Early Times Report
CHANDIGARH, Jan 19: The International Saraswati Mahotsav-2026 began with deep devotion and enthusiasm at the sacred origin site of Goddess Saraswati at Adi Badri, coinciding with the auspicious occasion of Basant Panchami. The Haryana Saraswati Heritage Development Board marked the beginning of the Mahotsav with a 'hawan yajna' and Vedic chanting at the holy site. Haryana's Tourism Minister, Arvind Sharma, attended the ceremony as the chief guest and offered oblations during the hawan yajna.
Speaking on the occasion, Arvind Sharma said the rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati have a deep connection with India's culture, civilisation and values, and continue to define the country's identity even today. He stated that in Indian culture, all rivers have traditionally been regarded as sacred. In this tradition, the Saraswati River is considered the mother and nurturer of ancient Indian civilisation. He said that Vedic culture flourished on the banks of the Saraswati River, where sages and seers established their hermitages and composed Vedic literature. Owing to this vast body of knowledge, India earned recognition as a "Vishwaguru" across the world. According to descriptions in the Mahabharata, the Saraswati River originated from Adi Badri, slightly below the Shivalik hills.
He further said that the river flowed for nearly 1,600 kilometres through Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat before finally merging into the Arabian Sea. It is the great river on whose sacred banks the hymns of the Vedas were composed and the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita was delivered at Kurukshetra. The ancient and major city of the Indus-Saraswati civilisation, Rakhigarhi, was also located on the banks of this great river, where living examples of a civilisation dating back nearly 7,000 years are still found. He added that it is a matter of pride that Haryana is today recognised across the world as the land of origin of Vedic culture, a distinction that is owed to the flow of Mother Saraswati in the region. On the sacred banks of the Saraswati, sages composed the Vedas and other world-famous religious texts. |
