Dozens of archeologists have fanned out across the northern Indian state of
Haryana in the last seven months to look for traces of the Saraswati River.
A group of geologists and glaciologists, armed with satellite imagery maps
and remote sensing data, are studying rocks, glaciers and sediments in the
Himalayas, seeking any trace of the river's course.
Last summer, the Culture Ministry appointed a special committee of experts
to prove that the Saraswati was not a mythological river. If the panel
succeeds, the birth of Hinduism would be pushed back at least 1,000 years by
establishing that the ancient Indus Valley civilization was Hindu in
character.
"Saraswati is not only a matter of Hindu faith, but also fact," said
Ravindra Singh Bisht, director of the Archaeological Survey of India, who
supervises excavation along what is believed to be the course of the river.
"The overwhelming archeological evidence of ancient settlements along the
course of what was once the Saraswati River proves that our earliest
civilizations were not confined to the Indus river alone.
Those who wrote the Hindu Vedas on the banks of the Saraswati were the same
as the Indus Valley people." HPI adds:
