Large quantities of water trapped between Himalayan ranges during its formation, lead to great glacier and river system. It is estimated that some 15000+ glaciers store about 12000 cubic km of water in them. These glaciers gave birth to lot of the rivers on the eastern and western side of the India.
Major rivers on the western side – Beas, Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi and Sutlej – feed into Sindhu/Indus river that flows south-west to modern day Pakistan to the Arabian sea.
On the eastern side, Ganga and Brahmaputra are the biggest ones meeting in Bangladesh before draining into Bay of Bengal thru the world’s largest river delta system.
Sindhu and Ganga river systems provided backdrop for organic life forms that relied heavily on water for their sustenance. This includes all human and their humanoid predecessors. Over 50,000 years of human presence and history on the Indian subcontinent that we will attempt to understand here is, on a large part, a gift of these two river systems.
Major rivers on the western side – Beas, Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi and Sutlej – feed into Sindhu/Indus river that flows south-west to modern day Pakistan to the Arabian sea.
On the eastern side, Ganga and Brahmaputra are the biggest ones meeting in Bangladesh before draining into Bay of Bengal thru the world’s largest river delta system.
Sindhu and Ganga river systems provided backdrop for organic life forms that relied heavily on water for their sustenance. This includes all human and their humanoid predecessors. Over 50,000 years of human presence and history on the Indian subcontinent that we will attempt to understand here is, on a large part, a gift of these two river systems.
Formation of Indian subcontinent thru tectonic activities may not be a revered event in the eyes of Aryans who later inhabit this land and lay foundation of Vedic religion. But, they definitely understood the importance of the Himalayas and the river systems conferred upon them by the great mountains. And, for this reason, mountains and rivers were deified by Aryans. Maybe, we should start doing the same now. Consider this: the glacier systems in Himalayan ranges are retreating as a result of climate change. This means, the water deposits we have in those glaciers are getting drained at a faster rate. If this continues, then as per UN climate report, by the year 2035 all major river systems in India would disappear. This will happen in two phases – first, the melting of all glaciers in a dramatic fashion….flooding India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar. And, then there will be a drought. A long one. A very long one.
So, maybe it’s time once again to treat Himalaya, Sindhu and Ganga as deities and try to make them “happy”.
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