In ancient times the Ghaggar-Hakra was a mighty river, flowing independently [of the Indus] along the fringes of the Rann of Kutch. - Mohammed Rafique Mughal

Mughal's broad chronological periods are not specific enough to assist us in definitively situating the Vedic-speaking Aryans as inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization. It is significant, however, that about 80 percent of Mughal's 414 archaeological sites along a three-hundred-mile section of the Hakra were datable to the fourth or third millen- nium B.C.E, suggesting that the river was in its prime during this period.

Mughal (1993) proposes the following outline: On the Pakistan side, archaeological evidence now overwhelmingly affirms that the Hakra was a perennial river through all its course in Bahawalpur during the fourth millennium . . . and early third millennium B.C. About the middle of the third millennium B.C., the water supply in the Northeastern portion of the Hakra [the Yamuna] was consider- ably diminished or cut off. But, abundant water in the lower (southwestern) part of this stream was still available, apparently through a channel from the Sutlej. . . . About the end of the second, or not later than the beginning of the first millennium B.C., the entire course of the Hakra seems to have dried up. (4)

On the Pakistan side, archaeological evidence now available overwhelmingly affirms that the Hakra was a perennial river through all its course in Bahawalpur during the fourth millennium B.C. (Hakra Period) and the early third millennium B.C. (Early Harappan Period).