A River Seen Only in Myths or Still Alive Underground: The Mystery of the Saraswati (Representative Image: Canva)
Science
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Moneycontrol04-02-2026, 15:37

Saraswati River Mystery: Does it Flow as Ghaggar-Hakra Beneath the Earth?

  • The legendary Saraswati river, believed to be the Ghaggar-Hakra, mysteriously vanishes across northern India, with its dry bed holding ancient stories.
  • The Ghaggar-Hakra, originating in the Shivalik Hills, flows through Punjab and Haryana before disappearing into the Thar Desert sands in Rajasthan.
  • Satellite imagery and studies by ISRO and ONGC reveal vast ancient river channels, suggesting massive past water volumes that sustained Harappan sites.
  • Climate shifts, weakened monsoons, and tectonic movements diverting tributaries like the Sutlej and Yamuna are proposed reasons for the river drying up.
  • Vedic texts describe Saraswati as a mighty, sacred river, and mythology attributes its disappearance to a curse, leading it to flow underground, a phenomenon still sustaining groundwater today.

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