By V.M.K. PURI

     INTRODUCTION

                  Adi Badri(30’ 27’ N: 77’ 27’E) lies in the foothills of Siwalik range, just south of its escarpment in bhabar area, in the district of Yamunanagar in the northern portion of Haryana. It is approachable from Jagadhri by a 40 km long all weather road via Bilaspur. The nearest village is Kathgarh, which is situated 2 km southwest from this locality.

      Adi badri is known for its temples of Adi Bdri Narayan, Kedarnath and mantra Devi.  There is a mention in the scriptures that the great sage Ved Vyas composed Shrimad Bhagwat, comprising 18000 verses, which is the shining jewel among Puranas, here at this locality. It is on this basis that Ved Vyas is called ‘Badarayana’ also. Bhagwat is a composite treatise wherein the glory of three deities viz. Vishnu, Shiva and Shakti has been sung. This is the reason that Adi Badri is recognized as the sacred ‘teertha’ or holy place for Vaishnavas, Adi Kedar foe Shaivas and Mantra Devi temple site for austere pernanace by worshipers of Shri-Vidya. All these temples are situated close to one another in the picturesque landscape. It is mentioned in Shrimad Bhagwat that Ved Vyas compose this treatise in ‘Shyamaprasa Ashram’ or hermitage situated on the left bank of river saraswati in northern region of India(Ved Vyas). The features and characterstics of Shayamaprasa Ashram geographically match very well with that of Adi Badri. It is further corroborated on the presence of ancient town of Vyaspur(Bilaspur ) that is located nearby.

STATUS OF ACTIVITIES

 Archeological Survey of India (ASI) is carrying out excavations in the area for assessing the heritage and antiquity. The ASI has identified three sites viz. ABR-I, ABR-II and ABR-III for exploration. ABR-I and ABR-II sites are located on the western side of Saraswati- Somb valley whereas ABR-III is situated on its eastern side. ABR-I site is located on a ridge, locally known as Itonwali that is situated almost 500 m north east of Kathgarh and geographically it is the highest excavation site which lies nearly 250 m above the present day river bed.

                  It is ABR-II excavation site that has generated immense geological interest. In two pits opened for study by ASI, very interesting section has been exposed. Detailed observation reveals that this ridge constitutes the bascal part of T3 terrace, which is the oldest terrace in outer Himalaya during Holocene period. In this section, sub rounded pebbles are exposed that are aligned almost parallel to the valley configuration which clearly indicate the impact of alluvial action.

SIGNATURE OF VEDIC SARASVATI

                  On closer scrutiny, the exposed pebbles on this T3 terrace contain elements, as expected, having provenanace or parentage of Siwalik rocks. On further analyses of these pebbles exposed in pits of ABR-II site, it was startling to discover also pebbles of high grade metamorphic rocks like mica schist, quartzite and metabasite apart rom majority of pebbles of Siwalik rocks. It is a well known geological knowledge that these high rade metamorphic rocks are not found in the Siwalik hils right from Kashmir Himalaya in the west to Arunachal Pradesh in the eastern part of Himalayan extremity. Therefore, the occurrence of pebbles of high grade metamorphic rocks in T3 terrace of ABR-II site in Adi Badri area constitutes ‘alien’ parentage or provenance. A scrutiny of lithology of ‘alien’ pebbles indicates that these high grade metamorphic rocks belong to central Crystallines nd Jutogh group of rocks that are found scores of kilometers away towards north and north east in the Central Himalaya. Moreover, the aforesaid locality is situated very near to Sudanwala T3 terrace (Puri, 1999) towards north east that lies over Siwalik Hills and posseses pebbles of similar lithology wherein the ratio of high grade metamorphic rock pebbles is extremely high.

The above referred discovery is an additional irrefutable scientific evidence of the existence of an ancient drainage that was capable of bringing pebbles of high grade metamorphic rocks. Any drainage originating from Shiwalik hills can not transport pebbles of high grade metamorphic rocks and deposit on its own terraces since these rocks do not exit in Siwalik hills as mentioned earlier. Therefore, an ancient river that possessed its catchment area encompassing rocks of Central Crystallines and Jutogh Group brought down these pebbles. That river is none else than Vedic Saraswati that had traversed through this site, transported pebbles from its catchment area enclosing high grade metamorphic rocks, lying scores of kilometers away in Central Himalaya and deposited it on the present day oldest terrace in ABR-II excavation site of Adi Bdri area (Puri, Op.Cit.).

                  It is interesting to record that pebbles of younger generation viz. T2 and T1 terraces on which excavation sites of ABR-I and ABR-III are located, contain rocks restricted to Siwalik Super Group only. This observation clearly indicate that these younger terraces were deposited by Vedic Saraswati also but its conduit from the original catchment area in Central Himalayan had been blocked by tectonic activity (Puri op. cit.) that had got restricted subsequently to Siwalik hills only.

CONCLUSION

                  The above scientific find, first of its kind from Adi Badri area, is an exclusive scientific proof to establish that this terrace of Itonwali ridge was deposited by Vedic Saraswati that was entering Indo-Gangatic plain from Himalayan at this locality. Accordingly, it can safely be surmised that this locality or Adi Badri was ‘Haridwar’ of Vedic Saraswati.

113, Kotwali Bazar,Dharamshala,

Distt. Kangra(H.P.)

Pin 176215

Tel: 01892-222140