THREAD to Bust Myths related to Sarasvati River

Many modern indian historians, leftists have claimed the Sarasvati river 1) never existed or 2) if it did, it is the Helmand river in Afghanistan.

The Wire even said in an article "it was a mental construct"

All this is WRONG!

The initial evidence for the existence of the Sarasvati came solely from the Rigveda. Many hymns are dedicated to the Sarasvati (over 60 hymns). One of the hymns pinpoints it's exact location –– between the Yamuna on the East & Sutlej on the West. (RV 10.75)

However, the Sarasvati couldn't be traced or found, so scholars said it's a "figment of imagination" or just the Indus itself.

C.F Oldham, in 1874, correctly identified the dry bed of the Ghaggar-Hakra with the once mighty Sarasvati. He was convinced it was the Sarasvati.

Oldham said, the Sarasvati was fed by the Sutlej & the Yamuna, (both correct) but later the Sutlej changed it's course, drying the river up. However, there were many who doubted this, until satellite imagery CONFIRMED that the Sutlej had fed the Ghaggar before.

So now that the Sarasvati was shown to exist, historians conjured up some entirely new theory –– they said the Helmand river in Afghanistan is the Sarasvati, & is synonymous with a reconstructed avestan word Haraxvati

This is wrong, since the Helmand was never called this.

The Helmand is called the Haetumant in the Venidad (Fargard 1.13) It was NEVER called "Haraxvati"

Haraxvati is mentioned in the Avesta, but it has been identified with the modern-day Arghandab river, which is a small tributary of the Helmand river.

Sarasvati is a mighty flowing river present b/w the Sutlej & Yamuna (according to the Rigveda)

So, Romila Thapar now identified the "Entire Haraxvati plain" with the Sarasvati to get around this fact.

Makes no sense. Not a single one of the rivers in that plain is mentioned in the RV. The geography is clearly in NW plains of Sapta Sindhu (Punj-ab)

So all this was finally put to rest by a Nature paper on geographical sedimentary deposits of the Ghagra last december that sealed the deal & identified it with the Sarasvati river.

The paper said the river dried up around 4.5kya so 2500 BCE.

Some excerpts

"Our study brings to light the fact that the Harappans built their early settlements along a stronger phase of the river Ghaggar, during ~9 to 4.5 ka, which would later be known as the Saraswati. "

The study confirms the Sutlej & Yamuna fed the Ghaggar.

So, coming back –– archaeologists found 414 harappan archaeological sites on the banks of the Sarasvati (Ghagra) compared to just 36 on the entire Indus Plain. So many archaeologists proposed changing the name of IVC to SVC (Saraswati Valley Civilization).

Now, the best part.The Sarasvati was found & correctly identified w the sole testimony of the Rigveda Samhita.

The validity of the Shabda PramANa (verbal testimony) led to a long man-hunt for the river, eventually confirming its existence via pratyakSa pramANa (empirical proof)

Subaltern uneducated websites like "The Wire" "The Print" described the river as a mythical figment of imagination that the government was spending money on. Romila Thappar, Irfab Habib, Kocchar, refuse to accept they are wrong. https://thewire.in/the-sciences/the-saraswati-is-a-river-that-never-was-and-flowed-always-in-the-peoples-hearts