The history of Bharat is a continuous tapestry of civilization from its inception, meticulously recorded by the great sages of the past, much before the arrival of the European historians who preferred to frame it according to their assumptions and poor understanding of the area, its culture and traditions.
When this civilization began, however, remains shrouded in mist. It is definitely noted that the eruption of the Toba volcano, some seventy-five thousand years ago, in Sumatra, Indonesia, left Bharat devastated. Humans, plants and animals perished by the thousands. A thick layer of volcanic ash blanketed the land. Only a few survived in the north-western part of Bharat, in the Hindukush region. Over a period of time this region, known as the Sapta-Sindhu with the mighty River Sarasvati, became the cradle of the Vedic Civilization.
The mighty River Sarasvati rose near the holy shrine of Badrinath and flowed through Kurukshetra Hisar Sambhar Lake - Pushkar - Jodhpur and finally through the Rann of Kutch to flow out into the Arabian Sea. However, due to a massive earthquake in 11,200 BCE, the river got blocked by the debris and changed its course to flow westwards from Kurukshetra through Sirsa Kalibangan Anupgargh. Rivers Sutlej, Yamuna and Drisadvati had served as Sarasvati's main tributatries. Sutlej, subsequently changed its course and Yamuna and Drisadvati too started flowing in a different direction where Yamuna joined the River Ganga at Sangam.
Many theories have come forth regarding the existence of River Sarasvati where the ancient Hindu texts also refer to numerous civilizations along the banks of the river but as mentioned by Michel Danino in his book "The Lost River", "..the river got embroiled in a thorny issue, that of the Aryan invasion or migration theory, leading a few scholars to locate the Vedic Sarasvati elsewhere or deny its physical existence altogether". Major E. Makeson, Officiating Superintendent on Special Mission to Seersa and Bahawulpore, reported in 1844 that a 'new road' for trade openings between Delhi and Sind was not so new at all and used by past invaders. Makeson confirmed that the countryside here bore traces of "having once been well inhabited", travelling westwards he found "traces that exist in it of the course of some former river" to which "we are indebted for the opening to us of a road through the desert" along which "are wells dug in it generally found to have sweet water" while wells at a distance from it are usually brackish.
Danino echos Vivien de Saint-Martin's reports of the first ever synthesis between the Rig Vedic Hymns and the British Surveys, where he presented that the Sarasvati River is "the one which the hymns mention most frequently, whose name they utter with the highest praise and predilection. It was also the first river wholly belonging to the Veda's historical arena".
Bharat, not the India of today, the Bharat of prehistoric age - the Bharat of the ancient times, the melting pot of culture, heritage and civilizations, was blessed with a glorious history, steeped in tradition. The entire Indian civilization was, and is even today, dependent on its river system. If we divide the ages strictly into historical compartments, the paleolithic and neolithic ages could be termed prehistoric.
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