Vaishakh Shuddha Ekadashi
Of the three vedic rivers, Ganga and Yamuna are here, but where is Saraswati? Haryana is trying to find out
Chandigarh: Digging into the mythological references of the Saraswati, the Haryana government has decided to undertake explorations to locate the holy river’s aquifers.
Historically, the river, which merges with the Ganga and the Yamuna at Triveni in Prayag (Uttar Pradesh), is believed to have become extinct due to tectonic disturbances.
Haryana has decided to chart its possible course in the state after an underground water spring erupted near Kalayat in Kaithal district recently.
Irrigation minister Captain Ajay Singh Yadav said Rs10 crore had been earmarked and services of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation would be requisitioned for the purpose.
The decision to unearth the historical evidence of the holy river, he said, had been prompted largely due to the deep sentiments of the people. He said the state government would give all assistance for this purpose, including making land available for exploratory bores.
The water supply and sanitation department as well as the Haryana Urban Development Authority would be directed to take urgent steps to prevent the flow of polluted water into the Saraswati channel, the minister said.
Yadav said the department had prepared a project of approximately Rs10 crore which would require acquisition of over 20 acres of land. The excavation of the channel is expected to start by the middle of July.
The minister said a seminar would also be organised at Hirmi, Kurukshetra, where scholars and scientists concerned with the works of the Saraswati would participate. He hoped the efforts to explore the holy river, said to be the foundation of the Vedic culture that flourished in Haryana, would not only be a source of inspiration but also provide religious solace to the people of the region.
The state has sought the assistance of the regional remote-sensing service centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, department of space, and Haryana State Remote-Sensing Application Centre and department of science and technology, Haryana.
Senior officials said the Survey of India maps published in the 70s had traced the route of the mysterious Saraswati to the Haryana districts of Kurukshetra, Jind, Ambala, Karnal, Rohtak and Sonipat. There are detailed satellite images of its palaeo-channels and present-day drainages in Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, undertaken by Isro’s regional remote-sensing service centre at Jodhpur.
At least 38 villages in the six districts are covered by the maps. According to another theory, the Rig Vedic river, known as Saraswati in its upper reaches in Haryana, joins the Ghaggar river and later dries up near Sirsa. It is known as Ghaggar in Rajasthan, Hakra in Cholistan (Pakistan) and Nara in Sindh. Its final destination was the Rann of Kutch, east of the present-day Indus.
The route of the vanished river was first established by the late Dr Haribhau Wakankar through satellite imagery and archaeological sites along its route. The Saraswati project was scrutinised by eminent archaeologists and geologists and an earnest search for the lost river was launched in 1982 when Wakankar created a team of 49 scholars. Many events synergised thereafter.
Scientific studies suggest the river dried up around 2000 BC, which makes it a contemporary of the Indus Valley civilisation and gives the Rig Veda a greater antiquity than previously thought, as the Saraswati was a powerful river when the seers composed the Vedic shlokas.
Source: www.dnaindia.com
