Author: Akshaya Mukul
Publication: The Times of India
Date: June 15, 2002
A day after culture minister Jagmohan
announced excavations to trace the ancient course of the Saraswati, the
lost river of Harappan civilisation, a team of four experts has been named
by him for this task.
Though Mr Jagmohan denied the project
is linked to the Sangh Parivar's agenda of equating Harappan civilisation
with Hinduism he did talk of mythology being intertwined with several areas
in Haryana where the Saraswati presumably once flowed. "Marxist historians
have fed us on a certain kind of history. One should not close options,"
he said, adding, "If there is any evidence of Saraswati, we will see it,
otherwise we will not push forward any view."
The four experts - Baldeo Sahai
of ISRO, Ahmedabad, archaeologist S. Kalyan Raman, glaciologist Y.K Puri,
and water consultant Madhav Chitle - will carry out the first phase of
excavation from Adi Badri to Bhagwanpura in Haryana followed by a second
phase from Bhagwanpura to Kalibangan on the Rajasthan border.
Along with tracing the river's course,
the experts have been given the task of deepening Kapalmochan and Ranmochan
- the two wells fed by the Saraswati where the Pandavas had taken a bath,
said Mr Jagmohan. If the effort does not yield Saraswati water in the wells,
the experts have been told tap tubewells. An attempt will also be made
to trace the Saraswati at Thanesar, which was the capital of Harshvardhan,
a few kilometres from Kurukshetra.
Plans are also afoot to excavate
seven mounds in Rakhigarhi, where the minister claims five are of Harappan
lineage and two of pre-Harappan times. With all this Mr Jagmohan is "confident
that Saraswati will come alive."
But his confidence is not shared
by noted historians Suraj Bhan and Irfan Habib. Said Suraj Bhan, "In the
1960s, I worked in this area to trace the Saraswati's route. In Adi-Badri
no course of the Saraswati can be seen." He also denies having found any
evidence related to the Pandava period in this area.
"Legend goes that there were 1400
pilgrim centres on the Saraswati. The RSS has been working on the Saraswati
project for decades. In the 1980s, its Itihas Sankalan Samiti and Apte
Memorial Committee took it up in a big way. The idea is to revive Brahminism
and the sanctity of the Vedas. Now it is showing dividends," he observed.
"All of us know there is water underground which will come out through
excavation anywhere," he says. "But how can it be called water from the
Saraswati river," he asked. "The important thing is to trace the dry course
of the Ghaggar which has already been done."
Habib, who has written extensively
on the Saraswati, felt the exercise is a waste of money The Hindutva historians,
he noted, claimed the Saraswati flowed from the Himalayas and now they
are tracing it in the foothills of the Shivaliks. "This is an attempt by
the RSS to make Harappan civilisation synonymous with Saraswati culture.
It has anti-Dravidian intentions," he said.
