Book review: The Lost River

How many times have we heard praises to the triumvirate of rivers - the Ganga, the Yamuna and the Sarasvati? While we know where the Ganga and Yamuna flow, we have been conventionally told that the Sarasvati is a mythical river that joins the Ganga and the Yamuna at the triveni sangam at Prayaag. However, for more than a century a debate has been raging, unknown to most layman in India, about the real truth of the Sarasvati.

'The Lost River' by Michel Danino explains the issues involved, the various viewpoints that exist and provides a beautiful narrative of the story of the Sarasvati. It is a good scholarly work, and an interesting read at the same time. A few questions that have been asked in the course of the debate, and I have tried to summarize them and the answers/viewpoints from the book's position on the issue :

• Is the river Sarasvati for real? 
• Where did it flow? Since the mid 19th century, a seasonal stream in Rajasthan's desert with an unusually wide bed, the Ghaggar-Hakra, has been postulated by many to be the lost Sarasvati river. The archaeological, literary, geological and local folklore evidence is very strong to suggest that there was indeed a very large perennial river flowing through the desert of Rajasthan and Pakistan. 

• The Ghaggar-Hakra may have been a large river in old times. But was it the Sarasvati? Again the circumstantial evidence is strong - mainly from our literary sources. The 'nadistuti hymn' from the Rg Veda enumerates the major rivers of Northwest India - the Sapta Sindu - in east to west direction; the Sarasvati lies exactly between the Satluj and the Yamuna, just like the Ghaggar-Hakra. Balarama's journey along the Saravati in the Mahabharata and the places he visits correspond to places in this region. 
• Over the last fifty years, the Ghaggar-Hakra basin has also seen the discovery of a large number of Indus valley civilization sites from Haryana to deserts of Cholistan in Pakistan.  This has led to the realization that the Indus Valley civilization was built around two major river systems, the Indus and the Sarasvati.  Some of the largest Indus valley sites like Kalibangan, Banawali, Rakhagarhi, Ganeriwala and Lothal are in the Sarasvati's basin. 
• What happened to the Sarasvati? The Sarasvati's major tributaries were the Himalayan rivers, the Satluj and the Yamuna; whereas traditionally the Sarasvati has itself been identified to originate from the Shivalik Hills at Ad Badri. At some point, the Yamuna and the Satluj changed courses, the Yamuna joining the Ganga and the Satluj joining the Indus thus depriving the Sarasvati of its major water sources. The Satluj is known to have a very volatile history of changing its course, the latest being somewhere in the 17th century. Some tectonic movements may also have contributed to these changes. 
• When did this drying take place? Studies show that the river was in full flow in around 3000 BC, but it had dried up in its central sections by around 2500 BC. That means in the Mature Harappan age, the river was already dry in some parts and this is clearly observable from the settlement pattern of Indus valley sites. Most sites during this period are either near the northern end in Haryana/Punjab or in the southern portions in Cholistan area of Pakistan. The sites in Rajasthan from the Early Harappan phase seem to have been abandoned by then. 
• What happened to the people in this region once the river died? Here is where the story gets even murkier and gets intertwined with the Aryan Invasion theory. Traditional history says that what followed was a dark period in the history of India till the Aryans from Europe invaded and settled in the Gangetic plains which evolved into the classical Indian civilization from which our present day civilization derives. The contention of many historians is that there is simply no archaeological or genetic evidence to support such a theory, whose only basis seems to be the need to explain the commonality in the Indo-European languages. The author argues for a strong continuity of our present day culture from the Indus valley civilization. As the river dried up, people migrated to the east settling in the Gangetic plains and carrying over their science and technology, architecture, religion and arts. A couple of chapters in the book are dedicated to exploring these connections and make for very interesting reading.

In addition to the debate on the Sarasvati, this book is also good material for anyone wanting to read on the Indus valley civilization. One part of the book is devoted to the Indus valley civilization, with one chapter on a few prominent Indus valley cities on the Sarasvati river. 

As a footnote, what is most depressing is that our history books make no mention of these facts. Why are these alternate views presented in our history books when the evidence for these theories too are not trivial at the least? Our history books too live either in Indus valley time or truly in Kaliyuga.  

Thanks to mankuthima for recommending this book, and you can find his summary of the book here:

• Sarasvati-The lost river - Part I
• Sarasvati-The lost river - Part II
• Sarasvati-The lost river - Part III