Government Launches Fresh Drive to Unravel River Saraswati’s Existence.

published on August 18, 2014

The government has launched a fresh effort to unravel the ancient riddle about the existence of river Saraswati which finds reference in ‘Vedic’ texts.

Though efforts have been made in the past by geologists and the scientific community, both during British period as well as in independent India, the river remains a mystery so much so that its mention in ancient texts has invariably been termed ‘mythological’.

“There is enough scientific evidence on the presence of the river Saraswati in some parts of the country through which it flowed about five to six thousand years ago…Saraswati is not a myth”, said the Union water resources and river development minister Uma Bharti on Tuesday.

Responding to a calling attention motion in Lok Sabha, Bharti said her government was taking up the issue very seriously “to trace the route of the river”.

She also informed the lower House that the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) of her ministry has been directed “to test the water of a well located inside the Allahabad fort” in order to trace the source and route of the lost river.

The motion was moved in the House by BJP member Ratan Lal Kataria who wanted the government to set up ‘Saraswati Research Institute’ for the “revival” of the river. He reminded the House of a promise made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who, he claimed, during an election campaign in Kurkshetra vowed to bring to the surface the water of the subterranean river Saraswati.

Stating that a lot of research has been done on the river, particularly in Gujarat, Bharti said there were several rivers named Saraswati which emanated from the Himalayas, including one which mingled with the Triveni in Allahabad, another with Mandakini and the third with Alaknanda river.

She said there was also a river with the same name that passed through Haryana to Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Raising his demand, Kataria said the river was a symbol of India’s cultural heritage and completes the narrative of the Harappa and Mohenjodaro civilization which grew up by its banks and by the banks of the other historic river Indus.

He said drilling of deep wells in parts of Gujarat had shown the existence of sweet water, which proved the existence of water flow.

Maintaining that research work on the river would also act as a search for lost civilizations and habitations, Kataria demanded the establishment of an authority to carry on the research.