Sarasvati River in the context of "Indigenous Aryans"

Prayagraj (/ˈpreɪəˌɡrɑːdʒ, ˈpraɪə-/, Hindi: [pɾəjaːɡɾaːdʒ]; ISO: Prayāgarāja), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Prayagraj district, the most populous district in the state and 13th most populous district in India and the Prayagraj division. The city is the judicial capital of Uttar Pradesh with the Allahabad High Court being the highest judicial body in the state. As of 2011, Prayagraj is the seventh most populous city in the state, thirteenth in Northern India and thirty-sixth in India, with an estimated population of 1.53 million in the city. In 2011, it was ranked the world's 40th fastest-growing city. The city, in 2016, was also ranked the third most liveable urban agglomeration in the state (after Noida and Lucknow) and sixteenth in the country. Hindi is the most widely spoken language in the city.

Prayagraj lies close to Triveni Sangam, the "three-river confluence" of the Ganges, Yamuna, and the mythical Sarasvati. It plays a central role in Hindu scriptures. The city finds its earliest reference as one of the world's oldest known cities in Hindu texts and has been venerated as the holy city of Prayāga in the ancient Vedas. Prayagraj was also known as Kosambi in the late Vedic period, named by the Kuru rulers of Hastinapur, who developed it as their capital. Known as Purimtal in ancient Jain scriptures, it is also a sacred place for Jains, as their first Tirthankar, Rishabhdeva attained kevalya gyana here. This was one of the greatest cities in India from the late Vedic period until the end of the Maurya Empire, with occupation continuing until the Gupta Empire. Since then, the city has been a political, cultural and administrative centre of the Doab region.

Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad or Allahabad in an anglicized version in Roman script, and anciently Prayag, is a city situated on an inland peninsula, surrounded by the rivers Ganges and Yamuna on three sides, with only one side connected to the mainland Doab region, of which it is a part.

This position is of importance in Hindu scriptures for it is situated at the confluence, known as Triveni Sangam, of the holy rivers. As per Rigveda the Sarasvati River (now dried up but believed to be flowing under the river Ganges) was part of the three river confluence in ancient times. It is one of four sites of the Kumbh Mela, an important mass Hindu pilgrimage.

Kalibangān is a town located at 29°28′N 74°08′E / 29.47°N 74.13°E / 29.47; 74.13 on the left or southern banks of the Ghaggar (Ghaggar-Hakra River) in Tehsil Pilibangān, between Suratgarh and Hanumangarh in Hanumangarh District, Rajasthan, India 205 km from Bikaner. It is also identified as being established in the triangle of land at the confluence of Drishadvati and Sarasvati Rivers. The prehistoric and pre-Mauryan character of the Indus Valley Civilization was first identified at this site by Luigi Tessitori. Kalibangan's excavation report was published in its entirety in 2003 by the Archaeological Survey of India, 34 years after the completion of excavations. The report concluded that Kalibangan was a major provincial capital of the Indus Valley Civilization. Kalibangan is distinguished by its unique fire altars and "world's earliest attested ploughed field". It is around 2900 BC that the region of Kalibangan developed into what can be considered a planned city.

Kalibangan was first excavated under the Directorship of B. B. Lal (ASI) between 1960-61 to 1969-70.Other excavation team members were B.K. Thapar, M.D. Khare, K.M. Shrivastava,J.P.Joshi

The Indira Gandhi Canal (also still known by the revered sacred name Saraswati Rupa Rajasthan Canal, also formerly officially called Rajasthan Canal) with total length of 837 kilometres (520 mi), is the longest canal in India which begins in Punjab state at the Harike Barrage (confluence of the Satluj and Beas rivers), flows a short distance through northwest part of Haryana state, and ends in the Thar Desert near Gadra Road in western Rajasthan. The course of Indira Gandhi Canal is subdivided into 4 sections, Rajasthan Feeder Canal (RF Canal) N-SW flowing 204 kilometres (127 mi) long course from Harike Barrage in Ferozepur district to Masitawali village in Hanumangarh, Indira Gandhi Main Canal (IGM Canal) N-SW flowing 445 kilometres (277 mi) long course from Masitawali to Mohangarh northeast of Jaisalmer, Sagarmal Gopa Branch Canal (SGB Canal) E-W flowing 96 kilometres (60 mi) long course from Mohangarh to Gunjangarh-Ramgarh northwest of Jaisalmer, Baba Ramdev Sub-branch Canal (BRSB Canal) N-S flowing 92 kilometres (57 mi) long course from Gunjangarh-Ramgarh toward Gadra Road town in Barmer district.

Indira Gandhi Canal follows Ghaggar paleochannel of the now-lost sacred Sarasvati River with natural incline, thus requiring no pumping station along the way, hence also the name Saraswati Rupa Rajasthan Canal. Indira Gandhi Canal forms the Rajasthan section of the revived ancient Saraswati River with numerous Indus-Sarasvati Valley Civilisation sites along its course, rest being in upstream Haryana-Punjab and downstream Gujarat.

The Bharatas were an early Vedic tribe that existed in the latter half of the second millennium B.C.E.The earliest mentioned location of the Bharatas was on the Sarasvatī River. Led by the tribal king Divodāsa, the Bharatas moved through the Hindu Kush mountains and defeated Śambara. Divodāsa's descendant, Sudās, won the Battle of the Ten Kings against a Pūru-led coalition, after which the initial compilation of hymns of the R̥gveda was carried out. After the battle, the Bharatas and other Pūru clans eventually formed the Kuru kingdom, which was the first attested state in Indian history.

Arachosia (/ærəˈkoʊsiə/; Ancient Greek: Ἀραχωσία, romanized: Arachōsíā), or Harauvatiš (Old Persian: 𐏃𐎼𐎢𐎺𐎫𐎡𐏁, romanized: Harauvatiš), was a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire. Mainly centred around the Arghandab River, a tributary of the Helmand River, it extended as far east as the Indus River. The satrapy's Persian-language name is the etymological equivalent of Sárasvatī in Vedic Sanskrit. In Greek, the satrapy's name was derived from Arachōtós, the Greek-language name for the Arghandab River. Around 330 BCE, Alexander the Great commissioned the building of Alexandria Arachosia as Arachosia's new capital city under the Macedonian Empire. It was built on top of an earlier Persian military fortress after Alexander's conquest of Persia.

Saraswat Brahmins are spread over widely separated regions spanning from Kashmir and Punjab in North India to Konkan in West India to Kanara (coastal region of Karnataka) and Kerala in South India. In places such as western and southern India, the claim of Brahminhood of some communities who claim to be Saraswat Brahmins is disputed. The word Saraswat is derived from the Rigvedic Sarasvati River.