Sarasvati: The lost river - Part III

This is the concluding part of my summary of the book, The Lost River, On the trail of Sarasvati by Michel Danino. In Part I, we saw the myths and legends surrounding Sarasvati river and research by experts in diverse fields to trace the evolution and disappearance of the river. In Part II, we saw the history of the discovery of Harappan Civilization and some of its defining characteristics. In this final post we will sketch out interesting work linking the two together. We shall also briefly touch upon the hidden agenda of some of the researchers and their reluctance to accept an overwhelming evidence against their preset notions and beliefs.

The contentious issue is how much of the legacy of Harappan Civilization is reflected in the later Ganga Civilization, which is considered as the starting point of Indian History. Was there a complete disconnect between the two ? or Was it a natural continuity of the former to the latter ? or Was the transfer somewhere in between ? An important piece to this puzzle is the Sarasvati river. It provides a copious evidence against a disconnect between the two civilizations. Definitely there has been an influence of the Harappan Civilization on the Ganges Civilization but the crucial question is To what extent are the two connected ?

However, acknowledging this fact of continuity of Harappan into Ganges Civilization will definitely put Aryan Invasion Theory out of commission and cast serious aspersions on the Aryan Migration Theory. This puts a lot of researchers, who have based their life on these theories, in a very difficult position. The Part III of the book gives a detailed summary of the work in this area (links between the Harappan and Ganges Civilizations) and explains how Sarasavati gets entangled in the Aryan debate. It is aptly titled "From Sarasvati to Ganga"

Part 3: Sarasvati : Linking Harappan and Ganges Civilizations

The relationship between the two civilizations can be categorized as "tangible" and  "intangible". I'll highlight a few of each which I found interesting.

Tangible Relationships

• City planning, ratios used in structures, construction techniques are heavily influenced in the later periods. In fact, the material used for flooring can still be found in villages near Kalibangan. The particular material is used since it is resistant to dampness and keeps mosquitoes away. 
• Weights and measures used, distance measures all have a counterpart in later cities and are resonated in ancient texts like Arthashastra, Shulbha Sutras etc. 
• Arts and crafts have a lot of influence. Toys used by children, board games including the dice used and so on. The bronze sculptures were made using the Lost Wax method which is used even to this day to create bronze figurines in Swamimalai in Tamil Nadu (An interesting but long video explaining the method is here for those interested) 
• Everyday items like armlets worn by men currently can be found on statues unearthed. Vermilion (Sindoor) worn by women are seen to  have Harappan roots.
• Agricultural practices been carried forward. An interesting anecdote recounted is that the researchers were wanting to know more about some ploughing practices of Harappans. To their surprise the exact same methods used by villagers nearby after 5 millenia! 

Intangible Relationships

These are related to art and iconography, religious practices, deities worshiped  and so on.

• A lot of symbols and iconography has been carried forward from the Harappan times. The famous Swastika is seen on many tablets found during excavations. Rangoli patterns that adorn the front of houses today can also be found in artifacts recovered. 
• Evidence of fire worship can be found. A lot of deities from the pantheons of Hindu gods and goddesses can be found. Shiva Lingas, worship of female deities is widely seen among the articles recovered from the sites.
• Lots of figurines excavated depict various Yogic postures. So there is evidence of Yoga having been widely in practice.
• A curious detail is that some of the fables like "The Fox and the Crow" have been depicted on clay tablets. 

Sarasvati and the Aryan debate 


The Aryan theory is based on the premise that the Aryans came to the Indian sub-continent and composed the Vedic hymns around 1500 BCE and moved towards the Gangetic plains between 1200 BCE and 1000 BCE. However, if that is the case, we have to accept the fact that Sarasvati had dried up around 1900 BCE, centuries before the Aryans came. So it implies that the Aryans came from Central Asia, crossed five major rivers and settled along the dry Sarasvati and wrote Rig-Vedic hymns extolling the "copious" waters of the dry Sarasvati. Does not make sense right ? This is what I mentioned in the beginning of the post.

So the proponents of these theories provide absurd and vacuous arguments to counter this gaping hole in their theory. Some say that the Aryans were remembering an "Afghan Sarasvati" and were trying to map that to the dry Sarasvati river. Some even say that it was all a grand imagination of a non-existent river and was only allegorical (In spite of having geographical descriptions of the river in the ancient texts).

What is a plausible story ?

Putting all the pieces of evidence from diverse areas together one can come up with a theory that best explains all the facts. The Vedic hymns were indeed written on the banks of the Sarasvati river when it was in full flow. The authors of the Vedas were the Harappans themselves. Something happened around 3000 BCE that caused Sarasvati to lose its major tributaries, Sutlej and Yamuna. So the river progressively dried up.

The people on the banks of the river moved eastwards towards the Gangetic plains in search of greener pastures. So Gangetic Civilization is a continuation of the Indus-Sarasvati Civilization and Ganga incarnated to be the new Sarasvati.  There is an interesting mention of Ganga inheriting many of the properties of Sarasvati, like her sister she is born out of Brahma's Kamandalu, she is the given of boons, is the goddess of speech and so on!

The book ends with a touching note. It talks about the gratitude of the Vedic folks towards Sarasvati that had nurtured them for long. A testimony to this, is the fact that they decided to remember "her" as an invisible river joining the Ganga and Yamuna in the Triveni Sangam.

So we are at the end of my post. It has been an enriching and educational journey for me. Hope I have  been able to provide a birds eye view of this fabulous journey!