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The mythical Saraswati is yet to be traced but Union Minister for Tourism and Culture Jagmohan has already announced an ambitious Rs 5-crore Saraswati Heritage Project, which aims to develop the "Saraswati river belt" as a "cultural-tourist" hub with 15 circles or centres. Earlier this year, the minister had sanctioned Rs 8 crore to the Archaeological Society of India (ASI) to search for the river, which is believed to have run dry a million years ago. Now he seems to have zeroed in on a 800-km belt, stretching from Adi Badri in Haryana (the source of the river, says the ASI) to Dholavira in Gujarat.
The 15 hubs - located in far-flung archaeological sites like Kapal Mochan and Kaithal in Haryana to Baror and Juni Kuran in Rajasthan, and Narayan Sarovar in Gujarat will showcase important discoveries made by the ASI in their Saraswati excavations over the past few months.
"The ASI and other organisations have been excavating almost 1,500 sites along the banks of the Saraswati and have made some exciting discoveries of mounds and artefacts," says Jagmohan. "The 15 hubs along the riverbed will be developed as a destination for both tourism and research and will have a green belt for picnics, a documentation centre and a museum."
The hubs will also have pavilions exhibiting models of the
Saraswati basin in its cultural and topographical perspectives, and dormitories for scholars and tourists, all of which will he set in verdant gardens, with pools of water symbolising the river.
The Saraswati Heritage Project is part of Jagmohan's vision for tourism in India. A year ago, he initiated 'Regeneration India', a Rs 300-crore project to boost "cultural and spiritual tourism", which will largely tap the growing domestic market.
The focus is on "synthesis of the spiritual and aesthetic" for development of mind and body, says Jagmohan, rather than focusing on "material possessions, rest and recreation alone".
He has just completed the development of the Kurukshetra hub, where the epic battle of the Mahabharata is said to have been fought.
Says the minister: "Last year alone, domestic traffic increased by three crore. I have multiple objectives - to bring to life culturally significant monuments, towns and sacred spots, improve the surrounding area and infuse keen civic sense to make it a pleasant experience. I also want to encourage visitors to come in contact with the profound minds which created all these wonders."
The Saraswati river project, however, has always raised a storm among archaeologists. It is seen as a flagrant attempt by RSS-inspired theorists to liken the Harappan civilisation with the Vedic era (the Saraswati has been described gloriously in the Rig Veda) as one and the same. It, therefore, seeks to establish the indigenousness of Hinduism vis-a-vis Islam and Christianity and opposes the Aryan invasion theory.
But Jagmohan is indifferent to accusations of "Sanskritisation" and "Hinduisation" of culture.
He is charging ahead with his pet projects with at least 50 new "cultural" destinations ready to be developed, from Hardwar-Gangotri in Uttaranchal to Pandharpur in Maharashtra, and from Ayodhya in UP to Hampi in Karnataka.
"If St Peter's in the Vatican can
attract so many million visitors, why can't we develop our cultural
centres and introduce the new generation to the profundity of ancient
India?" he asks.
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