The Lost Courses of the Saraswati River in the Great Indian Desert: New Evidence from

Landsat Imagery
Author(s): Bimal Ghose, Amal Kar and Zahid Husain
Source: The Geographical Journal , Nov., 1979, Vol. 145, No. 3 (Nov., 1979), pp. 446-451
Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British
Geographers)

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 THE LOST COURSES OF THE SARASWATI RIVER
IN THE GREAT INDIAN DESERT:
NEW EVIDENCE FROM LANDSAT IMAGERY

BIMAL GHOSE, AMAL KAR and ZAHID HUSAIN

Interpretation of landsat imagery and field investigation in the western part of

Jaisalmer district in India have revealed some hitherto unknown abandoned courses of
the former Saraswati river. It has been suggested that these courses were alive before the
Saraswati occupied the Raini or the Wahinda courses, and contributed to the alluviation
of the region. The subsurface water in the region is contributed mainly by the
Himalayan precipitation flowing subterraneously through the former courses of the
Saraswati.

MUCHThe
river. WORK has already
river originates been
in the doneHills
Siwalik on the lost 1)courses
(see Fig. of the Saraswati
ofthe Himalayan
mountain range and flows through the Punjab and Haryana States and then
through the northern part of Rajasthan (Ganganagar district) where it dries out
leaving a wide valley extending roughly from Hanumangarh through Pilibangan
and Anupgarh towards Fort Abbas in Pakistan. For most ofthe early workers on
the Saraswati, the inspiration to trace out the course ofthe river was provided by
the presence of this dry valley and they were motivated by an urge either to
explore the river beyond its visible length of dry valley or to unearth the relics of
prehistoric cultures in the region. The present authors' interest in the Saraswati
was aroused, however, when dealing with the distribution of alluvium and the
source of the perennial supply of subsurface water in the western part part of the
Great Indian Desert, where the annual rainfall is so meagre and erratic (less than
150 mm) that it cannot contribute substantially to the perennial wells ofthe area.
During their search, the authors came across some hitherto unknown courses of
the Saraswati which are described in the present article.

Literary sources
The Saraswati has been described as a mighty Himalayan river in the earliest
and authentic Sanskrit literature of the sub-continent, the Rigveda (Wilson,
1854). The earliest available report of the drying up of this river is in the epic
literature of the Mahabharata where it says that the river went underground at
Binasana, near the present town of Sirsa. The Mahabharata also mentions the
reappearance of the Saraswati at three places downstream, then known as
Chamasodbheda, Sirodbheda and Nagodbheda (Dey, 1927). The present
geographical locations of these places are not known to the authors. None of the
ancient Sanskrit literature, however, systematically described the course of this
river from its source to its terminus.
From the last quarter of the nineteenth century, a number of authors have
written of their attempts to explore the former course of the Saraswati and have
concluded that the river used to flow through the Raini and the Wahinda rivers
and then through the eastern Nara and Hakra in the Sind province of Pakistan to
the Rann of Kutch (Oldham, 1893; Wadia, 1938; Ali, 1942; Stein, 1942;

-> The authors of this paper are members of the Central Arid Zone Research Institute at Jodhpur,
India.

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 THE LOST COURSES OF THE SARASWATI RIVER 447

Krishnan, 1960; Wilhelmy, 1969). Allchin, Goudie and Hegde (197

summarized the findings of these authors in the following way:
'Evidence from many sources, including that of archaeological rem
associated with old river courses, indicates that a major river, stemming
from the same sources as the present Sutlej, flowed through Nort
Rajasthan, Bahawalpur and Sind?to the southeast ofthe present cours
Sutlej and the Indus?in the third to second millennium BC. This river, k
as the Saraswati in its upper course, at different times either joined the
course of the Indus in Sind, or found its way independently into the Ar
Sea via Rann of Kutch' (p. 198).
The present authors, on the basis of their interpretation of aerial photo

Ganganagar* ;.._..?**"" ,.?**

Hanumangarh, <"^^ ^4
Pilibangan^'-A* ~~^<*< 7-','

AnIipgbrh>V^ Surat9arh ^'Z^T.:.,

^V '" ,'Nohar

Bikaner ? / :x28"NH

?ambhar Lake
Jaipur

/\jmer

-Former courses of the river

26H

J^ Earliest course of the river

__? _ Successive major courses of the river

Existing drainage channels

Other former drainage channels

Salt marsh

Mountains

Fig. 1. The shifting courses ofthe Saraswati River

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448 THE LOST COURSES OF THE SARASWATI RIVER

and LANDSAT imagery, have suggested in an earlier

that the Saraswati used formerly to flow through a mo
Rajasthan part of the desert when the Luni river w
Subsequently the river shifted its course to the west se
its contact with the Luni (Fig. 1). The suggestion was th
that when this severance from the Luni occurred the r
Rann of Kutch through another southerly course whose
Pakistan as Hakra or Nara' (Ghose et al., 1978). Howev
of that article, some more information has been collect
of the Saraswati river. The present article emphasizes w
that when the river severed itself from the Luni and sh
occupy the Raini-Wahinda-Nara-Hakra course in Pak
through another channel running through the present
the Jaisalmer district in India. The Raini-Wahinda-
occupied by the Saraswati later. The study is based on i
imagery and field verification in the Indian part of the

Evidence from LANDSAT imagery

The black and white LANDSAT imagery of the we
contiguous part of Pakistan, taken in band 7 (near in
year 1972, clearly indicates the wide valley of the
Suratgarh through Anupgarh to Fort Abbas and Ahmad
Anupgarh another wide belt of discontinuous patche
southwestward up to Sakhi (Plate V). From Sakhi, the r
can be traced towards the west, but a closer look at
presence of a narrow zone of saline/alkaline fields,
overlying sand dunes, extending up to Khangarh. To
narrow strip of green vegetation, producing a sligh
surroundings, can be identified. It runs from Islamgarh
Ghantial, Shahgarh, Babuwali and Rajar to Mihal Mungr
the Saraswati from the Himalaya to the Rann of Kutch
relations with the Luni. South of Mihal Mungra, the co
the present Hakra channel and there are indications of
Hakra channel (Plate VI). This signifies that the co
might have been somewhere to the west of the pre
authors did not trace out that course between the Hakr
Holmes (1968) has reconstructed and described the fo
that region from his interpretation of aerial photograp
It has also been possible to trace out from the LANDSA
minor westward shifts in the course from Ghotaru sou
courses of the Saraswati could be identified further to
and Sandh, the remnants of which are now known as t
rivers. Here also the river shifted its course several time
to the east of the Wahinda river, through Mundo (F
ceased to flow southward and met the Sutlej to the

Evidence from field investigation

The field investigation to confirm the existence of th
Saraswati river was carried out in the Indian part ofthe
to Shahgarh. The abandoned, earlier courses ofthe tr
shown in Figure 2, were also verified from field i

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 THE LOST COURSES OF THE SARASWATI RIVER 449

Fig. 2. Former courses of the Saraswati River

Pokaran, Jaisalmer and Myajlar. It was found that the area through which th
Saraswati was traced supports lush green vegetation, even during the hot Indian
summer months. The area is covered with sand dunes of 40 to 50 m in heigh
transverse to the north of Tanot and longitudinal to its south. Although th
interdunal areas are generally covered with thick sandy deposits, those to th
north of Tanot are relatively free from sand and the surface is silty. This silty so
is used by the local inhabitants for making sun-dried bricks. The few wells along
the tract provide additional evidence in support of the earlier course of the
Saraswati. At Dharmi Khu, Ghantial, Ghotaru and to the west of Shahgarh th
wells have sweet water at 30 to 40 m depth. The water has been struck in riverin
materials and the discharge is good. The well at Ghantial, for example, supports
more than 2000 livestock consisting of camels, cattle, sheep and goats and there
no report of the well drying up even during severe droughts. The other wel
mentioned above also do not dry up in the summer months, suggesting a
continuous supply of water from the upstream side. In contrast, the wells away
from the old courses ofthe Saraswati river have insufficient water and are most

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450 THE LOST COURSES OF THE SARASWATI RIVER

brackish or saline (e.g. at Tanot). Hence, it may be sugg

subsurface hydrology of the region is mainly controlled b
catchment of the Saraswati in the Himalaya and adjoining
present meagre rainfall (less than 150 mm per annum) in t
Great Indian Desert.

Possible causes of the rivefs westward shift

The gradual westward shift of the river was explained earlier by the present
authors (Ghose et al., 1968) as due to the advancing sand and aridity. However,
the possibilities of mild tectonic movement, occurring at least during the late
Quaternary period, cannot be ruled out as an additional cause for such shifting.
Although no stratigraphic record is available to enable one to be definite about
such tectonism, there have been earth movements in the Himalaya and the Rann
of Kutch in the recent historical period, indicating instability in both these areas.
For example, in the year 1819 there was a sudden uplift of land across the mouth
ofthe river causing a natural barrier, several metres high, called the 'Allah Band'*
(Wadia, 1975). The headwater region of the river, the Siwalik Hills, is also
tectonically unstable (Wadia, 1975). Instability in any of these zones may have
affected the river's courses in addition to climatic changes and consequent aridity.
It is also not ruled out that sometimes the Sutlej (the Satadru of the ancient
Sanskrit literature) also contributed water to the flow of the Saraswati, possibly
near places like Jakhal, and Hanumangarh (Fig. 1). However, the role of the
Sutlej in this region is not discussed in this article.
Whatever may be the cause of the shifting courses of the Saraswati, those
courses of the river traced to the east of the Raini and the Wahinda may provide
clues to the early settlements and civilization in the region. The possibility ofthe
Tndus valley' civilization spreading into the present Thar desert has recently been
pointed out by Mughal (1979), with supportive evidence of traces of
pre-Harappan, Harappan and post-Harappan settlements along a dry valley of
the Saraswati from Fort Abbas to Derawar Fort.

Conclusion
A major former, abandoned course ofthe Saraswati river has been discovered
through the present extreme desert terrain of Jaisalmer. This course was in
existence before the Saraswati occupied the Wahinda or the Raini courses.
Afterwards, the river gradually shifted westward and occupied the Wahinda and
the Raini courses. This was followed by another westward shift when the river no
longer debouched into the Rann of Kutch independently, but met the Sutlej near
Ahmedpur East. This last course has also been abandoned and fans out on the
alluvial plain before reaching the Sutlej. We suggest that the alluvium in the
extreme western part of the desert was contributed by the Saraswati river, and
that the subsurface water in the western part of this desert is mainly derived from
precipitation in the Himalaya flowing subterraneously through the former
courses of the Saraswati.

Acknowledgement
The authors express their gratitude to Dr H. S. Mann, Director, and to Dr
K. A. Shankarnarayan, Head of the Basic Resources Studies Division, of the
Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur, both of whom encouraged them
and provided facilities to carry out this research.

*Literally meaning a dam created by the Almighty.

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 THE LOST COURSES OF THE SARASWATI RIVER 451

References
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Desert. London: Academic Press.
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Stein, A. 1942 A survey of ancient sites along the 'lost' Saraswati river. GeogrlJ. 99: 173-82.
Wadia, D. N. 1938 The post-Tertiary hydrography of northern India and the changes in the courses
of its rivers during the last geological epoch. Proc. National Institute of Sciences of India: 387-94.
Wadia, D. N. 1975 Geology of India. New Delhi: Tata-McGraw Hill Publ. Co.
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Zeitschrift fur Geomorphologie, Supp. 8: 76-93.

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LANDSAT photograph showing the suggested course of the Saraswati River

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LANDSAT photograph showing the suggested course of the Saraswati River in the area
of the Hakra channel

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