Book Review: The Lost River
Be that as it may, the Late Harappans were not ungrateful folk: long nurtured by the Sarasvati, they had worshipped the river and imbued it - or her - with divinity.The Indian subcontinent was the scene of dramatic upheavals a few thousand years ago. The Northwest region entered an arid phase, and erosion coupled with tectonic events played havoc with river courses. One of them disappeared. Celebrated as 'Sarasvati' in the Rig Veda and the Mahabharata, this river was rediscovered in the early nineteenth century through topographic explorations by British officials. Recently, geological and climatic studies have probed its evolution and disappearance, while satellite imagery has traced the river's buried courses and isotope analyses have dated ancient waters still stored under the Thar Desert.
Michel Danino's The Lost River takes the reader on the trail of this lost river Sarasvati - the river that was mentioned and praised in epics and the Vedas but had stopped flowing and had disappeared. Accumulating findings from research across various disciplines and arguments and counterarguments from scholarly thesis, the author has provided a fascinating tale about exploration of the river and disappearance. With his focus on the river's course and the Indus Valley Civilization flourished on its now dry basin, the author has included several maps, diagrams and images to delight the inquisitive reader. However, The Lost River is a deeply researched book with an academic bend of presentation that may not appeal to particular section of readers. If you are inclined to read researched nonfiction on this particular subject, go for it.
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The Lost River: A scholarly work on a vanished river. I had received the review copy from the shoppingwish.in. Thank you Anshul for giving me this opportunity. You can buy this book at amazon or at Flipkart in case you live in India. You can find the lowest price of this book in India at shoppingwish.in
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