Saraswati River

An MoU on a plan to rehabilitate the Saraswati River is going to be signed by Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. By constructing the Adi Badri Dam near the river’s beginning, the Saraswati river will be brought back to life while maintaining year-round flow.

• The most revered and powerful river of the Vedic Era is the “Lost Saraswati River” in northwestern India (8000-5000 BC).
• In the early Rigvedic “Nadistuti” hymn, the  River is mentioned between the east of the Yamuna and the west of the Sutlej.
• This river forms a transboundary between India and Pakistan.
• The Vedic Saraswati River had its source in the Himalayas and travelled through Gujarat, western Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana before joining the Indus and Ganges rivers in the east.
• Finally, it is discharged into the Gulf of Kachchh in the Arabian Sea.

Significance :

• Most of the prehistoric writings, including the Vedas, Manusmriti, Mahabharata, and Puranas, have references to Saraswati.
• Along the River’s banks are where the ruins of the Harappan civilization were found.
• Due to tectonic and climatic changes, this River vanished approximately 5000 B.P.
• The River Saraswati is thought to still be flowing beneath the Thar Desert, and its Himalayan connection is still active.
• The remnant of this extinct river is still present as palaeochannels hidden by alluvium and aeolian sand.