The Sarasvatī River

The book's map shows the Indus (or Sindhu) and its five main tributaries. Important cities such as Mohenjo-daro and Harappa grew along those rivers.

But there are also many sites along the Sarasvatī River, which today is called the 'Ghaggar' in India and the 'Hakra' in Pakistan, so it is known as the Ghaggar-Hakra River. It is now seasonal: it flows only in the rainy season.

The Sarasvatī is first mentioned in the Ṛig Veda, an ancient collection of prayers. There it is worshipped both as a goddess and as a river flowing 'from the mountain to the sea'. Later texts describe the river drying up and finally disappearing. Texts written centuries apart describe two stages of the same river, matching what the ground shows.

The Sarasvatī basin holds two major cities, Rakhigarhi and Ganweriwala, several smaller ones (Farmana in Haryana, Kalibangan in Rajasthan) and a few towns (Bhirrana and Banawali, both in Haryana). The map shows how thickly sites are packed in that region.

You may have heard the name 'Indus Valley civilisation' and noticed that this book does not use it. Look at the map: the civilisation spread far beyond the Indus region, so the word 'Valley' is now obsolete (out of date). The name fitted when only Indus sites were known; more digging made it wrong.