7/21/2019 Times of India Interview (Chandigarh Edn 26.04.15 on Sarasvati River

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SUNDAY SPECIAL4SUNDAYTIMESOFINDIA, CHANDIGARH

APRIL26, 2015

MICHEL DANINO | Author of The Lost

River: On the Trail of the Sarasvati, a

multidisciplinary study of the Vedic river

Did the Sarasvati exist?Certainly it did. The Rig-Veda, Indiasmost ancient text, praise s it repeatedly,describes its flows from the mountainto the sea and its location between theYamuna and the Sutlej; the Vedichymns also deified the Sarasvati, initi-ating a tradition of viewing life-givingrivers as goddesses. Later literaturedepicts the various stages of the Saras-vatis decline and disappearance. In theMahabharata, for instance, the riverhas become invisible in parts, butstill flows westward through the Ku-rukshetra region, on to the desert andall the way to Prabhas. Note that thepresence of an invisible Sarasvati atPrayag (the Triveni Sangam) is alater tradition, clearly intended to pre-serve the memory of the river-goddess;there is no underground river flow-ing there, as is commonly believed.

Why is the revival of the river importantafter so many centuries?Talk of reviving the Sarasvati hasbeen going on for two or three decades.Of cou rse, cultural pride and nostal-gia for an ancient past are involved.I see nothing wrong in this in prin-ciple: efforts at revival are part ofevery world culture moving throughcycles of continuity, change, disrup-tion, renewal and adaptation.

Are you for the move of revival byHaryana government?Yes and no. Revival ofany river is environ-

mentally desirable(especially in In-

dia where we

have become so expert at killing ourrivers!), but this requires expertise aswell as sustained efforts: eco-restora-tion of the catchment area throughmassive reforestation (of the ShivalikHills in this case) and integrated watermanagement. From the limited infor-mation available through press, this

does not seem to be on the cards; in-stead, we read about pumping waterfrom borewells into the river bed,which would be the height of ecologicalabsurdity. Diverting water from othersources such as canals will also nothelp. Besides, it should be understoodthat what might be restored, with duecare, is only the rivers upper course;the rivers full flow cannot be revived.

What purpose will it solve?Again, I do not mind

banking on our ancientheritage or promotingcultural tourism, pro-

vided this is doneintell igent ly. I twould be of greatimportance, for in-

stance, to preserve forposterity the importantHarappan sites of theSarasvati region: Kali-

bangan (al -most erod-

ed away by now), Banawali, Bhirrana,Rakhigarhi and many more. Look atthe way the West or China have beenpreserving their heritagewe lag farbehind.

How could this affect the course ofhistory?It wont, but I support the idea of pre-serving our cultural as well as ecologi-cal heritage, whether it is the Saras-vati and the Harappan sites it watered,or Ganga which threatens to become asecond Sarasvati.

And how will it affect the Aryan invasiontheory?Briefly, the Sarasvati is intimately con-nected with Vedic culture; but it so hap-pens that the only material culturefound in its basin, prior to its dryingup around 1900 BCE, is Harappan. Thiscreates a natural associa-tion between Vedic andHarappan, although theview promoted by the Aryan invasion/migration theory is that Vedic cultureis post-Harappan. The debate is on, butregrettably archaeologists and scholarspromoting this association have beenbranded communal or Hindutva,conveniently forgetting that genera-tions of Western Indologists, geogra-phers and archaeologists had, since1855, accepted the identity between theGhaggar and the Vedic Sarasvati. Civi-lized, intelligent debates are so rarewhen it comes to Indian history: diverg-ing perspectives are simply ignored ordemonized instead of bein g seen as asource of enrichment. Our scholarlycommunity sorely lacks maturity andself-confidence, essential prerequisitesfor fruitful dialogues.

As told to Sarika Sharma

R C Thakran | Professor of history at

University of Delhi, he has intensively

surveyed Middle Sarasvati Ghaggar Basin

Did the Sarasvati exist?A lot of debate is going on these daysthat Sarasvati was once a very big riverand gave birth to early human civiliza-tions in India. Now, the primary ques-tion is as to whether that big riverever existed? There is no credible evi-dence available to suggest that a largeriver existed in the region, where plansare afoot to revive the Sarasvati.

But there should be some logic to deny itsexistence?Yes. Let us first understand two verybasic features of big rivers like Gangaand Sutlej of north India. Firstly, all ofthem originate from glaciers and waterflows in such rivers roun d the year. Due

to this huge continuous flow,there exist massive pools ofwater even beneath river beds.

Secondly, there is massive soil accumula-tion in beds, which is identical to theearth of mountains from where theserivers originate. I have conducted villageto village survey from Kalka, Panchku-la, Shahbad, Patiala, Hisar, Sirsa uptoHanumangarh and Suratgarh. This isthe area where Ghaggar today flows andclaimants of Sarasvati say the big riveronce flowed. Now, these two basic fea-tures are missing in this entire region.The more you go downstream along Gh-aggar, water table recedes. There is nosign of massive soil accumulation. Thesoil available in the river bed is identicalto soil of lower Shivaliks and can neverbe a source of a big river.

What does the absence of these featuressuggest?This means that Sarasvati, even if ex-

isted long back, was not a big river thatflowed round the year. It might haveexisted as a small rain water carryingchannel as it is to day. Saying that it wasa great river is illogical.

What are the plans afoot to revive it?Haryana government is planning torevive a water channel from Adh Bad-hri near Kalka, which flows up to Pe-howa-Kurukshetra area. This is a verysmall rainwater stream.

Even if revived, hardly any water will flowinto the river. What purpose will it solvein that case?People are being befooled on this issue.They are saying that if water will notflow into the revived Saraswati, itwillbe drained out with tubewells. Theironly aim is to satisfy belief of masses.But frankly, it will not serve socio-economic issues of residents ofthe area. Farmers need waterto produce crops. Even a canalcan serve the purpose betterthan Sarasvati's revival.

Why is revival importantafter so many centuries?There is a full-fledged agendabacked by the phil osophy,proponents of whichare trying to es-tablish that

human civilizations didnt develop dueto efforts of mankind but only due tonature. In this case also, they wanted toestablish that our great ancient civiliza-tions developed only due to our greatrivers, of which, Sarasvati was one.

What do they want to really prove?They are hell-bent on establishing thatAryans were original inhabitants ofthis land and the early civilizations ofIndus Valley and Harrapa were Aryancivilizations. But historical evidencessuggest that people from West Asia hadcome and settled in this region in theancient times. By saying that inhabit-ants of early civilizations were origi-nal inhabitants of this land and Saras-vati helped in origin of such civiliza-tions, one negates presence of thosenumerous evidences.

Do you mean that Sarasvatis existencetheory will not affect the Aryan invasiontheory?Those asserting that Sarasvati was abig river, assert that it was a source oforigin of ancient civilization of thisregion. But I dont believe in the theo-ry that civilizations developed alongcourses of big rivers. Rather, remainsof ancient settlements in this area sug-

gest that they had existed in areaslocated away from and at levels

higher than that of rivers.Therefore, even if Sa rasvatidid exist, there is no reasonto suggest that it did help indevelopment of civilization.

As told toAmaninder

Pal Sharma

Myth Or Reality

Sarasvati ShimlaAmritsar

Jalandhar

Ropar

Jhela

m

Ind

us

Yamuna

Chena

b

Ravi

Sutlej

Sutlej

Beas

Sars

uti

Ghag

gar

Hakra

Lahore

Harappa

Lakhmirwala

Kalibangan

Ganweriwala

Derawar Fort

Anupgarh

Fort AbbasMarrot

Farmana

RakhigarhiBirrana

Banawali

LudhianaChandigarh

Patiala

Delhi

Bathinda

Hanumangarh

Khanpur

Bahawalpur

Multan

FACEOFF

Efforts at revival part of every culture Wont serve economic issues of area

The debate got a fresh leaseof life with Haryanabeginning excavations inYamunanagar last week. Butwhose thirst will the diggingquench? Author MichelDanino, a French by birth, andR C Thakran, DU professorfrom Haryana, offer their take

The debate is on,but regrettably

archaeologists and scholarspromoting this association havebeen branded communalor Hindutva

There is a full-fledgedagenda backed by the

philosophy, proponents ofwhich are trying to establish

that human civilizations didntdevelop due to efforts ofmankind, but only due to nature

* Recreation of a map of the Sarasvatis basin, with the settlement pattern of Harappan

sites (marked in blue ) in the Mature Phase, 2600-1900 BC; by Michel Danino); not to scaleAT BHIRRANA:A Harappan site indistrict Fatehabad

Photo courtesy: Archaeological Survey of India