partS] of the ramus, bra.hmaputba, and ua\< 153 



the Ganges, the present CTpper Jamna and the Ghaggar or Saraswati 

 formed a continuous single river, which probably at that date 

 received the Sutlej also 1 ; the course of this old channel can still 

 In- traced across Rajputana to the Indus, and is variously known as 

 the Ghaggar, lfakra. or Wandan. The persistence of this river 

 till historic times would, as noticed by James Pergusson, 2 account 

 for the old Vedic tradition that the Saraswati was the 'chief and 

 purest of rivers flowing from the mountains to the sea.' After the 

 Ganges captured the eastern branch of its head-waters by mean- of 

 the Lower Jamna, and the old Beas captured the worern branch 

 (that is, the Sutlej) the Saraswati became a small stream which 

 soon lost itself in the desert of Rajputana, the greater part of its 

 channel remaining as the dry Ghaggar or Hakra. This was the last 

 element of the Indus captured by the (lango. the change probably 

 dating from historic times ; in this way, as Mr. Oldham notices, 

 the Hindu legend that it is the Saraswati which joins the (Janges 

 at Prayag or Allahabad is founded on fact. 3 Whether tbere will 

 be further invasion of the Indus basin by the (binges is an 

 interesting matter for speculation. There is no intervening rock- 

 barrier t i prevent it, the watershed between the two river-systems 

 being scarcely perceptible in the plains. Geodetic figures indicate 

 a slight ri<e in the floor of the sub-alluvial trough below and a 

 little south-east of the watershed: but this apparently did not 

 interrupt the longitudinal drainage, since the Siwalik and alluvial 

 belts are both continuous across it. The capture of the Jamna 

 shows that the Granges still has an advantage in youth and vigour 

 over the rivers of the present Indus system, and it seems not 

 unlikely that, if not artificially controlled, it will be able to cut 

 back farther north-westwards parallel to the trough — especially if 

 the latter is still being deepened — and make further captures. 



Mr. Oldham remarks on the suggestiveness of the fact that, in 

 two cases where rivers have taken a different course, namely, the 

 Saraswati into the Ganges instead of to the Indus, and the Lower 

 Brahmaputra from its old Mymensingh course to a more westerly 

 one, the new channel formed has been termed the Jamuna or 

 Jamna. There is another Jamuna in A.ssam (lowing westwards 

 through the southern angle of the Mikir Hills into the Kapili 

 River, a tributary of the Brahmaputra. Its history is not quite 

 dear, but the Kapili (or Kalang, as the main affluent is called) cut 

 back between the Mikir Hills and the Shillong Plateau, pasl 

 Lumding, and may have captured part of the old reduced Meghna, 

 after which it is possible that the Jamuna cut back farther north 

 through a low gap in the Mikir Hills, and snatched the Meghna 

 head-waters from the Kapili. This portion of the old Meghna 

 valley is now drained by the Dhansiri in the reverse direction. 



1 See K. D. Oldham. ' Probal >le Changed in the Geography of the Punjab 

 A its Rivers ' Jonrn. Aaiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. lv (1886) p. 322. 



8 Q. J.G.S. vol. xix (1863) p. :H8. 



:t • Manual of the Geology of India ' 2nd <•<!. (1893) p. 150, 

 «Q. J. G. S. No. 299. 



