The Saraswati River: Found?

[Guest guest]

We think of Saraswati as Goddess; and of the Saraswati River in the

Vedas as a metaphor and symol of the constant flow of energy and

grace between the Divine and human realms.

 

However, it has long been believed by many that the Saraswati River

was once as real and tangible as the Ganges -- and if anything, even

more holy. Here are some recent reports on what science is now

learning about the river that once flowed through the lush and

verdant landscape of what is today the Thar Desert ...

 

 

FOSSIL HINTS AT INDIA'S MYTHICAL RIVER

Monday, 2 December, 2002, 16:15 GMT

By Narayan Bareth

BBC reporter in Jaipur

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2534775.stm

(Check it out; there are some wonderful photos).

 

Geologists in India say they have found an elephant fossil in the

Thar desert of Rajasthan, supporting earlier theories that the vast

desert was once a fertile area.

 

They said the discovery also lent credence to popular belief that a

mighty river, named in the ancient Hindu Vedic texts as Saraswati,

flowed through the region thousands of years ago.

 

Senior geologist BS Paliwal said the elephant fossil was discovered

in a village in Nagaur district, about 300 kilometres from the state

capital of Jaipur, during gypsum mining.

 

Professor Paliwal, who is the head of the geology department at the

Jai Narain Vyas university, termed the find as a "mammoth discovery

for the scientific fraternity".

 

HIDDEN ASPECTS

 

He said it might reveal many more secrets of the environmental

conditions of that period.

 

Professor Paliwal said the fossil dated back thousands of years, from

the middle Holocene epoch. The remains were found embedded in a

gypsum layer little more than two metres from the surface. Professor

Paliwal said it belonged to an elephant or its ancestor known as

Stegolophodon.

 

The fossil is a 61-centimetre-long part of the femur bone, with well-

preserved condyles, a number of rib fragments, a vertebral bone,

probably a lumber with a small spine and a large body and a

metatarsus suggesting a size big enough for more than two toes, he

said.

 

GEOGRAPHY

 

Professor Paliwal said the size of the toes indicated that the

elephant was about 3.5 metres in height. He said during the

Pleistocene epoch, India touched Eurasia and there were indications

that Asian elephants moved south due to the prevailing ice-age in the

northern hemisphere.

 

"It proves again that there were once rivers like Saraswati and

civilisations were flourishing at their banks," Professor Paliwal

said.

 

He added it was possible that there were sudden climatic changes

which altered the geography of the region, turning it into a vast

desert.

 

CLIMATE CHANGES

 

Abrupt climatic changes led to the blocking of river systems and the

formation of saline lakes, he said. Professor Paliwal said the

centuries-long drought resulted in migration or large-scale deaths of

animals.

 

He said the elephant fossil proves that there were other animals too

in the region as it was not possible for a single animal species to

have existed in such circumstances and climate. Geologists had a few

years ago found fossils of fish in Jaisalmer, a district further west

from the site of the present find. These fossils were dated to be

nearly 180 million years old.

 

Geologists said the find was evidence that large water bodies once

existed in the region.

 

A RELATED STORY FROM JUNE 29, 2002

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2073159.stm

 

The legend of the mighty Saraswati river has lived on in India since

time immemorial. Ancient Hindu scriptures called the Vedas, recorded

thousands of years ago, are full of tantalising hymns about it being

the life-stream of the people.

 

In a new radio programme, Madhur Jaffrey recounts the legend of the

Saraswati river - and explores startling new evidence that it may not

have been a myth after all.

 

Vast and awesome, the Saraswati's holy waters are supposed to have

flowed from the Himalayas into the sea, nourishing the land along the

way. But as the centuries passed and no one could find it, myth,

belief and religion came together and the Saraswati passed into the

realm of folklore.

 

Now most people in India think of it as a mythical river. Some even

believe that it is an invisible river or that it still flows

underground. Another commonly held perception is that the Saraswati

once flowed through the north Indian city of Allahabad, meeting there

with two other rivers, the Ganges and the Jamuna.

 

The confluence of these three rivers - one of which is not visible to

the eye - is considered one of India's holiest spots.

 

For most of the country, the name Saraswati is better known for its

divine namesake - the goddess Saraswati, Hindu goddess of Learning.

Worshipped particularly by students and schoolchildren, her festival

falls in February, and the city of Calcutta is famous for celebrating

her in style.

 

Makeshift shrines are erected in every street and after the festival

is over, thousands of the images are taken to the banks of the river

Hooghly and pitched into the water where they are forever carried

away by the river.

 

The goddess' connection to water is part of the enigma that surrounds

the river. But that mystery could be set to be dispelled forever, as

startling scientific evidence has come to light.

 

Through satellite photography, scientists have mapped the course of

an enormous river that once flowed through the north western region

of India. The images show that it was 8 km wide in places and that it

dried up 4,000 years ago.

 

Dr JR Sharma who heads the Remote Sensing Services Centre in Jodhpur

which is mapping the images, believes a major earthquake may have

played a part in the demise of the Saraswati. There was, he says, a

big tectonic activity that stopped the water supply to the river.

 

Sharma and his team believe they have found the Saraswati and are

excited about what this discovery could mean for India. The idea is

to tap its potential as a water source. They are working with India¿s

leading water experts who are using the satellite images as clues.

 

WATER UNDER THE DESERT?

 

Deep in the western Rajasthan desert, not far from the security-

conscious border with Pakistan, an extraordinary programme is

underway. Giant drilling rigs probe deep into the dry, arid earth

pulling out undisturbed layers of soil and sediment for scientists to

study and test.

 

Water engineers are exploring the region's ancient riverbeds for what

they call groundwater - underground reservoirs that contain perfectly

drinkable water. If they are successful, their discovery could

transform the lives of thousands of locals who currently experience

harsh water shortages.

 

Mr KS Sriwastawa of the Rajasthan State Groundwater Board believes

one of these ancient buried channels may be the Saraswati.

 

He knows the stories refer to the ancient river flowing through this

area and says excitedly that carbon dating has revealed that the

water they are finding is 4000 years old. That would date it to the

time of the Saraswati.

 

The modern search for the Saraswati was first sparked by an English

engineer called CF Oldham in 1893 when he was riding his horse along

the dry bed of a seasonal Rajasthani river called the Ghaggar.

 

As he rode on, he was struck by a sudden thought. The Ghaggar when it

flowed, was a small, puny river and there was no reason for its bed

to be up to 3km wide in places unless it occupied the former course

of a much larger river - the Saraswati.

 

The discovery of a vast prehistoric civilisation that lived along the

banks of a major river, has added impetus to the growing modern

belief that the Saraswati has been found.

 

Over 1000 archaeological sites have been found on the course of this

river and they date from 3000 BC. One of these sites is the

prehistoric town of Kalibangan in northern Rajasthan.

 

The town has proved a treasure trove of information about the Bronze

Age people who actually lived on the banks of the Saraswati.

Archaeologists have discovered that there were priests, farmers,

merchants and very advanced artists and craftsmen living there.

 

Highly sophisticated seals on which there is evidence of writing have

also been found, indicating that these people were literate, but

unfortunately the seals have never been deciphered.

 

They may well hold the clue to the mystery of what happened to the

Saraswati and whether it has really been found again.

[Guest guest]

I read this and found it fascinating. I wonder if the writing they

found will prove to be a predecessor of Aryan or Dravidian writing.

They mention they found "priests" I wonder if they found any

priestesses.

 

Do you know where we might find out more?

 

Archeology is fascinating to me. I often think that the dragon

legends that are so pervasive indicate that either humans existed at

the time of dinosaurs (which science still disputes, although the

gap is narrowing through additional archeological evidence) or if

the ancients merely came across the fossils, much as we do, and

created tales about these huge beasts.

 

Sappho said over 2500 years ago: "I tell you...in the time to come,

they will remember us."

 

Haunting.

 

pr

[Guest guest]

Namaskar Prainbow ...

 

Glad you liked the Saraswati River info.; isn't it fascinating stuff?

 

*** I wonder if the writing they found will prove to be a predecessor

of Aryan or Dravidian writing. ***

 

One theory says it is an indigenous precursor to Sanskrit rather than

Dravidian tongues, but that it was probably a fairly racially mixed

society with many linguistic influences. I hope kochu1tz will post

about this upon his return on Dec. 16; he explained it to me a while

back and it was fascinating. I've included a link below that explore

the current state of the debate on this script

 

*** They mention they found "priests" I wonder if they found any

priestesses. ***

 

The Harappan culture (or Saraswati civilization, as it's coming to be

called) seems to have been -- like most Bronze Age cultures -- one

that primarily worshiped the Goddess. As a student of ancient Goddess

worship, you know that this usually means priestesses as well. As

N.N. Bhattacharyya writes in his "History of the Shakta Religion",

hoards of female figurines have been found at Saraswati Civilization

archealogical digs:

 

"Female statuettes akin to those from the Indus Valley and

Baluchistan [i.e. Saraswati Culture sites] have been found in large

numbers and over a wide range of countries between Persia and the

Aegean, notably in Elam, Mesopotamia, Transcaspia, Asia Minor, Syria

and Palestine, Cyprus, Crete, the Cyclades, the Balkans and Egypt. ...

 

"The generally accepted view concerning them is that they represent

the Great Mother or Nature Goddess. ... The correspondence ...

between these figurines and those found on the bank of the Indus

[i.e. Saraswati Culture sites] is such that it is difficult to resist

the conclusion that the latter also represented Mother or Nature

Goddess and served the same purpose as their counterparts in the

West; viz. either as votive offerings or ... as cult images for

household shrines ...

 

"Many of the living features of living Hindu religion and philosophy

may be traced directly to this pre-Vedic source, and in this

connection we may refer to the principles of Tantrism, the

philosophical Sankhya, the practice of yoga and present-day

Shaktism. ... The deep-rooted influenced of this Mother-oriented

worldview, in terms of an all-pervading Feminine Principle of

creation, persisted in the field of religion and rituals through the

ages."

 

*** Do you know where we might find out more? ***

 

Yes. An excellent place to start is this:

http://www.harappa.com/har/har0.html

 

*** Archeology is fascinating to me. I often think that the dragon

legends that are so pervasive indicate that either humans existed at

the time of dinosaurs (which science still disputes, although the gap

is narrowing through additional archeological evidence) or if the

ancients merely came across the fossils, much as we do, and created

tales about these huge beasts. ***

 

It's also said that the biblical and other epic tales involving

ancient races of giants came from those old-timers finding dinosaur

bones and assuming that they were human bones. But who knows? As

usual, Shakespeare said it best: "There are more things in heaven and

earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." (Hamlet,

I.5.166-167)

 

Aum Maatangyai Namahe

[Guest guest]

DB,

 

I have seen this site before, it's very interesting. I wish I could

access something a little more recent.

 

I suppose, if I were really ambitious I'd go to the library.

 

I find the Dravidian/Aryan argument interesting. I've pulled two

quotes from that website here:

 

"An early form of Dravidian, then, emerges as the historically most

likely language to have been spoken by the Indus people."

Asko Parpola

 

"There are no Aryans in India, nor are there any Dravidians. Those

who talk about Dravidians in the political sense, I do not agree

with them at all. There are no Dravidian people or Aryan people -

just like both Pakistanis and Indians are racially very similar. We

are both the product of a very long period of intermarriage, there

have been migrations. You cannot now racially segregate any element

of the Indian population"

Iravatham Mahadevan

 

 

Perhaps there are no Dravidan people in India today, that may very

well be true, but I've heard it proposed that the Aryan culture

which came in from the NorthWest and had such an effect on what is

today the Middle East was very masculine. Such proposals usually

suggest that the Dravidian culture, and other settled agricultural

cultures were more feminine, expressed more in terms of the Feminine

Divine, and more in terms of female-male equality.

 

I have often wondered what are the conditions that make a culture

more feminine, more masculine, more equal, more likely to be

monotheistic or polytheistic, more likely to include Goddess-worship.

 

I feel that agriculture settlements binding a people to the land

might influence the expression of Feminine Divinity, or in the least

a polytheistic balance between the male and female. But I've not

seen consistent and convincing evidence yet. Not enough anyway.

 

Recently I worked from old National Geographic magazines to put

together a collage for my Solstice greetings and came across an

article about a Minoan Temple excavation that revealed a sacrifice

that had taken place moments before the building was destroyed by an

earthquake and resultant fire. The site had remained undisturbed for

3 thousand years. What an incredible find. It was a fascinating

article and a small glimpse into the deep past at the moment of

overwhelming stress.

 

Human fear, human desperation and the grasping human desire to gain

supernatural control over uncontrollable events doesn't seem to have

changed much at all.

 

Neither has the desire to create places of worship or objects of

beauty that express our reverence.

 

Bright Blessings during this wonderful holiday!

 

By the way, is there a Hindu feast related to the Winter Solstice?

Particularly one that involves a Goddess? I apologize in advance if

this has been recently discussed. It's been tough to keep up lately,

so much going on!

 

Namaste,

 

prainbow