In India water is not just vital for its life- support characteristics but holy Rivers are worshipped as Goddess and Mother. Holy dip in the water of the sacred Rivers is believed to help in removing sins, attaining salvation and holds key religious significance as well. Most of the ancient city of India like Haridwar, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Nasik, Patna, Tiruchirappalli, Ujjain etc. are located on the banks of the holy Rivers.
History, Significance, Flow, Basin, Spirituality & Culture
River Sindhu is one of the seven sacred River also known as Goddess Sindhu along with Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvati, Narmada, Kaveri, and Godavari. River Sindhu also known as Indus River is one of the longest river of Asia with 3180 km length. It originates from Tibet, near Lake Manasarovar in Himalaya Ranges at height of 18000 feet and flows through Leh – Ladakh, Gilgit- Baltistan to Pakistan and merge in Arabian Sea near Karachi in Sindh area. The river has around 1,165,000 km2 basin area and water flow around 243 km3, largest in world. It has many tributary, Zanskar joins near Ladakh, then Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej eventually flow into the Indus which create large part of River system of Punjab – Land of Five River.
Rivers give birth to civilisations and all the major civilisations across the world developed on bank of River only. The Indus Valley region along with River Indus – Sindhu was the home of one of the most ancient Indus Valley Civilization due to extremely fertile and well-irrigated area. As per the Archaeologists evidence, religious practice, farming and town planning happen gradually over the period. Towns and cities were grown up and the civilization was at its peak between 2500 and 2000 BCE. During this period, houses with wells and bathrooms, underground drainage systems, writing system, notable architecture and well-planned urban centre were developed. Two major cities, Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro had been excavated and explored from Indus Valley civilisations. It was getting decline in 1800 BCE but the reason is unfound but may be due to flood or drought.
The Indus – Sindhu River is the most important supplier of water resources to the Punjab and Sindh region, which hold as backbone of agriculture and food production. The people who lived on bank of Sindhu and Sindh region known as Sindhi community, thus River Sindhu is highly sacred in Sindhi people. Lord Jhulelal or Dariyalal or Varuna appeared in Sindh region the main deity and protector for this community.
Hall of Fame, near Leh, tribute to our soldiers and Sikh Gurdwara maintained by the Indian Army are worth visiting place. Indian civilization and River Sindhi is mentioned many times in the sacred text – Vedas and Mahabharata along with other deities. Actually the word Hindu is corruption of the word Sindhu, Arabians pronounced ‘s’ as ‘h’ and called people lived along with Sindhu – the border river as Hindu and Hindustan as land of Hindu. Even the name India is derived from the word Indus.
Sindhu Darshan Festival
Sindhu Darshan Festival or Sindhu Festival held on the Guru Purnima, falls around June month for three days in Leh. The main motive behind this festival is to showcase the India’s unity promote the tourism in surrounding area. Various cultural events, dance performance, musical show, religious, spiritual events etc. organized and perform by artist across the India. This attracts thousands of tourist, art and culture lovers to Ladakh. This festival is also a symbolic salute to our soldiers who fights save our border at such height and extreme weather.
