Recent announcement to include the history of Saraswati river in the curriculum for students of classes 4th to 12th in Haryana schools with an aim to make students aware about the mythological history of the river.
Topics recommended by the Haryana’s ‘Saraswati river syllabus committee’ to be taught in the state schools:
- References of the Saraswati river from Vedic and pre-Vedic texts
- its role in the battle of Mahabharata
- medieval-era Sanskrit text Vamanapurana that explicitly mentions the history of the river and the Harappan-era archaeological site ‘Dholavira’ in Gujarat
In Rigveda, the Saraswati river is mentioned as many as 72 times while there is only one reference of other popular rivers like the Yamuna. Similarly, in puranas, specifically Vamanapurana, which is one of the 18 major puranas of Hinduism, there has been extensive mention of the Saraswati.