Sarasvati River

Why is in news? Revival of Sarasvati river

As reported by the Government of Haryana, in the year 2017, Government of Haryana has established a Centre of Excellence for Research on the Sarasvati River (CERSR) in Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra.

The mission of CERSR is to geo-scientifically characterize the paleo-channels and validate the antiquity of culture and civilization nurtured by the sacred Saraswati River system of the Indian subcontinent.

Initially an amount of Rs. 20 lakh was sanctioned to CERSR. At present, an annual Grant-in-Aid of Rs. 50 lakh is being provided to CERSR.

In addition, in the year 2015, Government of Haryana constituted Sarasvati Heritage Development Board.

The Board has the mission to revive Sarasvati river with the mission ‘Sarasvati flows on’ and to revive its heritages on the course of Sarasvati river, raise awareness about richness and importance of Sarasvati heritage, develop tourism, cultural corridor, construct/development of water bodies and support the research documents, compile research papers, publications of journals, monographs and reports etc. pertaining to Sarasvati river and its heritages on the Palaeochannel.

The Sarasvati Heritage Development Board undertakes following specific activities to raise awareness among public:

The Board celebrates Sarasvati Mahotsav every year on the eve of Basant Panchami;

The Board organize international conferences and seminars every year in collaboration with reputed universities and colleges; and

A chapter on Sarasvati Indus civilization has been incorporated in the curriculum of class X.

River Sarasvati:

The river originated from Kapal Tirith in the Himalayas in the west of Kailash, flowed southward to Mansarovar and then turned towards the west.

The river 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.

Historical Evidence of the Saraswati River:

The Sarasvati River is one of the main Rigvedic rivers mentioned in the scripture Rig Veda and later Vedic and post-Vedic texts.

Book 6 of the 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.