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The research was launched by the Akhil Bharatiya Itihaas Sankalan Yojana in 1985, when a team of scholars set upon a pilgrimage along the dry river bed of River Saraswati, starting from Adh Badri (Haryana) to Somnath (Gujarat) - a distance of over 1,600 km from the foothills of the Himalayas to the Sindhu Sagar (Arabian Sea). Saraswati Nadi Shodh Prakalp is a wing of this Yojana.
Rigvedic Adoration of Saraswati
Since 1985 a number of scientists got involved in the research, and have made significant contributions in establishing the ancient courses of the river. It has now been established, using satellite imagery, dating of water samples taken from deep wells near Jaisalmer, test tube-well drillings, Iithological (earth layer samples) studies and location of hundreds of archaeological sites along the River Basin, that the river was in full flow as a mighty river thousands of years prior to 5000 BP (Before Present).
The Rig Veda refers to Saraswati as a mighty river flowing from the mountains to the sea, adored as the nurturing mother of a civilization which drew its sustenance on its banks. In the tradition of Bharat Saraswati is adored as the goddess of learning, because arts and crafts and technological advances, with the use of alloys to create bronze and brass (called the bronze age), evolved on its banks.
Ancient Course Established
The Saraswati Project undertaken by the Central Ground Water Authority (July 1999) has confirmed the palaeo-channel of the river in eight regions around Jaisalmer. A book titled Vedic Saraswati has been published by the Geological Society of India, Bangalore, confirming the ancient courses of the river from the Himalayas to Gujarat. An encyclopedic work has been compiled on Saraswati in 1,150 pages and 650 illustrations covering the geological, glaciological, archaeological findings and tallying the information with the textual evidence provided by the Vedas and the epics Mahabharat and Ramayana.
In the context of the current research work Akhil Bharatiya Itihaas Sankalan Yojana organized a meeting of renowned scientists and scholars, which was attended by 14 scientists and scholars representing the disciplines of archaeology, ancient history of Bharat, geology, glaciology, groundwater development, hydrology, space application and remote sensing analysis, irrigation and water resources development, and international finance.
Resolutions
The following resolutions were adopted by the participants, requesting the Government of India:
To pursue with the authorities of
the British Museum to bring back the Saraswati statue and restore it to
its original place in the Vidya Mandir built by Raja Bhoja in ca. 1000
AD at Dhara in Madhya Pradesh; to declare the principal archaeological
sites in the Saraswati River Basin, such as Rakhigarhi, Kunal, Banawali,
Kalibangan, Dholavira, Surkotada, and Lothal, as Indian heritage sites;
to constitute a Saraswati River Basin Authority for better co-ordination
of the projects in the basin; to launch a people's participation movement
to celebrate Saraswati Darshan on Magha Shukla Panchami day (i.e. Basant
Panchami, April 13) every year, and to launch a project to compile the
history of Charana traditions, which include folk songs and tales on River
Saraswati.
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