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The Saraswati: Where lies the mystery

Saswati Paik
GIS Devlopment


Evidences supporting Palaeochannels
  • Hydrogeological evidences Lunkaransar, Didwana and Sambhar, the Ranns of Jaisalmer, Pachpadra, etc. are a few of the notable lakes, formed as a result of the changes; some of them are highly saline today, the only proof to their freshwater descent being occurrences of gastropod shells in those lake beds. Mr. Oldham accepted that there have been great changes in the hydrography of Punjab and Sind within the recent period of geology. Wilson has mentioned about the Sotar valley where “the soil is all rich alluvial clay such as is now being annually deposited in the depressions which are specimens of those numerous pools which have given the Saraswati its name, ‘The River of Pools’; and there seems little doubt that the same action, as now goes on, has been going on for centuries”.

  • Archaeological evidences Most of the archaeological sites of the-then civilisation are located on the Saraswati river basin. There are four Harappan and pre-Harappan sites in Punjab, in addition to the sites in Rajasthan and U.P. These sites are located at Rupar (present Ropar), Nihang Khan, Bara and Sirsa valley. Harappan culture flourished in the western part of Punjab around 2500 B.C. It is believed that the Harappans entered through the Indus Valley into Kalibangan valley on the left bank of Ghaggar (erstwhile Saraswati) and spread to Punjab along the Saraswati River. Carbon dating of the material at Kalibangan suggests that Harappan culture flourished around 2500 B.C. in India and existed for 1000 years. So the present day geomorphologic set up did not exist till 1500 B.C. and the Indus, the Sutlej and the Beas followed independent courses to the sea.

  • Evidences from Remote Sensing and GIS A remote sensing study of the Indian desert reveals numerous signatures of palaeochannels in the form of curvilinear and meandering courses, which is identified by the tonal variations. The Saraswati River could be traced through these palaeochannels as a migratory river. Its initial course flowed close to the Aravalli ranges and the successive six stages took west and northwesterly shifts till it coincides with the dry bed of the Ghaggar River.
Yash Pal et al. found that the course of the river Saraswati in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan is clearly highlighted in the LANDSAT imagery by the vegetation cover thriving on the rich residual loamy soil along its earlier course. Digital enhancement studies of IRS-1C data (1995), combined with RADAR imagery from European Remote Sensing satellites ERS 1/2, identified subsurface features and recognised the palaeochannels beneath the sands of the Thar Desert. A study of NRSA, based on satellite derived data, has revealed no palaeochannel link between the Indus and the Saraswati, confirming that the two were independent rivers; also, the three palaeochannels, south of Ambala, seen to swerve westwards to join the ancient bed of the Ghaggar, are inferred to be the tributaries of Saraswati/Ghaggar, and one among them, probably Drishadvati. Digital enhancement techniques using high resolution LISS-III data of IRS-1C satellite, together with pyramidal processing, identified two palaeochannels trending NE-SW in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan, which are presumed to be the lost river Saraswati. In a study, NRSA used Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS-P3) Wide Field Sensor (WiFS) data covering the Indus river system to study the palaeodrainage in northwestern India. The image elements such as tone, colour, texture, pattern, association of WiFS and SIR-C/X-SAR images helped to derive information on current as well as palaeodrainage. WiFS image reveals very faint trace of the river Saraswati/Ghaggar while in the SIR-C/X-SAR image, the connectivity of the palaeochannel could be easily established due to the presence of dark irregular shaped features associated with wetness.

Missing of a prominent river from the map is not a mystery; it is quite natural as the natural phenomena evolve through environmental changes. A part of the river Saraswati till now exists as Ghaggar in Haryana, the rest of it has disappeared in the fringes of the Marusthali or the Thar Desert. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai has made a breakthrough in its research for the existence and probable location of the mythical Saraswati river. The Rajasthan Ground Water Department undertook the task to ‘unearth’ the river with the collaboration of BARC and Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad (a wing of ISRO) in 1998. If the effort is successful, the people living in the desert belt of Rajasthan will be hopefully supplied more than 3500 year old water derived from palaeo-channels, believed to be the mythical Saraswati.

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