The Lost River: On The Trails of SaraswatiThe Indian subcontinent was the scene of dramatic upheavals a few thousand years ago. The Northwest region entered an arid phase, and erosion coupled with tectonic events played havoc with river courses. One of them disappeared. Celebrated as -Sarasvati' in the Rig Veda and the Mahabharata, this river was rediscovered in the early nineteenth century through topographic explorations by British officials. Recently, geological and climatological studies have probed its evolution and disappearance, while satellite imagery has traced the river's buried courses and isotope analyses have dated ancient waters still stored under the Thar Desert. In the same Northwest, the subcontinent's first urban society"the Indus civilization"flourished and declined. But it was not watered by the Indus alone: since Aurel Stein's expedition in the 1940s, hundreds of Harappan sites have been identified in the now dry Sarasvati's basin. The rich Harappan legacy in technologies, arts and culture sowed the seeds of Indian civilization as we know it now. Drawing from recent research in a wide range of disciplines, this book discusses differing viewpoints and proposes a harmonious synthesis"a fascinating tale of exploration that brings to life the vital role the -lost river of the Indian desert' played before its waters gurgled to a stop. |
Contents
The Lost River of the Indian Desert | |
The Mighty Sarasvatī | |
New Light on an Ancient River | |
Indias First Civilization | |
A Great Leap Backward | |
New Horizons | |
When Rivers Go Haywire | |
From Sarasvatī to Gangā | |
Sarasvatī Turns Invisible | |
Copyright Acknowledgements | |
Notes | 3-23 |
Footnotes | 90 |
The Tangible Heritage | 99 |
The Indus Cities | |
From the Indus to the Sarasvatī | |
The Intangible Heritage | 100 |
The Sarasvatīs Testimony | 101 |
Common terms and phrases
Agrawal Allchin altar Ancient Cities Ancient India angula Archaeological Survey Archaeology Aryan Aryan Books International Aurel Banawali Bisht Brāhmana bricks century Chakrabarti Chautang Cholistan civilisation course culture Delhi Desert Dholavira Dilip Drishadvatī Early Harappan evidence Excavations explorations flowing Ganges Geography Ghaggar Ghaggar-Hakra Gregory Gujarat Hakra Harappan Civilization Harappan phase Harappan sites Haryana hymns Ibid Indian Archaeology Indus Age Indus Civilization Indus script Indus Valley Civilization Indus-Sarasvatī Jarrige Jonathan Mark Kalibangan Kenoyer l’Inde Late Harappan Lost River Lothal Mahābhārata Markanda Mature Harappan Mature phase millennium Mohenjo-daro Motilal Banarsidass Mughal Nayanjot Oldham Oxford Pakistan Parva plains Possehl Prakashan Punjab Puratattva Rajasthan Rann of Kachchh recent region Rig Veda S.P. Gupta Sanskrit Sarasvatī Sarasvatī basin Sarasvatī River Sarsuti scholars seals settlements Shivaliks South Asia Stein Survey of India Sutlej tīrtha today’s town tradition tributaries urban Valdiya Vedic Sarasvatī Yamunā