-:HARYANA:CRADLE OF WORLD`S MOST ANCIENT CIVILIZATION

WITH POTENTIAL TO LEAD THE COUNTRY IN ALL WALKS OF LIFE

Darshan Lal Jain President Saraswati Nadi Shodh Sansthan Email: saraswatiharyana@yahoo.com Haryana has the richest archaeological treasures of ancient Indian civilization. After partition, both Harappa and Mohenjodaro relating to the Harappan Civilization went to Pakistan. However in recent times, the archaeologists of our country have unfolded new dimensions of our civilization as well as found further extensions of Harappan civilization beyond Haryana, Delhi upto Uttar Pradesh in the East by discovering new archaeological sites like Kalibangan, Lothal & Dholavira pertaining to the same civilization in Rajasthan & Gujarat. But the discoveries in Haryana exceed all records of archaeological excavations. Besides, discovering Banawali (2700BCE), Kunal (3200BCE) Bhirdana (4500BCE) in Distt. Fatehabad, Rakhigarhi (2200 BCE) in Distt. Hisar, their latest discovery is Farmana near Meham (2200BCE). The land has to its credit of being the possessor of sacred ashrams of great saints like Maharishi Veda Vyas, Markandeya, Kapil Muni, Rishi Pundrik and many more. In the quiet hermitages of Haryana were created literary works of great merit and from its stones were sculptured some of the finest creation of Indian Art. It is the cradle of the Indian culture and civilization as well as the crucible for the emergence of a culture in India which has left for us a rich artistic legacy in the form of historical monuments besides having the highest number of archaeological sites in the country pertaining to the ancient civilization
Distribution of sites in States Early Harappan (ca. 2500-2200 BC) Punjab 23 Haryana 103 Rajasthan 8 Total 134 Harappan (ca. 2200-1700 BC) Punjab 32 Haryana 44 Rajasthan 24 Total 104 Late Harappan (ca. 1700-1000 BC) Punjab 102 Haryana 297 Total 399 Punjab Haryana Rajasthan 23 103 8 32 44 24 102 297 157 444 32 = 633
(Source : Saraswati Encyclopedia by Dr. S.Kalyanraman)

The research conducted by one of the most renowned archaeologists Prof. B B Lal on the Indian civilization dismisses the Aryan invasion theory and provides unassailable proof for this argument. He also dismissed the recent academic propaganda of an Aryan immigration, implying that we were a nomadic community. He quotes the Rigveda and the Satapatha Brahmana to fortify this position. He asserts that the Vedic people, the Harappan people and the present Indian society are a continuum of the 1

same race and civilization previously known as Harappan subsequently christened as Indus (Sindhu) then Sindhu-Saraswati and now being called as Saraswati Civilization is the oldest in the world. Like any other religion Buddhism too grew and subsequently flourished in Haryana as has been evidenced from the archaeological excavations .The literary evidences further corroborate the archaeological findings of the growth of Buddhism in Haryana from the time of Asoka.The Buddhist remains in the form of Stupa,Viharas and Sculptures have been the testimony to the visit of the Tathagata(Buddha) to Haryana. Although the river Saraswati has sunk into oblivion as a physical entity, it has left behind its cultural legacy and signatures on the Indo-Gangetic plains in such a way that it hardly can vanish from the fabric of Indian culture. This very river and its tributaries gave birth to a mighty civilization, sustained a perennial culture and conceived an incredible literature and philosophy. The tangible finds as have been unearthed from archaeological excavations and the intangible legacy in the form of a living tradition and customs of the people who dwelled on the lost banks of a 1600 KM long river, that used to flow from the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea, are valuable sources that unfold the age-old Indian civilization. The signatures of the lost river which have been revealed in the forms of palaeo channels are seen from the imageries of high resolutions taken from the remote sensing satellites. These images suggest the existence of a mighty river underneath the soil which, if properly exploited, can feed the region for several thousand years with the perennial flow of water from a colossal glacier. The buried material of the civilization that was nourished by the water of the river has also been unearthed by archaeological excavations carried out right on the banks of the lost river. Both the palaeo channels of the lost river and the archaeological findings unfold the story of the Indian civilization from its genesis to the contemporary times. After originating from Himalaya, Saraswati, a majestic river, flowed in almost south-westernly direction through present day Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat prior to joining the Arabian Sea. Ancient Vedic culture prospered around its valley and important towns like Kurukshetra, Pehowa, Shatrana, Sirsa, Kalibangan, Pilibangan, Suratgarh, Beriwal etc flourished on its banks. Ample references pertaining to this river are available in Rigveda as ambitame, devitame and naditame. Our former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was very excited on seeing a photograph of the River with water and he endorsed his reaction in our visitors book as: 2

Adi Badri terrace is a recent discovery in Adi Badri area, located almost 30 km north of Jagadhri (Distt. Yamuna Nagar) just south of Shivalik Hills. Excavations were carried out by Archaeological Survey of India on western bank of the Som River. Angular shaped pebbles of high grade metamorphic rocks and quartzite embedded on the wall were observed in ABR-II excavation site. This alien lithology generated tremendous interest as this terrace is situated south of Siwalik Hills in Haryana plains. According to VMK Puri, ex-Director GSI, Vedic Saraswati entered plains at Adi Badri area which can be called as Haridwar of Vedic Saraswati.

Recently, subsurface water started bursting out within a pond of the famous Kapilmuni Ashram in Kalayat (Haryana). A multi-disciplinary scientific team studied the gushing water and the sand that accompanied it. Dr. A R Chaudhary of Kurukshetra University found a suite of angular shaped heavy minerals akin to the one found in Himalayan rocks. Shri Rajesh Purohit conducted geomorphologic studies and concluded that this water belonged to Vedic Saraswati that has been described in Rigveda and other scriptures. Later on, they discovered the actual river bed near Jyotisar (Kurukshetra). During the course of scientific studies carried out from space imageries, scientists from ISRO Jodhpur viz. Drs. A.K.Gupta, B.K.Bhadra and J.R.Sharma discovered a number of fossil valleys restricted to areas around Kurukeshtra, Pehowa etc. in upper central Haryana. They interpreted it as remnants of meandering of Vedic Saraswati. Based on satellite imagery, they have drawn out a map of Saraswati from Glacier to Rann of Kuchch. 3

The flow of Saraswati Paleo-Channels has also been admitted by the Govt. of India (Ministry of Water Resources) in reply to question no. 1654 answered in the Rajya Sabha on 03.12.2009. As pressure for freshwater is mounting and surface water sources are getting more and more polluted, the available ground water resources are being over exploited. In the absence of adequate recharge, the ground water table is fast going down. With unfavourable balance of recharge and withdrawal, many states in the country have gone in red in terms of ground water resources. To alleviate the situation, ONGC is endeavoring to locate deep fresh water resources, which have not been tapped so far by leveraging its vast repository of sub-surface geological information and geoscientific expertise. Under its Corporate Social Responsibility ONGC has taken up a project to:Locate new fresh water resources in deeper aquifers so far not tapped by other agencies. Locating in the desert areas of Rajasthan, conditions similar to the Great Manmade River Project (GMR) undertaken in the Libyan Desert. ONGC Contribution towards greening the desert First flow from Km depth at well Saraswati #1

ONGC is continuing with the project and has extended the scope to cover the state of Haryana also. The project has been given a name ONGC Project Saraswati. The very first well drilled in Rajasthan for deep ground water, under a CSR project by ONGC started flowing relatively fresh water at the rate of 76,000 L/hr. In response to a query regarding water flow sound in ground water well near Jaisalmer, Shri M.R. Rao, ED-CKO(Retd.), ONGC writes :I have personally visited the well and heard the sound of flowing/falling water inside the well. Though it required detailed investigation to understand the origin and nature of this sound, it is possible that it is connected with some underground water source. Investigating this sound may be very useful for obtaining information related to possible channels/reservoirs of water related to Saraswati basin. Dr. V.M.K. Puri Dir.(Rt.) GSI informed a Seminar at Kurukshetra that in an International Conference, his Pakistani counterpart taunted him telling that they were using Saraswati water for the last 30 years, whereas Indian was still discussing about its existence. Besides the above geological and other scientific evidences, village-wise revenue record has been collected and compiled proving the flow of Saraswati Nadi in continuity. Survey of India topo-sheets tally with these revenue records. The writer visited the archaeological site at Kunal (District Fatehabad, Haryana) and amazingly found shells in the dry bed of the Saraswati River. A friend of archaeology showed a conch recovered from Rakhigarhi (Dist Jind, Haryana) excavation. Folkore is an important factor to be considered for establishing a fact. Shrimad Bhagwat was penned by Maharishi Ved Vyas at Badrayan i.e. Adi Badri. Every year more than 10 lakh pilgrims from North India visit Kapalmochan for bathing in crescent shaped sarovar on karthik poornima. 15kms 4

downstream of Adi Badri lies the town of Vyaspur (presently Bilaspur), the abode of Maharishi Ved Vyas. On the outskirts of the town naga sadhus used to bathe in Saraswati kund alongside a perennially flowing Sarawati channel. Every evening aarti is performed at Saraswati Kund in Saraswati Nagar (presently Mustfabad, Distt Yamuna Nagar). You can see people of surrounding villages performing last rites (asthi visarjan) of their dead at Sangam of Saraswati and Som Nadi at Adi Badri. The matter was also brought before the Honble High Court, Haryana-Punjab at Chandigarh through a Civil Writ Petition (CWP8561 of 1996) by Shri D.P. Dastoor, an advocate of Pehowa (Kurukshetra), Honble Justice Amarjeet Chaudhary passed the following order :.. we direct Deputy Commissioner Kurukshetra and the Municipal Committee Pehowa to remove all encroachments from the land entries of which are in favour of Saraswati river.. Unbelievably, all encroachments were removed voluntarily without any use of force. The monumental work of Govt. & Public co-operation at Pehowa has been beautifully documented by the District Administration in a souvenir (samarika). The Haryana state Government rightly took notice of all these developments and undertook deepening & widening of about 100 kms of Saraswati Creek as per revenue record in Kurukshetra District in the year 2007-08 at a cost of Rs. 16 crores. The state Government has further approached the ONGC to undertake deep-bore drillings as they first did in Libya (Africa) and then in Rajasthan. The matter is under consideration of the ONGC. As per Dr. Ramesh Hooda, Project Head, HARSAC, HAU, Hissar, Saraswati Paleao-channels are the natural drainages which can be exploited for flood management purposes. Since palaeo-channels are composed of deposits of porous material, they have a high recharging potential. Thus these palaeochannels act as the natural underground water storage houses which can accommodate huge volume of water during flooding. Therefore, palaeo-channels are very good sites for recharging ground water during monsoon/ flooding season. This stored water can subsequently be used for irrigation/ drinking during the lean season. Secondly these palaeo-channels could be exploited for planning the proper alignment and networking of flood drains as they occur through the lowest elevation and pass through the flood affected areas. This may help properly tacking flooding problem in the state. Whereas Saraswati river is a boon to the whole of the country particularly to the state of Haryana, the water pollution is a bane. A continuous stream of water is always flowing in the Saraswati creek but the same is getting polluted at Bilaspur (Distt. Yamuna Nagar) and several other places down-stream. We are of the opinion that if the sewerage water is treated and put to irrigational use instead of discharging the same in the Saraswati creek, it will be beneficial to the farmers and the Saraswati Nadi water would flow free from pollution. In order to tackle this problem of water pollution, our patron Sh. V.M.K. Puri, Director (Retd.) Geological Survey of India visited the water treatment plant designed by Padambhushan Baba Seechewal ji at Dasuya in Punjab and his report has been submitted to the Haryana State Govt. stating that ..the treated water from Maturation Pond no.5 is being used to irrigate nearly 700 acres of adjoining agricultural land. The farmers who use this treated water from the Plant to irrigate their fields have reported that their requirement of artificial manure like urea has been completely obliterated whereby saving lot of money. Moreover, the production of crops like wheat and rice per acre has also nearly 5

doubled. I have been further intimated that, the farmers have earned nearly more than Rupees seven crores per year in addition to their normal earnings as per the last estimates. After studying the functioning of the plant and taking into account the financial requirement for running and maintenance of the plant, I am fully convinced that the Plant is very simple one to operate. The only energy required is electricity for running the pumps to lift sewerage water to Oxidation Chamber. Coming to the specific problem of Kurukshetra area, it is recommended that the above mentioned Plants, as designed by Baba ji, must be built to clean the effluents of villages and cities. It will generate two fold benefits. It will clean environment effectively and provide mineral rich treated water for irrigation purposes apart from maintaining the sanctity of Vedic Saraswati To sum up, Haryana is the land where the once mighty river Saraswati entered the plains at Adi Badri (Yamuna Nagar Distt.). This is the land of Vedas, the great celestial message of Geeta, the great scripture Shrimad Bhagvata, the great Epic Mahabharata and the massive Solar Eclipse Melas at the colossal tanks at Kurukshetra & Pehowa. This is the land of not only the Mahabharata War, but also many wars fought by Samrat Prithvi Raj Chauhan at Taraori, the famous three battles of Panipat and the revengeful fights of Banda Singh Bahadaur. This is a land sanctified by the visits of Lord Buddha. Haryana gave the world the great scientist Kalpana Chawla, a valiant soldiery including the chief of the Army staff. The land can therefore rightly claim to be the cradle of the worlds most ancient civilization and can endeavor to be the leader in all walks of life in the country.