. Saraswati unfolds itself as not only a powerful and spiritual Goddess, but as a river which contributed to Vedic sages and the glorious Indian civilization.
      When Saraswati was in full form about 5,000 years ago, the land which is now present-day Rajasthan was green, fertile with lust vegetation, breathtaking with its deep valleys, and pristine with its cool and amiable environment. By scrolling through history books, it is evident that the lifeline of any country is defined by its water bodies such as rivers, lakes, etc. For example, the Mesopotamian civilization depended on the Tigris-Euphrates river system, the Egyptian civilization depended on the Nile river, the Chinese civilization depended on the Yangtze and Yellow river systems, etc. When looking at present-day Rajasthan, it would be close to impossible for us to believe there were a variety of greenery in that area. But according to many Hindu scriptures, the lifeline of the Indus Valley Civilization was the Saraswati River.
      Going back to the luscious state of Rajasthan, the great civilizations there were centered around the booming industries and farming which prospered in the riverbanks of the Sarswati. Research shows that about 5 kilometers from the sources of the Ganga and Yamuna, the Saraswati river flowed from the Yamdhar Glacier of the Himalayas, gushing through the deep valley like a free flowing stream, then marched splendidly through Uttharanchal, Yamunanagar in Haryana and Sirsa, Hanumangarh, Surathgarh, and Anupgarh in Rajasthan. Then it flowed through the tri-junction of southwest Rajasthan, border areas of Pakistan, and Kutch and finally empting into the Gulf of Cambay in southern Gujarat. River Sutlej, known as Satdru during the Vedic era, was a major tributary of the Saraswati River, joining it near Jakhal and then in Hanumangarh and Anupgarh. Through satellite images of NASA and ISRO, scientists and archaeologists mapped the entire course of the enormous river. Images show that the river flowed from the Himalayas, passing through the northwestern plains of India, and finally merging with the Arabian Sea near the coastal region of Gujarat. These images show that at some places, the river was 8 to 11 km wide and about as long as 3,000 km, thus classifying it as one of the biggest and widest rivers in the world. Because the river disappeared more than 4,000 years ago, today most Indians believe that the Sarawati is a mythical river while some believe it as invisible or flowing underground. Research shows that the Saraswati river flowed through the sacred city of Allahabad, where two other sacred rivers, the Ganga and Yamuna meet. This confluence of three rivers, which is invisible to the eye, is considered as the holiest of all Indian spiritual places.
      The Saraswati River has been mentioned in a variety of Ancient Hindu texts. Among one of those sacred texts are the Vedas. In the Vedas, the Saraswati River is glorified by several names such as Markanda, Hakra, Suprabha, Kanchanakshi, Visala, Manorama, etc. For a long time, the Vedas were considered a religious mythological mix of text, but with the discovery of the Saraswati River the divinity, sacredness, and authenticity started to unfold. Most of the Saraswati River is mentioned in the Rig Veda, one of the four sacred texts from the Vedas. The Rig Veda describes Saraswati River as "swollen by the rivers." The Rigvedic verses specifies that there are five tribes associated with this river. Verse 6.61 indicates that the Saraswati River emerges from the mountains with strong waves. The current Hakra-Gagghar river is only the ideal match for Saraswati. Verse 7.36.6 states that the Saraswati River is the mother of seven rivers. These rivers, not coincidentally, exists today. Many Hindu scholars and foreign scientists have come up with an argument of if nine rivers exist today that are mentioned in the Vedas, then thinking that the tenth did not exist seems very foolish and illogical. Other verses mentions about Saraswati pouring "milk and ghee." Since the Vedic aaryans treated cows as sacred and these cows grazed near the Saraswati River, Saraswati was said as pouring ghee and milk. Verse 8.21.18 describes about how a number of landlords and kings used to hold stake their kingdom near the banks of the Saraswati River over the course of time such as Dasharatha (Father of Rama, Ramayana) and Shanthanu (Father of Bhishma, Mahabharatha). The verses also signifies that the Saraswati, not the Ganga, is the holiest of all rivers, due to the fact that the Saraswati River was mentioned about 60 times in the Vedas whereas the Ganga is only mentioned once. During the Rigvedic era (15,000 years ago) there were ten rivers while during the Yajurvedic era (6,000 years ago) there were only five rivers. This indicates that five of the rivers from the Rigvedic era were disappeared over the course of time between both time periods, roughly 9,000 years.
      Other than the Vedas, the Saraswati River has been mentioned in the Puranas. According to the Puranas, the war between demon Vritra and God Indra prompted the melting of the Himalayas. Since, the Saraswati River's banks provided a booming and flourishing economy during the civilization period, which is confirmed by over 2,000 archaeological evidence, she was a called a mother. Saraswati was upgraded and promoted to the position of the goddess of knowledge and learning because the Saraswati River nurtured and developed this thriving Indus civilization.
      Saraswati was also mentioned in the Mahabharatha. Actually Mahabharatha was said to be the time period when the existence of the Saraswati River started to deteriorate. Mahabharatha accounts that the drying up and disappearance of the Saraswati River. The Saraswati River is said to have flowed north of the Kurushetra battlefield, parallel to the Indus, before falling in the Arabian Sea.
      Other than the following texts, Saraswati River is also mentioned in later Vedic texts. Brahamanas were the first to record and account the disappearance of this magnificent river. In multiple points of views, different sects of Brahmanas accounted the disappearance of the Saraswati River.
      The Saraswati River is said to have waned just before the Mahabharatha war due to earthquake, climatic conditions, and tectonic movement. The civilization was so dependent on the Saraswati River and now it was only left with only a few tributaries. Because of the degeneration of the river, people migrated away from the present day places to be situated in other riverbeds, such as Ganges, Godhavari, Kaveri, etc. Thus, the green lust of Rajasthan mentioned earlier was all lost. It was all replaced by a barren, arid desert where piles of sand dunes were traced. Indologists have found that a rise in ground level caused the river Yamuna, a huge tributary of Saraswati, to move eastwards. Over time, Saraswathi lost many of its tributaries and thus dried up. Incidentally, Shrimad Bhagavatam says Balarama, the brother of Lord Krishna, is responsible for the change in course of river Yamuna. Both the astrological dating of the Mahabharatha War (3rd millennium BC) and the carbon dating of the Saraswati River dry beds are the same time period.
      Conclusions bring up that tectonic movement is the main reason why Saraswati River disappeared. The tectonic movement of the Indian Plate in Siwalik Hills with the Eurasian Plate caused major shifts in the Himalayan mountain region, thus rerouting the direction of the Saraswati River flowing from the Himalayas. This caused massive avalanches and landslides which resulted in the uplifting of the Himalayas. Due to the high altitude of the mountain peaks, the wind patterns altered. The rugged and hilly terrains affected the channels of the river.
      The Holocene was also considered a major cause for the disappearance of the Saraswati River. The Holocene was a period during which major climatic changes were noted across the whole world. Climatic changes are brought about by the tilting of the Earth's axis and in Earth's orbit. Scientifically, they are known as albedo and Milankovitch forces. This phenomenon occurred in around 7000 BC at its peak. According to recent geological research, there were no major deserts in the world. The Holocene not only not only caused desertification in Rajasthan, but also affected in a global perspective. It also caused parts of Africa and Europe to become arid. This desertification had an effect on the pattern of monsoon rainfall in India. Rajasthan received scarce to scanty amounts of rainfall due to this. This led to the disappearance of the Saraswati River.
      From the reminiscence of the Saraswati River, we could explicitly see that the story behind its disappearance is truly engaging. None the less, the appearance of it as well has enough sacredness. This story ratifies itself among the top mysterious geological cases in the world. This also proves that our Hindu scriptures could be used as evidence and clues instead of just a storybook. This authenticates the sacredness of our Hindu scriptures as well as the Saraswati River. I chose this topic because it will be a fun way to show how all these people used science, history, math, language arts (our Hindu texts) as clues to find the solution. Our Hindu culture should be preserved throughout the course of time and it can be said that whatever that is written in our Hindu scriptures exemplifies the same amount of truths that we find in our history books today.

Here are the websites used for research on this wonderful topic. Tune in for more content like this.
http://www.mallstuffs.com/Blogs/BlogDetails.aspx?BlogId=199&BlogType=Spiritual&Topic=How%20Saraswati-%20india%20most%20sacred%20river%20disappeared
http://www.mallstuffs.com/Blogs/BlogDetails.aspx?BlogId=186&BlogType=Spiritual&Topic=India%20most%20sacred%20river%20saraswati%20found
http://www.mallstuffs.com/Blogs/BlogDetails.aspx?BlogId=190&BlogType=Spiritual&Topic=Fall%20and%20Rise%20of%20river%20saraswati-India%20most%20sacred%20river