From: "Ashwini Kumar" Date: Tue Jul 2, 2002 8:04 pm Subject: Sarasvati River Namaste There is a book available 'New Discoveries About Vedic Sarasvati' written by Dr Ravi Prakash Arya.He is the Chief Editor of Vedic Science journal.Please reply if you need more info. Ashwini Kumar email: ashwini_kumarr@h... Kolkata (on Ma_gha Shukla Panchami day: Sarasvati janma tithi celebratation held in a big way on Feb. 17, 2002), Delhi, Kalibangan, Mohangarh (Jaisalmer Dist.) where the river is flowing again: 40 ft. wide, 12 ft. deep channel; the huge inaugural plaque there reads: Sarasvati mahanadi ru_pa_ nahar. Kalyan India's 'miracle river' Scientists say new evidence could unearth the Saraswati 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. Saraswati, Hindu goddess of Learning 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 school children, 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. Scientists hope to find 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. The Miracle River is broadcast at 3.30pm on Saturday 29 June on BBC Radio 4 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_2073000/20731 59.stm Subject: [world-vedic] Indian satellite finds buried courses of River Sarasvati Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2002 04:15:15 -0000 From: kalyan Reply-To: vediculture@yahoogroups.com To: vediculture@yahoogroups.com --- In HinduThought@y..., "kalyan97" wrote: Indian satellites finds water under desert Hyderabad July 28. India's remote sensing satellites have traced the buried course of Saraswati, the mythical Himalayan river, kindling hopes of finding drinking water under the hot sands of the Thar desert in Rajasthan. Mentioned in the Rig Veda, the Hindu scripture, and other ancient literature, the river is believed to have once flowed, parallel to the Indus, through what is now desert before falling into the Arabian Sea. According to published literature, the river disappeared between 5000 BC and 3000 BC due to tectonic events in the Himalayas, that cut off the water supply, and climatic changes that converted what was once a lush green Rajasthan into an arid zone. Past attempts to accurately trace the lost river and reconstruct its drainage system did not succeed. "Recent advancements in space-based sensors and in data processing technologies made it possible", says J. R. Sharma of the Jodhpur- based Remote Sensing Service Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). He and his colleagues, A. K. Gupta and G. Sreenivasan have mapped the "palaeo channels" — relics of the river and its tributaries — using data from three different sensors on board Indian satellites. Mr. Sharma said over telephone that 13 borewells drilled along the predicted river course have yielded water at a depth of 35 to 40 metres. The size of the palaeo channels, as estimated from satellite data, was huge, about 15 to 40 metres thick, implying that there was plenty of water out there. "The Government of Rajasthan is planning to increase the number of borewells to 50 in two months and has earmarked Rs. 40 million for the project," he said, adding, "chemical analysis indicates these palaeo channels could form a source for good quality ground water." The ISRO scientists do not subscribe to the theory that Saraswati is flowing as a subterranean river. "Radioactive tracer studies show that the maximum flow of water is 15 cms per year — too slow to indicate that connection with the Himalayan source is still there," Mr. Sharma said. — PTI http://www.hinduonnet.com/stories/2002072901060800.htm Subject: [world-vedic] Sarasvati Civilization: riverine, maritime Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2002 04:56:34 +0000 From: "vishwa vijaii" Mailing-List: list vediculture@yahoogroups.com Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 07:37:45 +0000 Subject: [world-vedic] Fwd: [manthan] Saraswati civilisation From: Bipin Patel Reply-To: manthan@voi.org (Manthan) To: E-Manthan