Saraswati River

One of the seven sacred rivers of India,
along with the Ganges, Yamuna,
Godavari, Narmada, Indus, and
Cauvery. The Saraswati is particularly
interesting because no one is sure exactly
where this river is located. A river by this
name is mentioned in the hymns of the
Vedas, the earliest and most authoritative Hindu religious texts, and thus the
Saraswati River would seem to have
been in the northeastern part of India,
in which these hymns are set. In modern
times a Saraswati River flows through
the northern Indian state of Haryana
and dries up in the desert of the state of
Rajasthan. Archaeologists have found
extensive settlements from the Indus
Valley civilization on its banks, indicating that in earlier times the river was an
active tributary of the Indus. Popular
belief holds that the Saraswati continues
to flow underground, and joins the
Ganges and Yamuna Rivers at their confluence in Allahabad. This reputed confluence of three sacred rivers is the
source for one of the site’s names,
Triveni (“triple stream”).