Saraswati, river

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This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.

Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.

Saraswati

(i). River of the Punjab, rising in Sirmur State close to the borders of Ambala District. It debouches on the plains at Adh Badri, a place held sacred by all Hindus. A few miles farther on it disappears in the sand, but comes up again about three miles to the south at the village of Bhawanipur. At Balchhapar it again vanishes for a short distance, but emerges once more and flows on in a south- westerly direction across Karnal, until it joins the Ghaggar in Patiala territory after a course of about no miles. A District canal takes off from it near Pehowa in Karnal District. The word Saraswati, the feminine of Saraswat, is the Sanskrit form of the Zend Haragaiti (Arachosia) and means 'rich in lakes.' The name was probably given to the river by the Aryan invaders in memory of the Haragaiti of Arachosia, the modern Helmand in Seistan.