Book Review: The Lost River — On the Trail of the Saraswati

Finally, a book that consolidates multiple views on the Indus-Saraswati civilization and provides a hypothesis that people on the subcontinent can easily vouch for as realistic and highly probable.



Not many people know yet about the reality of river Saraswati, the dry river basin clearly visible through satellite imaging, the location of the river clearly and correctly mentioned in the RgVeda along with its six sisters, 70% of sites found in the Saraswati basin (so the name Indus Valley Civilization needs to be changed too), how the once mighty river that flowed from the Shivaliks to the Kutch sea lost portions of its waters to the Yamuna and the Sutlej and how its drying up over a period of time (rainfull pattern shifting eastward) is likely to have resulted in the shift of population towards the Indus and the Gangetic plains (there is actual evidence to support this hypothesis).



One major point that emerges clearly is that the Indus-Saraswati Civilization existed when Saraswati was flowing. That pushes the dates back by several thousand years. That’s just about the last nail in the coffin for Muller’s Aryan invasion theory.



The book also throws light on how the artifacts of the civilization live on (the people and their customs and practices did not disappear or go extinct or get exterminated, but formed the basis of the evolution of Indian culture as we know today).



Some questions do remain unanswered — how do we connect this with some key Hindu mythological references, be it the Ramayana or the Puranas, the shared pre-Vedic past of India and Iran and the two paths that emerged? Of course, this question may be out of the scope of this book which focuses on the River Saraswati.



All in all, a brilliant read and its time to update the school syllabus on Indus Valley Civilization. A lot of water has flown past Harappa and Mohenjo-daro and all the action is on the banks of the river Saraswati.



Links:

Sarasvati River — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarasvati_River