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56-628: 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 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

112-505: 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

168-561: 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

224-411: 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

280-612: A food source for a variety of terrestrial animals, such as birds, mammals, and reptiles. Different types of fishes inhabit intermittent rivers. The Brassy minnow ( Hybognathus hankinsoni ) is native to the intermittent Niobrara River, Wyoming. Redband trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss gairdneri ) is native to intermittent desert streams of southwestern Idaho. The West Fork Smith River provides vital habitat to different species, including coho salmon, returning to spawn in Oregon. Cobitis shikokuensis (Hina-ishi-dojo) in intermittent rivers move into

336-415: A high proportion of regional biodiversity. The riparian zone of intermittent rivers can provide habitat and resources for a variety of organisms, and may also be an important source of nutrients for habitats downstream. The dry period of intermittent streams is ended by what is called "rewetting" or a wetting front. Rewetting is defined as the resumption of waterflow through the stream. This happens when

392-577: A small seasonal river. Nineteenth and early 20th century scholars, but also some more recent authors, have suggested that 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

448-548: Is bounded on the north by Shikarpur District and Sukkur District , on the east by India, on the south by Sanghar District and Nawabshah District , and on the west by Larkana District , Naushahro Feroze District and Indus River . The revised area of the district is 15,910 km . At the time of the 2017 census, Khairpur had a sex ratio of 939 females per 1000 males and a literacy rate of 49.15%: 62.08% for males and 35.49% for females. 777,006 (32.31%) lived in urban areas. 796,830 (33.13%) were under 10 years of age. In 2023,

504-547: Is not enough inputs to sustain surface water. Streams in more arid regions stop flowing due to the depletion of water storage in the surrounding aquifer and channel banks. The diversion of water and impoundment for human use, such as for flood control and irrigation storage, have caused intermittency in many rivers that used to be perennial. This was the case for several large rivers such as the Nile, Indus, Yellow, Amu and Syr Darya, Rio Grande, and Colorado, which became intermittent during

560-894: 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

616-611: 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

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672-629: 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 a channel of the Yamuna, along with

728-506: 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

784-472: 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

840-649: The American Southwest during precipitation events. Many incised arroyos that are destructive to stream beds and adjacent man-made structures were formed as a result of drainage channelization and overgrazing during the late nineteenth century along with the influx of American settlers in the Southwestern United States. Glacial streams are considered intermittent streams as the flow intermittence fluctuates with solar energy input. Most glacial streams are alpine headwater streams that receive water from

896-603: The Colorado River delta to drop to near zero. Effects of climate change such as higher air temperatures are predicted to accelerate drying and cause more intermittency in rivers. Intermittent rivers are found on every continent, and may even be more common than perennial rivers. More than 30% of the total length and discharge of the global river network is estimated to be intermittent rivers. However, due to some low-order streams being difficult to categorize or track, this total could be over 50% when taking those into account. In

952-581: 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 the heavy alluvium of

1008-622: 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

1064-459: 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

1120-405: 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

1176-454: 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

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1232-682: 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 the Indus Valley Civilisation declined when

1288-426: 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

1344-504: 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,

1400-661: 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

1456-505: The Thar Desert. 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 years ago, the Indus Valley Civilisation declined when the monsoons further diminished, and the Ghaggar-Hakra dried up, becoming

1512-793: 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 the Indus Valley sites known so far are actually located on

1568-488: 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 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

1624-733: The biological, hydrological, and physical characteristics of a continuous or intermittent stream. Opinions on the Clean Water Act (CWA) from the Supreme Court have classified intermittent streams as non-jurisdictional and thus outside of legal protection. Prior to 2001, virtually all bodies of water in the United States were considered jurisdictional because of their potential to function as a habitat for migratory birds. Following this 2001 Supreme Court ruling on US waters, Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County vs. US Army Corps of Engineers ,

1680-450: The court went on to see two cases in 2006 further involving this matter. Rapanos vs. United States and Carabell vs. United States , after being combined into one decision, added new analytical thresholds to be met for protection but ultimately left the determination of what were to be protected U.S. waters up to the EPA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and further court cases. Recent litigation

1736-483: 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

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1792-448: 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

1848-528: 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

1904-428: The district had 452,588 households and a population of 2,597,535. The majority religion is Islam, with 96.78% of the population. Hinduism (including those from Scheduled Castes) is practiced by 2.9% of the population. Languages of Khairpur district (2023) At the time of the 2023 census, 97.73% of the population spoke Sindhi as their first language. The District of Khairpur is mapped into three constituencies at

1960-516: The ecology of intermittent rivers. Disturbances caused by humans can result in short-term (pulse) and long-term (press) effects on intermittent stream habitats. Khairpur District Khairpur District ( Sindhi : خيرپور ضلعو , Urdu : ضلع خیرپور ) is a district in the Pakistani province of Sindh in Sukkur Division . At the 2017 census, it was the fifth most populated district in

2016-409: 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

2072-518: 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 the Rann of Kutch via

2128-423: The face of global climate change, this total is further increasing, as many of the world's rivers that were once perennial are now intermittent in regions suffering from severe climatic drying or water appropriation. Intermittent streams can be found in many different climate regions. For example, arroyos are intermittent streams that erode deep vertical channels through fine sediment in arid and semiarid regions in

2184-428: The flowing, contraction/fragmentation, and dry phases. Intermittent streams tend to have a food web based heavily on detritus and follow the bottom-up trophic model. Both the ratios of predator to prey and the number of trophic levels depend on the size of the intermittent stream. Intermittent rivers face many threats. Diversion of river water for large-scale consumption, such as industrial use or for farming, can alter

2240-598: The gain of the water is higher than the loss of it into the pores of the substrate/soil, also known as infiltration. Rewetting causes changes both in the dissolved nutrients in the stream, and in species compositions. During dry periods of intermittent rivers, terrestrial animals can gain access to resources and areas that were otherwise inaccessible, either due to natural or man-made obstructions. Additionally, when drying, these riverbeds often leave behind organisms, such as fish, which were unable to relocate in response to lowering water levels. These organisms are often used as

2296-417: The glacial meltwater. The streams become dry or freeze starting from autumn and last until early spring; the flow of the glacial streams is highest during summer. The intermittency of the glacial streams also fluctuates at different times of the day. The inhabitants of intermittent rivers can change with the water level. As a result of contrasting conditions throughout the year, invertebrate assemblages of

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2352-441: The hyporheic zone when water flows are low. When the water returns, C. shikokuensis emerge out of the hyporheic zone to recolonize the flowing river system. During stream drying, Campostoma spadiceum ( Highland stoneroller ) move into pool habitats when riffle areas become too shallow for survival. The food web of intermittent streams differs from perennial streams in that species number and abundance change drastically among

2408-663: The lower flood-prone area. The Ghaggar is an intermittent river in India , flowing during 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

2464-527: 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

2520-744: The national level. The constituencies include NA-208 Khairpur-I, NA-209 Khairpur-II , and NA-210 Khairpur-III. Following is the list of the Member National Assemblies(MNAs) representing district in the National Assembly of Pakistan . The District of Khairpur is represented by the seven constituencies in the Provincial Assembly of Sindh . It has 8 tehsils , 76 Union councils , 11 towns , 6800 Villages and total population 1,546,587 (Male 810,448 and Female Population 736,139) according to (Census) 1998 . The eight tehsils of

2576-555: 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

2632-582: The past 50 years due to human interference. In arid and semiarid regions of North America, most formerly perennial rivers are now intermittent. This is a direct consequence of the extensive networks of dams and aqueducts that were built for human withdrawal of water that used to flow into wetlands, deltas, and inland sinks. This phenomenon can be observed in the Colorado River, whose flow has decreased significantly since 1905. In recent years, several U.S. states and Mexico have used significant amounts of water for agricultural and urban uses, which caused flows reaching

2688-419: The province after four districts of Karachi city, with 2.4 million inhabitants. The headquarters of the district is the city of Khairpur . The district is further divided into eight sub-districts : Khairpur Tehsil , Mirwah Tehsil , Kot Diji Tehsil , Kingri Tehsil , Sobho Dero Tehsil , Gambat Tehsil , Faiz Ganj Tehsil and Nara Tehsil . Khairpur district is located between middle and northern Sindh. It

2744-507: 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

2800-503: The same intermittent stream can be notably distinct from one another. How biodiversity of these habitats changes with conditions has been debated in literature. Current findings suggest that while lotic biodiversity generally decreases with increasing flow intermittence, increased lentic and terrestrial biodiversity during those periods can compensate. Thus, when lotic (flowing water), lentic (lake), and terrestrial communities are considered together, intermittent rivers can account for

2856-557: 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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2912-401: 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

2968-627: 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

3024-424: The year, and may not have any flowing surface water during the dry season. Intermittent rivers do not rely on, but may be supplemented, by stormwaters or other runoff from upstream sources. Their channels are well-defined, as compared to ephemeral streams, which may or may not have a defined channel, and rely mainly on storm runoff, as their aquatic bed is above the water table . An ephemeral stream does not have

3080-483: Was Haraxatī in Avestan. Ganga and Yamuna, he takes to be small streams in its vicinity. When the Vedic people moved east into Punjab, they named the new rivers they encountered after the old rivers they knew from Helmand. Intermittent river According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency definition, an intermittent river, or intermittent stream, is any river or stream that only flows during certain times of

3136-592: Was brought by eighteen states' attorneys general because of a change to the interpretation of what is to be considered by the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers as "waters of the United States" during May 2020. Intermittent streams contain water during periods when groundwater levels are above or at the level of stream's channel, allowing for surface flow. The mechanisms which control surface flow of intermittent streams are climatically and geographically specific. For example, intermittent streams fed by snowmelt and glacial meltwater cease to flow when they either freeze or there

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