The Sarasvati (b.b. Lal)

I am indeed most grateful to the organizers of this Seminar,in particular to revered Swami Dayanand Sarasvati, Dr. S.Kalyanaraman, Professor Shivaji Singh and Dr. Sharad Hebalkar,for so kindly inviting me to deliver the Inaugural Address. Thishas given me an opportunity to express my views before such anaugust audience on the civilization that was at its peak in theSarasvat∂ basin and beyond in the 3rd millennium

BCE

and had itsroots deep into the 5th millennium

BCE

, if not earlier. No lessimportant is the fact that this civilization has made a lastingcontribution to Indian culture, as may be observed in the variouswalks of life even today. Just as a mother gives birth to a child and nourishes it till itcomes of age, so did the Sarasvat∂ give birth to this IndianCivilization and nourish it. Unfortunately, however, in the lattercase, the mother disappeared not long after raising the child up toits adulthood, leaving some non-believers to doubt even heridentity. What an irony!One of these non-believers, the noted historian Professor R.S.Sharma, who was in limelight during the middle of the 1990s as aBabri Masjid protagonists, had the ëgenerosityí of making thefollowing remarks (Sharma 1999: 35):

The

fundamentalists

want to establish the superiority of theSarasvat∂ over the Indus because of

communal

considerations. Inthe Harappan context they think that after the partition the Indus

The Sarasvat∂

The Mother of Indian Civilization*

B.B. Lal

*Inaugural Address delivered at the International Seminar onëSarasvat∂ River and Hindu Civilizationí, held at India InternationalCentre, New Delhi, October 24-26, 2008.

2

belongs to the Muslims and only the Sarasvat∂ remains with theHindus.

What an unfounded accusation! Anyway, the learned Professorgoes on to say:

The Sarasvat∂ receives much attention in the

°Rg Veda

and several

sµukta

s are devoted to it; so they want to use it for their purpose.But it seems that there are several Sarasvat∂s and the earliestSarasvat∂ cannot be identified with the Hakra and the Ghaggar. Inthe

°Rg Veda

the Sarasvat∂ is called the best of the rivers (

nad∂tama

).It seems to have been a great river with perennial water. The Hakraand the Ghaggar cannot match it.

The earliest Sarasvat∂ isconsidered identical with the Helmand in Afghanistan which iscalled Harakhwati in the

Åvestå.

First and foremost. Let it be remembered that we are lookingfor the physical equivalent of the

°Rigvedic Sarasvat∂

and not forany sundry river going by that name or a name phonetically similarto that. Thus, it is imperative that we take into full account whatthe

°Rigveda

itself has to say about the location of this river.Verses 5 and 6 of the famous

Nad∂-stuti

hymn of the

°Rigveda

(10.75.5-6) describe the various rivers known to the Vedic people,in a

serial order

from the east to the west, i.e. from the Ga∆gå-Yamumå to the Indus and its western tributaries. In thisenumeration, the

Sarasvat∂ is mentioned between the Yamunåand the Sutlej.

The relevant verses run as follows:

imam me Ga∆ge

Yamune Sarasvati ›utudri

stomam sachatå Paru¶ƒyå/ Asiknyå Marudvæidhe Vitastayå Årj∂k∂ye ‹æiƒuhyå Su¶omayå//5// Tæi¶¢åmayå prathamam yåtave sajµu¨ Susartvå Rasayå ›vetyå tyå/ Tvam Sindho Kubhayå Gomat∂m Krumum Mehatnvå saratham yåbhir∂yase// 6//

O Ga∆gå,

Yamunå, Sarasvat∂, ›utudr∂ (Sutlej)

and Paru¶ƒ∂ (Ravi),O Marudvæidhå with Asikn∂ (Chenab), O Årjik∂yå with Vitastå(Jhelum) and Su¶omå (Sohan), please listen to and accept this hymnof mine.

//

5

//

O Sindhu (Indus), flowing, you first meet the Tæi¶¢åmå (and then)the Susartu, the Raså, and the ›vetå (Swat), and thereafter theKubhå (Kabul), the Gomat∂ (Gomal), the Krumu (Kurram) withthe Mehatnu; and (finally) you move on in the same chariot withthem (i.e. carry their waters with you).

//

6

//

3

Does the Harakhwat∂ of the

Åvestå,

identified by Sharma withmodern Helmand in Afghanistan, foot this unambiguousgeographical bill? Surely, not. There is no Yamunå or Sutlej inAfghanistan to sandwich the supposed Sarasvat∂ (Harakhwati).

Further,

RV

3.23.4 mentions the

Dæi¶advat∂ and Åpayå as thetributaries of the Sarasvat∂:

Dæi¶advatyåm månu¶a Åpayåyåm Sarasvatyåm revadagne did∂hi//

There are no rivers by these names in Afghanistan. On the otherhand, these two rivers

are

located in Haryana and Rajasthan inIndia.Finally, there is the oft-quoted hymn,

RV

7.95.2:

ekåchetat Sarasvat∂ nad∂nåm ‹uchir yati giribhya å samudråt/

which clearly states that the

Sarasvat∂ flowed all the way fromthe mountains to the ocean. While there do exist mountains inAfghanistan, there is no ocean. Then, how does one make theHelmand (the supposed-to-be Sarasvat∂) fall into the ocean andconform to the geographical description in the

°Rigveda

?The above quotations from the

°Rigveda

itself make itabundantly clear that the Helmand of Afghanistan can have noclaim whatsoever to be equated with the °Rigvedic Sarasvat∂!

Anyway, letting Professor Sharma and others of the same ilkstick to their guns, if they choose do so even after the abovediscussion, we may now turn our attention to a more positive note,viz. if the Helmand of Afghanistan is not the °Rigvedic Sarasvat∂,which river in India does foot the bill? In doing so, we shall applyall the three tests referred to above, namely: (i) the location of thesaid river between the Yamunå and Sutlej; (ii) the existence of theDæi¶advat∂ and Åpayå as its tributaries; and (iii) the given riverhaving flowed into the ocean.There does flow a river

called the Sarasvat∂

between theYamunå and Sutlej and thus passes the first of these tests. Today itstarts at the foot of the Siwalik hills and flows via Panjab intoHaryana where it passes by the towns of Pipli, Kurukshetra andPehowa, after which it merges into the Ghaggar and is knowndownstream by the latter name. It then dries up near Sirsa.Thereafter the dry bed, which varies in width from 2 to even 8kilometres at places (Yash Pal

et al.

1984), is traceable all the way,cutting across the Indian border into Cholistan (Pakistan) where it