Saraswati river
3 km from Badrinath, at Mana one can see the Holy Saraswati emerging out of the rocks and falling down furiously. Saraswati river cannot be seen in the plains. Towards the end one can see the Saraswati merging into the Alaknanda river. The sangam or confluence of Alaknanada and Saraswati river is called Keshav Prayag.

Saraswati is an ancient river that flowed in Northern India during the Vedic era. It originated in the Himalayas and flowed westwards to join the Arabian sea. It was earlier thought to be a mythological river that existed only in the Vedas.

Recent discoveries have proved that this river did indeed exist during the Vedic era about 6000 years back. The aerial photos from NASA and ISRO satellites have revealed the dried up river bed and geological excavations have proved the same.

When the Saraswati river flowed, the current desert of Rajasthan was a green land full of vegetation. The existing rivers Sutlej and Yamuna were major sources of the Saraswati river during the Vedic era. The plate tectonics of the Indian plate with the Eurasian plate caused geological shifts in the Himalayan region around 6000 years ago and caused the Sutlej river to be diverted to join Indus river and similarly Yamuna joined river Ganga to create the present Ganga-Yamuna plain.

This caused the Saraswati river to dry up as its major sources of water were lost. In addition, Indus which was a smaller river till then became a bigger river due to the inclusion of water from Sutlej.

Most people in India think of it as a mythical river. Some even believe that it is an invisible river or that it still flows underground. Another commonly held perception is that the Saraswati once flowed through the North Indian city of Allahabad, meeting there with two other rivers, the Ganges and the Yamuna. The confluence of these three rivers - one of which is not visible to the eye - is considered one of India's holiest spots.

Rigvedic hymn says Ambitame Naditame Devitame Saraswati which means Oh Saraswati, you are the best of mothers, you are the best of rivers, you are the best of goddesses.

The late Rigvedic Nadistuti sukta enumerates all important rivers from the Ganges in the east up to the Indus in the west in a clear geographical order. Here (RV 10.75.5), the sequence "Ganges, Yamuna, Sarasvati, Shutudri" places the Sarasvati between the Yamuna and the Sutlej, which is consistent with the Ghaggar identification.