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By:
Namisha Goel
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IntroductionIntroduction
• Flows through the plains of Punjab and Pakistan
• Major river of India
• Rig Veda, describes Saraswati as a mighty river with many individually recognized tributaries
• In the Vedic times it was considered as one of the holiest rivers.
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What Is The Saraswati River?
• Sacred river in India
• Holy river
• Small river in Haryana in India
• River that flows in the Ghagger river
• Seventh river in the sindhu saraswati system
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The Meaning Of The River• In Sanskrit 'saras' means a lake or
water body, and 'vati', means a female associated with it.
• It also means the heavenly 'river' milky way and it is personified as a goddess.
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The Mother Of All Rivers• Believed to have
drained the north and northwest region of India
• Supporting over 16,000 settlements
• Greenland in Rajasthan
• Sutlej and Yamuna were major sources
• The rivers Hakra and the Ghaggar have been identified as the lost Saraswati.
• Vedas describe it being the life-stream of the people
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The Origin Of The River• Saraswati originated
from the Har-ki-Dun glacier
• It flowed parallel to the river Yamuna and proceeded south as the Vedic Saraswati.
• The Har-ki-dun glacier produced the Saraswati's tributaries which were Sutlej and Yamuna
• By the late vedic period the saraswati river didn’t have any tributaries
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Drying of the river
Some of the reasons for the drying of the Saraswati river could be:
• By adjoining rivers, Sutlej and the Yamuna
• The river bed could have been choked with modern moving sand.
• Tectonic movement caused separation
• The river eventually dried.
• intense erosion is a cause from the drying of the river
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The Existence Of The River• We did not know the
existence of the river until 1874.
• The dry river bed belonging to the original Saraswati river is in doubt.
• No certain reasons for its disappearance.
• River did exist about 6000 years back!!
• Since no one could find it, Saraswati passed into the realm of folklore.
• Now most people in India think of it as a mythical river.
• Some believe that it is an invisible river
• Some also believe that it still flows underground.
• Today a part of the river exists as Ghaggar
• The rest has disappeared in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Sindh.
The river does not have a physical existence today
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History and Mythology• It nurtured the people living on its banks
like a loving mother
• Ancient Vedic literature was itself written on the banks of this river.
• Mahabharata describes Balarama's pilgrimage along the bed of this river.
• The dry saraswati bed caused the armies of Islam to take a longer route.
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Quiz Time
1) We did not know the existence of the river until what year?
2) What is one meaning of Saras-wati?3) Where did the Saraswati river originate
from?4) Name one way the Saraswati river might
have dried5) Which two rivers have been identified as
the lost Saraswati?