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56-523: Zanda is said to mean “a place where there is grass downstream”, an allusion to the grassy river bed of the Sutlej river that flows through the county. Ancient Zanda horse ( Hipparion zandaense ) skeletons have been found in Zanda County's Sutlej basin. Zanda County is bounded by India's Himachal Pradesh state to the west, Uttarakhand State to the south, Ladakh to the northwest, Gar County to

112-606: A channel of the Yamuna, along with a channel of the Sutlej may have flowed west some time between 47,000 BCE and 10,000 BCE, well before the beginnings of Indus Civilization. Analysis of sand grains using optically stimulated luminescence by Ajit Singh and others in 2017 indicated that the suggested paleochannel of the Ghaggar-Hakra is actually a former course of the Sutlej, which diverted to its present course before

168-577: A different source than the Indus, but this source stopped supplying sediments after ca. 10,000 years ago. Likewise, Dave et al. (2019) state that "[o]ur results disprove the proposed link between ancient settlements and large rivers from the Himalayas and indicate that the major palaeo-fluvial system traversing through this region ceased long before the establishment of the Harappan civilisation." During

224-413: A few are fully developed Harappan ones. Hetalben Sidhav notes that claims of a large number of Ghaggar-Hakra sites are politically motivated and exaggerated. While the Indus remained an active river, the Ghaggar-Hakra dried up, leaving many sites undisturbed, which explains why such a large number of sites has been found. Late in the 2nd millennium BCE the Ghaggar-Hakra fluvial system dried up , becoming

280-646: A large number of sites from the Mature Indus Valley Civilisation (2600-1900 BCE) are found along the middle course of the (dried-up) Hakra in Pakistan. Around 4,000 years ago, the Indus Valley Civilisation declined when the monsoons further diminished, and the Ghaggar-Hakra dried up, becoming a small seasonal river. Nineteenth and early 20th century scholars, but also some more recent authors, have suggested that

336-521: A length of 309 km (192 mi). The drop in height is 3,256 m (10,682 ft). Historically, the river was the centre of the Zhangzhung Kingdom until its fall in the 8th century AD. Sutlej is an antecedent river , which existed before the Himalayas and entrenched itself while they were rising. The Sutlej, along with all of the Punjab rivers, is thought to have drained east into

392-579: A proposal to build a 214-kilometre (133 mi) long heavy freight and irrigation canal, to be known as the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) to connect the Sutlej and Yamuna rivers. The project is intended to connect the Ganges, which flows to the east coast of the subcontinent, with points west, via Pakistan. When completed, the SYL would enable inland shipping from India's east coast to its west coast (on

448-619: Is a river in Ngari , Tibet , China . The name Langqên , Tibetan for "elephant", is because of a valley that resembles an elephant trunk. This river is the main source of the Sutlej, a tributary of Indus River . It enters India at Shipki La pass. The source is south of Gangdise Range , in Ngari Prefecture. Its course is mainly in the Zanda County . The river drains an area of 22,760 km (8,790 sq mi), and covers

504-734: Is also known as Satadru . It is the easternmost tributary of the Indus River . The Bhakra Dam is built around the river Sutlej to provide irrigation and other facilities to the states of Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana . The waters of the Sutlej are allocated to India under the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan, and are mostly diverted to irrigation canals in India like the Sirhind Canal , Bhakra Main Line and

560-655: Is an intermittent river in India and Pakistan that flows only during the monsoon season . The river is known as Ghaggar before the Ottu barrage at 29°29′15″N 74°53′33″E  /  29.4875°N 74.8925°E  / 29.4875; 74.8925 , and as Hakra downstream of the barrage in the Thar Desert . In pre-Harappan times the Ghaggar was a tributary of the Sutlej. It is still connected to this paleochannel of

616-817: Is the continuation of the Ghaggar River in India . The Hakra-channel is connected to paleochannels of the Sutlej and the Yamuna, which ended in the Nara River , a delta channel of the Indus River joining the sea via Sir Creek . The Sutlej changed its course about 8,000-10,000 years ago, leaving the Ghaggar-Hakra as a system of monsoon-fed rivers terminating in the Thar Desert. This Sutlej/Yamuna paleochannel streamed through Sindh , and its sign can be found in Sindh areas such as Khairpur , Nawabshah , Sanghar and Tharparkar . A large number of sites from

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672-678: Is the only river with hymns entirely dedicated to it: RV 6 .61, RV 7 .95 and RV 7 .96. It is mentioned as a divine and large river, which flows "from the mountains to the samudra," which some take as the Indian Ocean . The Rig Veda was composed during the latter part of the late Harappan period, and according to Shaffer, the reason for the predominance of the Sarasvati in the Rig Veda is the late Harappan (1900–1300 BCE) population shift eastwards to Haryana . The identification with

728-611: The Ganges prior to 5 mya . There is substantial geologic evidence to indicate that prior to 1700 BC, and perhaps much earlier, the Sutlej was an important tributary of the Ghaggar-Hakra River (thought to be the legendary Sarasvati River ) rather than the Indus, with various authors putting the redirection from 2500 to 2000 BC, from 5000 to 3000 BC, or before 8000 BC. Geologists believe that tectonic activity created elevation changes which redirected

784-592: The Garuda Valley by the Zhangzhung , the ancient civilization of western Tibet . The Garuda Valley was the centre of their empire, which stretched many miles into the nearby Himalayas . The Zhangzhung built a towering palace in the Upper Sutlej Valley called Kyunglung , the ruins of which still exist today near the village of Moincêr , southwest of Mount Kailash (Mount Ti-se). Eventually,

840-510: The Rajasthan canal . The mean annual flow is 14 million acre feet (MAF) (roughly 1.727 × 10  L) upstream of Ropar barrage , downstream of the Bhakra dam. It has several major hydroelectric points, including the 1,325  MW Bhakra Dam , the 1,000 MW Karcham Wangtoo Hydroelectric Plant , and the 1,500 MW Nathpa Jhakri Dam . The drainage basin in India includes

896-695: The Rann of Kutch via the Nara river . Clift et al . (2012), using dating of zircon sand grains, have shown that subsurface river channels near the Indus Valley Civilisation sites in Cholistan immediately below the dry Ghaggar-Hakra bed show sediment affinity with the Beas River in the western sites and the Sutlej and the Yamuna in the eastern ones, suggesting that the Yamuna itself, or

952-517: The Rig Vedic descriptions because "the snow-fed Satluj and Yamuna would strengthen [only the] lower Ghaggar. [The] upper Ghaggar would still be as puny as it is today." According to Rajesh Kocchar there are two Sarasvati rivers mentioned in the Rigveda. The older one described in the family books of the Rigveda, which he calls Naditama Sarasvati , drains into a samudra . The newer one described in

1008-540: The Sarasvati River is based on the mentions in Vedic texts, e.g. in the enumeration of the rivers in Rigveda 10.75 .05; the order is Ganga , Yamuna , Sarasvati, Sutudri , Parusni . Later Vedic texts record the river as disappearing at Vinasana (literally, "the disappearing") or Upamajjana, and in post-Vedic texts as joining both the Yamuna and Ganges as an invisible river at Prayaga (Allahabad). Some claim that

1064-584: The Supreme Court of India . To augment nearly 100 tmcft (some 2.832 × 10  L) water availability for the needs of this link canal, Tso Moriri lake/Lingdi Nadi (a tributary of Tso Moriri lake) waters can be diverted to the Sutlej basin by digging a 10 km=long gravity canal to connect to the Ungti Chu river. The Upper Sutlej Valley, called Langqên Zangbo in Tibet , was once known as

1120-580: The monsoon rains . It originates in the village of Dagshai in the Shivalik Hills of Himachal Pradesh at an elevation of 1,927 metres (6,322 ft) above mean sea level and flows through Punjab and Haryana states into Rajasthan ; just southwest of Sirsa, Haryana and by the side of Talwara Lake in Rajasthan. Dammed at Ottu barrage near Sirsa, Ghaggar feeds two irrigation canals that extend into Rajasthan. The main tributaries of

1176-499: The Arabian sea) without having to round the southern tip of India by sea, vastly shortening shipping distances, alleviating pressures on seaports, avoiding sea hazards, creating business opportunities along the route, raising real estate values, raising tax revenue, and establishing important commercial links and providing jobs for north-central India's large population. However, the proposal has met with obstacles and has been referred to

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1232-637: The Arabian sea. In approx. 1797 BC, the course of the Sutlej river moved towards the north to join the Beas river . About 17 kilometres (11 mi) north of Uch Sharif , the Sutlej unites with the Chenab River , forming the Panjnad River , which finally flows into the Indus river about 100 kilometres (62 mi) west of the city of Bahawalpur . The area to the southeast on the Pakistani side of

1288-586: The Eurasian steppes, leading to a change of vegetation, triggering "higher mobility and transition to nomadic cattle breeding," These migrations eventually resulted in the Indo-Aryan migrations into South Asia. Most of the Harappan sites along the Ghaggar-Hakra are presently found in desert country, and have remained undisturbed since the end of the Indus Civilization. This contrasts with

1344-589: The Ghaggar are the Kaushalya river , Markanda , Sarsuti , Tangri and Chautang . The Kaushalya river is a tributary of Ghaggar river on the left side of Ghaggar-Hakra, it flows in the Panchkula district of Haryana state of India and converges with Ghaggar river near Pinjore just downstream of Kaushalya Dam . The Hakra is the dried-out channel of a river near Fort Abbas City in Pakistan that

1400-464: The Ghaggar-Hakra might be the defunct remains of a river, the Sarasvati , invoked in the orally transmitted collection of ancient Sanskrit hymns, the Rig Veda composed c.  1500 BCE to 1200 BCE. More recently, but writing before Giosan's 2012 publication and supposing a late Harappan diversion of the Sutlej and the Yamuna, several scholars have identified the old Ghaggar-Hakra River with

1456-445: The Ghaggar-Hakra might be the defunct remains of the Sarasvati River mentioned in the Rig Veda , fed by Himalayan-fed rivers, despite the fact that the Ghaggar-Hakra had dried up by that time. The basin consists of two parts, Khadir and Bangar . Bangar are the higher banks that are not flooded in rainy season, while khadar refers to the lower flood-prone area. The Ghaggar is an intermittent river in India , flowing during

1512-464: The Ghaggar-Hakra was fed by Himalayan sources has also been contradicted by recent geophysical research, which shows that the Ghaggar-Hakra system, although having greater discharge in Harappan times which was enough to sustain human habitation, was not sourced by the glaciers and snows of the Himalayas , but rather by a system of perennial monsoon-fed rivers. In contrast to all Himalayan rivers in

1568-540: The IVC, the Ghaggar-Hakra fluvial system was not a large glacier-fed Himalayan river, but a monsoonal-fed river. The Indus Valley Civilisation prospered when the monsoons that fed the rivers diminished around 5,000 years ago, and a large number of sites from the Mature Indus Valley Civilisation (2600-1900 BCE) are found along the middle course of the (dried-up) Hakra in Pakistan. Around 4,000

1624-582: The Indian border is called the Cholistan Desert and, on the Indian side, the Thar Desert . The Indus then flows through a gorge near Sukkur and the fertile plains region of Sindh , forming a large delta region between the border of Gujarat , India and Pakistan, finally terminating in the Arabian Sea near the port city of Karachi , Pakistan. During floods, Indus river water flows into

1680-664: The Indian part of the Great Rann of Kutch . Thus Gujarat state of India is also a riparian state of the Indus river as the Rann of Kutch area lying west of Kori Creek in the state is part of the Indus River Delta . In the Chaitra-Ratha Parva of Adi Parva of Mahābhārata , when sage Vasishtha wanted to commit suicide he saw the river named Haimāvata (whose source is Himavat), flooded and full of crocodiles and other aquatic monsters. So he jumped into

1736-527: The Indus Valley Civilisation declined when the monsoons further diminished, and the Ghaggar-Hakra dried-up, becoming a small seasonal river. According to archaeologist Rita Wright, the large number of documented sites may be due to the ephemeral nature of the settlements, with the inhabitants frequently moving around in pursuit of water. According to archaeologist Shereen Ratnagar, many Ghaggar-Hakra sites in India are actually those of local cultures; some sites display contact with Harappan civilisation, but only

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1792-526: The Indus Valley sites known so far are actually located on the Ghaggar-Hakra river and its tributaries and not on the Indus river, some Indian archaeologists, such as S.P. Gupta, have proposed to use the term "Indus Sarasvati Civilization" to refer to the Harappan culture which is named, as is common in archaeology, after the first place where the culture was discovered. Romila Thapar terms the identification "controversial" and dismisses it, noticing that

1848-546: The Indus thousands of years earlier. There is some evidence that the high rate of erosion caused by the modern Sutlej River has influenced the local faulting and rapidly exhumed rocks above Rampur . This would be similar to, but on a much smaller scale than, the exhumation of rocks by the Indus River in Nanga Parbat , Pakistan. The Sutlej River also exposes a double inverted metamorphic gradient . There has been

1904-515: The Mature Indus Valley Civilisation (2600-1900 BCE) are found along the middle course of the (dried-up) Hakra in Pakistan. IVC-sites have not been found further south than the middle of Bahawalpur district , and it has been assumed that the Hakra ended there in a series of terminal lakes. While there is general agreement that the river courses in the Indus Basin have frequently changed course,

1960-634: The Painted Gray Ware sites in the Ghaggar river valley indicates that during this period the Ghaggar river had already dried up. Since the 19th century, proposals have been made to identify the mythological Sarasvati River with the Ghaggar-Hakra River. The Sarasvati is often mentioned in the Rig Veda, which describes it as a mighty river located between the Indus and the Ganges, while later Vedic texts describe it as disappearing in

2016-431: The Sutlej, and possibly the Yamuna, which ended in the Nara River , presently a delta channel of the Indus River joining the sea via Sir Creek . The Sutlej changed its course about 8,000-10,000 years ago, leaving the Ghaggar-Hakra as a system of monsoon-fed rivers terminating in the Thar Desert. The Indus Valley Civilisation prospered when the monsoons that fed the rivers diminished around 5,000 years ago, and

2072-724: The Tibetan name Langqên Zangbo ( Elephant River or Elephant Spring ) to the Shipki La pass, entering India in Himachal Pradesh state. It then has its main knee heading west-southwest for about 360 kilometres (220 mi) to meet the Beas River near Harike , Tarn Taran district , Punjab state. Ropar Wetland in Punjab state is located on the Sutlej river basin. Evidence suggests Indus Valley civilisation also flourished here. Ungti Chu and Pare Chu rivers which drain

2128-716: The Vedic Sarasvati River and the Chautang with the Drishadvati River . Gregory Possehl and Jane McIntosh refer to the Ghaggar-Hakra River as "Sarasvati" throughout their respective 2002 and 2008 books on the Indus Civilisation, and Gregory Possehl states "Linguistic, archaeological, and historical data show that the Sarasvati of the Vedas is the modern Ghaggar or Hakra." Because most of

2184-656: The Zhangzhung were conquered by the Tibetan Empire . The Sutlej River also formed the eastern boundary of the Sikh Empire under Maharajah Ranjit Singh . Parganah Hakkarah Today, the Sutlej Valley is inhabited by nomadic descendants of the Zhangzhung, who live in tiny villages of yak herders. The Sutlej was the main medium of transportation for the kings of that time. In the early 18th century, it

2240-492: The descriptions of Sarasvati flowing through the "high mountains" does not tally with Ghaggar's course and suggests that Sarasvati is Haraxvati of Afghanistan which is also known as the Helmand river . Wilke suggests that the identification is problematic since the Ghaggar-Hakra river was already dried up at the time of the composition of the Vedas, let alone the migration of the Vedic people into northern India. The idea that

2296-453: The desert. Arguments have been made that the Ghaggar-Hakra was such a mighty river, due to tributaries which were supposed to receive snow melt waters from the Himalayas. Yet, more recent research shows that the Ghaggar-Hakra was monsoon-fed during Harappan times, and had already dried-up during Vedic times. The Sarasvati River is mentioned in all books of the Rigveda except the fourth . It

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2352-413: The development of the Harappan Civilisation. The abandonment of this older course by the Sutlej started 15,000 years ago, and was complete by 8,000 years ago. Ajit Singh et al. conclude that the urban populations settled not along a perennial river, but a monsoon-fed seasonal river that was not subject to devastating floods. Khonde et al. (2017) confirm that the Great Rann of Kutch received sediments from

2408-410: The exact sequence of these changes and their dating have been problematic. Older publications have suggested that the Sutlej and the Yamuna drained into the Hakra well into Mature Harappan times, providing ample volume to the supply provided by the monsoon-fed Ghaggar. The Sutlej and Yamuna then changed course between 2500 BCE and 1900 BCE, due to either tectonic events or "slightly altered gradients on

2464-405: The extremely flat plains," resulting in the drying-up of the Hakra in the Thar Desert . More recent publications have shown that the Sutlej and the Yamuna shifted course well before Harappan times, leaving the monsoon-fed Ghaggar-Hakra which dried-up during late Harappan times. The paleo-channel of the Sutlej was active until the end of the Ice Age, some 10,000-8,000 years ago, emptying into

2520-418: The flow of Sutlej from the southeast to the southwest. If the diversion of the river occurred recently (about 4000 years ago), it may have been responsible for the Ghaggar-Hakra (Saraswati) drying up, causing desertification of Cholistan and the eastern part of the modern state of Sindh , and the abandonment of Harappan settlements along the Ghaggar. However, the Sutlej may have already been captured by

2576-451: The heavy alluvium of the Indus and other large Panjab rivers that have obscured Harappan sites, including part of Mohenjo Daro . Painted Grey Ware sites ( c.  1000–600 BCE) have been found at former IVC-sites at the middle and upper Ghaggar-Hakra channel, and have also been found in the bed and not on the banks of the Ghaggar-Hakra river, which suggests that river was certainly dried up by this period. The sparse distribution of

2632-440: The northeast and Burang County to the southeast. Zanda county is divided into 1 town and 4 townships : This Ngari Prefecture , Tibet location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Sutlej The Sutlej River ( / ˈ s ʌ t l ə dʒ / ) is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan . The Sutlej River

2688-443: The number of late Harappan sites in the middle Ghaggar-Hakra channel and in the Indus valley diminished, while it expanded in the upper Ghaggar-Sutlej channels and in Saurashtra. The IVC-people migrated east toward the more humid regions of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, where the decentralised late Harappan phase took place. The same widespread aridification in the third millennium BCE also led to water shortages and ecological changes in

2744-413: The region that dug out wide valleys in their own sediments as the monsoon declined, no such valley exists between the Sutlej and the Yamuna , demonstrating that neither the Ghaggar-Hakra nor any other Sarasvati candidate in that region had a Himalayan source. Rajesh Kocchar further notes that, even if the Sutlej and the Yamuna had drained into the Ghaggar during Vedic period , it still would not fit

2800-423: The river. The river thinking that Vasishtha was a mass of unquenchable fire dilated itself and flew in a hundred different directions. Henceforth the river was named śatadra (or śatadru) which means the river of a hundred courses. So, Vasishtha landed on dry land and was unharmed. Langqên Zangbo ( Tibetan : གླང་ཆེན་གཙང་པོ , Wylie : glang chen gtsang po ; Chinese : 朗钦藏布 ; pinyin : Lǎngqīn Zàngbù )

2856-503: The sanctity of the modern Ganges is directly related to its assumption of the holy, life-giving waters of the ancient Saraswati River. The Mahabharata says that the Sarasvati River dried up in a desert (at a place named Vinasana or Adarsana). Nineteenth and early 20th century scholars, such as orientalist Christian Lassen (1800–1876), philologist and Indologist Max Müller (1823–1900), archaeologist Aurel Stein (1862–1943), and geologist R. D. Oldham (1858–1936), had considered that

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2912-410: The small seasonal river it is today, which affected the Harappan civilisation. Paleobotanical information documents the aridity that developed after the drying up of the river. The diminishing of the monsoons particular affected the Ghaggar-Hakra system, which became ephemeral and was largely abandoned, with the IVC reorganizing in local settlements some 4000 years ago. In the late Harappan period

2968-402: The southeastern part of Ladakh are tributaries of Sutlej river. Continuing west-southwest, the Sutlej enters Pakistan about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) east of Bhedian Kalan , Kasur District , Punjab province, continuing southwest to water the ancient and historical former Bahawalpur princely state . Few centuries ago, Sutlej river was merging with the Ghaggar river to discharge in to

3024-428: The states and union territories of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Ladakh and Haryana. The source of the Sutlej is west of the catchment area of Lake Rakshastal in Tibet , as springs in an ephemeral stream. Lake Rakshastal used to be part of the Sutlej river basin long ago and separated from the Sutlej due to tectonic activity. The nascent river flows at first west-northwest for about 260 kilometres (160 mi) under

3080-405: The tenth book of Rigveda as well as later Vedic texts, which he calls Vinasana Sarasvati , disappears in the sands. The Vinasana Sarasvati has been "accepted by all" to be the same as the Ghaggar-Hakra river. The description of the Naditama Sarasvati in the Rigveda matches the physical features of the Helmand River in Afghanistan, more precisely its tributary the Harut River , whose older name

3136-664: Was used to transport devdar woods for Bilaspur district , Hamirpur district , and other places along the Sutlej's banks. Of four rivers ( Indus , Sutlej, Brahmaputra and Karnali / Ganges ) mythically flowing out of holy Lake Manasarovar , the Sutlej is actually connected by channels that are dry most of the time. Earlier the river was also called Shutudri or Zaradros river. Ghaggar-Hakra river 1 = ancient river 2 = today's river 3 = today's Thar Desert 4 = ancient shore 5 = today's shore 6 = today's town 7 = dried-up Hakra course, and pre-Harappan Sutlej paleochannels (Clift et al. (2012)) The Ghaggar-Hakra River

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