The Saraswati River was an important river mentioned in ancient Hindu texts that originated in the Himalayas and flowed through parts of modern-day Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat before emptying into the Arabian Sea. Archaeological, geological and remote sensing evidence suggest it dried up around 1500 BC due to tectonic activity that cut off its water supply. The river played a key role in the development of ancient Indian civilization and many archaeological sites from the Indus Valley Civilization are located along its former course. While it ceased to flow on the surface, some Hindus believe it still flows underground.

2. INTRODUCTION
 The Saraswati River is one of the main Rig vedic
rivers mentioned in ancient Sanskrit texts. The
Nadistuti hymn in the Rigveda (10.75) mentions the
Sarasvati between the Yamuna in the east and the
Sutlej in the west, and later Vedic texts like Tandya
and Jaiminiya Brahmanas as well as the
Mahabharata mention that the Saraswati dried up in
a desert.
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3.  Course of Saraswati river
 According to some geological and glaciological studies, the
Saraswati originated in the Bandapunch Massif, from the
Sarawati-Rupin glacier confluence at Naitwar in western
Garhwal.
 Descending through the foothills via Adibadri, Bhavanipur, and
Balchapur, the river took a roughly southwesterly course,
passing through the plains of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and
Gujarat, to finally debouch into the Arabian Sea at the Great
Rann of Kutch.
 Drainage network
 An ancient drainage network formed of several
paleochannels, largely buried under the sands of the Thar
Desert, is located in western Rajasthan and nearby
states, parallel to the Aravalli Hills.
 Palaeo-drainage network formed by several
palaeochannels has been worked out by different
researchers in western Rajasthan and neighboring states,
which is mainly buried under sand cover of the Thar
Desert and parallel to the Aravalli Hills.
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5.  Full flow
 It is unclear whether the full flow of the paleo-
Saraswati was present during the Holocene.
 Some studies suggest that the Yamuna and Sutlej
were lost during the Pleistocene, and that the
Saraswati was a much smaller river, fed entirely by
monsoon rains rather than glacial streams, during the
mid-late Holocene (including the Vedic period).
 Others dispute this, citing evidence that it was a large
perennial river draining the high mountains as late as
3700-2500 years ago. Recent Hindu belief is that still
Saraswati river flows underground and meets Yamuna
and Ganga at their confluence in Prayag (Allahabad).
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6. EVIDENCE
 1.Religious & Mythological evidence:
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7. 2.ARCHEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
 Most of the archeological sites of the then
civilization are located on The Saraswati river
basin. There are four Harapaan & pre-Harappan
sites in Punjab ,Rajastan & UP.
 It is believed that Harappans entered through the
Indus Valley into Kalibagan Valley on the left bank
of GHAGGAR(erstwhile Saraswati).
 As the present day geomorphological setup didn’t
exist in 1500B.C & thus Indus,Satlej ,Beas followed
independent Course.After the introduction of
VEDA,some of the rivers mentioned have shifted
from their Orignal course.
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8. 3.GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCES
 The saraswati was supposed to have originated in the
Badarpanch Massif .the river crossing the Siwalik
entered the plains & took a roughly southernly
course,passing through plains of
Punjab,Rajastan,Haryana,Gujurat & finally debouched
into the ancient Arabian sea at the Great Rann of Kutch.
 In this journey ,Saraswati was believed to have had
three Tributaries i.e Shatadru,Drishavati & Paleo-
Yamuna.
 Presently these three are supposed to be part of
Saraswati. Though a few researchers use the name
Ghaggar to describe Saraswati’s upper course & Harka
to it’s lower course.
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9.  Geologic studies also revealed the tectonic event
had occurred around beginning of
Pleistocene(1.4m) in the entire Siwalik Region.
 Resulting disturbances thus continued to uplift the
Himalayas.Presumably one of these might have
served the glacier connection & cut off the supply of
glacier melt waters to the Saraswati.Consequently
the Saraswati dwindled & become a seasonal river.
 R.D Oldham(1886) was the first geologist who
argued logocally pointing the changes in drainage
pattern in the rivers of Punjab & Rajastan covering
once fertile to a desert.
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10.  Influence of neotectonic movements
 The larger part of the Saraswati domain cut by many faults
across the river from its source to the sea experienced
neotectonic movements as a number of lines of evidence of
geomorphic, structural and seismologic.
 The higher-than-normal seismicity along the roughly NW–SE
trending Lahore–Sargodha and Barwani–Jaisalmer Ridges
that trend across the upper and middle reaches respectively,
of the Saraswati River demonstrates that tectonic movements
continue to take place along the limits of these ridges.
 The Aravali, delimited by NE–SW trending major faults, is
even more active seismically in its northeastern expanse.
 The NNW–SSE trending Daudpur–Bibipur lineament (fault)
identified on Landsat image19. This fault is supposed to be
responsible for distribution – rather diversion – of more water
to the Yamuna
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12. 4.EVIDENCE FROM RS & GIS
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14.  Testimony of heavy metals :The thickness of the
sediment in the Ghagghar Basin varies from 5 to 30 m, locally
to 90 m and in the Hakra reach as much as 150 m.
 The clay beds are composed of well-crystallized smectite,
which is of Himalayan origin. Saini et al. found a suite of heavy
minerals such as s tourmaline, greenish-brown amphibole,
garnet, sillimanite, kyanite, ilmenite and biotite in the brown
micaceous sandy facies of sediments ‘similar to the modern-
day sediments
of the mountain-fe
(Himalayan) rivers
like Yamuna and Ganga’.
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15.  The connection
 In the lower part of the basin the channel-fill deposits
are characterized by lamination with abundant biotite,
muscovite, hornblende, tourmaline, zircon and rutile
within each layer.
 The presence of these heavy minerals implies the
schistose and gneissic rocks contributing to the fluvial
sediments of the Saraswati.
 Needless to recapitulate, the schistone and gfneissic
rocksoccur in the inner Himalaya.
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18. CONCLUSION
REFERENCE
 Wikipedia
 The Times Of India
 Speaking Tree
 Current Science Article By K S Valdiya
 Indian Journal Of History Of Science,srn Murthy
 Geography Of India,majid Hussain
 Geological Survey Of India
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