What Happened to the Saraswati

It was purported to be one of the great rivers of the Indian subcontinent, yet no trace of it exists. Well yeah there is a channel in the ground which s said to be a dry bed of the river but the river itself does not exist and it lies a bit to the south west of the Sutlej. It was said to flow from the Himalayas, or the siwaliks to be exact into the Arabian Sea. And there have even been rumors saying that the Rann of Kutch (the vast wasteland that covers the most of north eastern Gujarat) was its mouth into the Arabian Sea. It was said to have supported many ancient cities belonging to the Indus Valley Civilization.

LANDSAT PICTURE OF THE SARASWATI CHANNEL

The channel shown in this pic is about 6-8 km wide this might have been the width of the river (from Siwalik thru Kalibangan and Anupgarh to Marot); present Shatadru (Sutlej) takes a sharp turn at Ropar.

THE SARASWATI IN PUNJAB AND HARYANA

the dotted lines in this picture are the river saraswati. by the looks of it seems to have been a very large river. so the question arises, how such a large river can just disappear seemingly into thin air.

Now we know that this river was very important as it shares its name with the Hindu goddess of knowledge and music. Clearly this river did mean a lot to those who did inhabit its banks. So where did this mighty river disappear?

That remains one of the archaeological mysteries of India.

All material taken from

HINDUNET