Rigvedic rivers

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Rivers, such as the Sapta Sindhavah ("seven rivers" Sanskrit: सप्त सिन्धव:)[1] play a prominent part in the hymns of the Rig Veda, and consequently in early Hindu religion. It may have been derived from an older Proto-Indo-Iranian hydronym, as a cognate name, hapta həndu, exists in the Avestan language.

Vedic texts have a wide geographical horizon, speaking of oceans, rivers, mountains and deserts. “Eight summits of the Earth, three shore or desert regions, seven rivers.” (asthau vyakhyat kakubhah prthivyam tri dhanva yojana sapta sindhun RV.I.35.8).

River-names when the MaNDalas are arranged in their chronological order, according to Talageri (Talageri 2000)
River-names when the MaNDalas are arranged in their chronological order, according to Talageri (Talageri 2000)
River-names in the Rigveda, according to Talageri (Talageri 2000)

Mythology

A recurring theme in the Yajurveda is that of Indra slaying Vritra (literally "the obstacle"), liberating the rivers; in a variant of the myth, Indra smashes the Vala cave, releasing the cows that were within. Though the two myths are separate,[2] rivers and cows are often poetically correlated in the Rigveda, for example in 3.33, a notable hymn describes the crossing of two swollen rivers by the chariots and wagons of the Bharata tribe:

3.33.1cd Like two bright mother cows who lick their youngling, Vipas and Sutudri speed down their waters. (trans. Griffith)[3]

Seven Rivers

See also Sapta Sindhu, Nadistuti sukta

The Seven Rivers are a group of seven chief rivers of uncertain or fluctuating identification (the number seven is of greater importance than the exact members of the group)- compare the Saptarishi of the Avesta (and also the later seven seas and the seven climes) . The Avesta's hapta həndu are preemptively equated with the Vedic Sapta Sindhavaḥ or vis-a-vis: in Vendidad 1.18 these are described to be the fifteenth of the sixteen lands created by Mazda.[4] Note: The term Sapta Sindhava, commonly used in Hindi and other Indian languages, is the nominative plural in Sanskrit (dropping the final visarga in conformity with the convention when expressing Sanskrit words in modern languages). Sapta Sindhu, often seen in English, is in the singular, and is therefore ungrammatical.

Identity of the Seven Rivers

It is not entirely clear how the Seven Rivers were intended to be enumerated. They are often located in northern India / eastern Pakistan. If the Sarasvati and the five major rivers of India are included (Sutudri, Parusni, Asikni, Vitasta, Vipas (Vipāś), the latter all tributaries of Sindhu/Indus), one river is missing, probably the Kubha. (The Sindhu is a special case, having feminine or masculine gender). Other possibilities include the Arjikiya or Sushoma; compare also the list of ten rivers, both east and west of the Indus, in the Nadistuti sukta, RV 10.75. In 6.61.10, Sarasvati is called "she with seven sisters" (saptasvasā) indicating a group of eight rivers, the number seven being more important than the individual members (see also saptarshi, hapta karšuuar /haft keshvar in Avestan), so that the list of the Sapta Sindhava may not have been fixed or immutable. In RV 10.64.8 and RV 10.75.1, three groups of seven rivers are referred to (tríḥ saptá sasrâ nadíyaḥ "thrice seven wandering rivers"), as well as 99 rivers. The Sapta-Sindhava region was bounded by Saraswati in the east, by the Sindhu in the west and the five in between were Satudru, Vipasa, Asikni, Parusni and Vitasta.

Not all researchers agree with this interpretation. In his book Land of the Seven Rivers, writer Sanjeev Sanyal has argued that the "Sapta Sindhu" refers only to the Sarasvati and its own tributaries. If Sanyal is right, the Sapta Sindhava region only refers to a small area including Haryana and a part of north Rajasthan but leaving out most of Pakistan. According to his interpretation, "Sapta Sindhu" is only a small subset of the Rig Vedic terrain and its disproportionate importance derives from it being the original homeland of the victorious Bharata Trutsu tribe.

A number of names can be shown to have been re-applied to other rivers as the center of Vedic culture moved eastward from the central Vedic heartland in undivided Punjab. It is possible to establish a clear picture for the latest phase of the Rigveda, thanks to the Nadistuti sukta (10.75), which contains a geographically ordered list of rivers. The most prominent river of the Rigveda is the Sarasvati, next to the Indus. The Rig Veda mentions Saraswati river as between Yamuna to the East and river Sutlej to the west. The Mahabharata clearly talks about the River Saraswati drying up. The mighty and perennial Saraswati river flowed from the Himalayan Glaciers to the Rann of Kutch where it emptied into the Arabian sea. Dwaraka of Lord Krishna was part of this civilization.[5] Ganges was also flowing at that time into the Bay of Bengal. Saraswati started drying up in 4000 BC due to tectonic plate shifts which blocked the glacier source, and made this river dependant on rains, not melting ice. Gradually the whole river was buried under the Thar desert sand dunes, leaving only disconnected pools and lakes here and there. Yamuna river soon started pouring into Ganges instead of Saraswati.[6] When the Saraswati river started drying up, the whole civilization may have migrated to fertile lands – some to Ganges, some to south west of India from Goa to Kerala.

Geography of the Rigveda

Identification of Rigvedic rivers is the single most important way of establishing the geography of the early Vedic civilization. Rivers with certain identifications stretch from eastern Afghanistan to the western Gangetic plain, clustering in the undivided Punjab (the region's name means "five rivers). Some river names appear to go back to common Indo-Iranian rivers, with cognate river names in Avestan, notably the Sarasvati (Avestan Haraxvaiti, Old Persian Hara(h)uvati) and the Sarayu (Iran. Harayu, Avestan acc. Harōiiūm, mod. Persian Harē).

A number of names can be shown to have been re-applied to other rivers as the center of Vedic culture moved eastward from the central Vedic heartland in undivided Punjab. It is possible to establish a clear picture for the latest phase of the Rigveda, thanks to the Nadistuti sukta (10.75), which contains a geographically ordered list of rivers. The most prominent river of the Rigveda is the Sarasvati, next to the Indus. The Sarasvati river of the Rigveda is commonly identified with the present-day Ghaggar-Hakra, although the Helmand River as a possible locus of early Rigvedic references has been discussed. This is sometimes ascribed to the supposed movement of Vedic Aryans from their early seats in Seistan (Arachosia, Avestan Haraēuua), Gandhara and eastern Afghanistan into the Indus plains and beyond, though there is no archaeological evidence for such a movement.

The most prominent river of the early Rigveda is the Sarasvati, losing its prominence to the Indus in the late Rigveda. The loss of prominence of the Sarasvati is due to the drying up of the Ghaggar-Hakra. But in the earlier rigvedic hymns, the Saraswati is the most prominent river of all and if one subscribes to the Saraswati as the Ghagghar-Hakra system which might have earlier included the Yamuna and some major present-day feeders of the Indus, one could not be very much off the mark in considering the Saraswati as the most prominent river-system at that time. Rivers have been known to have changed their courses in the indian subcontinent and satellite photos have proved that.

On the other hand, archaeologists like B.B. Lal have shown the possibility of reverse westward movements of some Indo-Aryan clans from the Indus basin as well as the absence of a certain archaeological trace for any outside intrusion to the subcontinent.[7]

Only Book 4 really mentions three Western rivers (but not yet Western places, mountains, lakes or animals), and this is in line with the direction of geographical expansion of the Vedic Aryans in the three Early Books: Book 6 knows only the Sarasvatī and rivers east; Book 3 first mentions the first two easternmost rivers of the Punjab, the Śutudrī and the Vipāś, in the context of a historical military crossing; Book 7 mentions the next two from the east, the Paruṣṇī and the Asiknī, in the context of a battle being fought on the third river, Paruṣṇī, with the enemies being the inhabitants of the region of the fourth river, Asiknī; Book 4 finally takes the geographical horizon of the Rigveda to the Indus and beyond, including the battle beyond the Sarayu west of the Indus. (Talageri 2008)

List

In the geographical organization of the following list, it has to be kept in mind that some names appearing both in early and in late hymns may have been re-applied to new rivers during the composition of the Rigveda.

Eastern Rivers:

  • Ganges, GaNgA/JahnAvI
  • YamunA/AMSumatI
  • ASmanvatI (Assan, a tributary of the YamunA)

East-central Rivers (rivers of Haryana):

  • ApayA
  • DRSadvatI/HariyUpIyA/YavyAvatI. Drsadvati, Apaya (RV 3.23.4, Mahabharata Apaga.) * Yavyavati (Drishadvati river), (but YavyAvatI may instead be another name of the Yamuna)
  • Sarasvati (References to the Sarasvati river in the Rigveda are identified with the present-day Ghaggar River)

Central Rivers (rivers of the Punjab):

The Indus and its minor eastern tributaries:

  • Sindhu (Indus; (sindhu also means "stream/Giant River" generically)
  • Susoma (Sohan)
  • Arjikiya (Haro)


Northwestern Rivers (western tributaries of the Indus):

"All the other references to the western rivers (Sarayu, KubhA, Krumu, AnitabhA, RasA, Sindhu) occur in a single verse (V.53.9) by a single RSi SyAvASva, obviously a very mobile RSi who also refers elsewhere to the ParuSNI (V.52.9) and even the Yamuna (V.52.17)." (Talageri 2000)
  • Kubha (Kabul), Greek Kophēn
  • Krumu (Kurrum)
  • Anitabha (listed once, in 5.53.9, with the Afghan rivers Rasa (Avestan Rangha/Raŋhā), Kubha, Krumu, Sarayu (Avest. Harōiiu)
  • Trstama (Gilgit)
  • Susartu
  • Rasa (on the upper Indus (often a mythical river, Avestan Rangha, Scythian Rha)
  • SvetyAvarI (Svetya)
  • Mehatnu (along with the Gomati and Krumu)
  • Suvastu (Swat) in Ghandari, hapax legomenon in RV 8.19.37)
  • Gauri (Panjkora)
  • Kusava (Kunar)
  • GomatI (Gomal)
  • Sarayu (Siritoi)
  • Prayiyu (Bara)
  • Vayiyu

Ganges

See Ganges

Yamuna

See Yamuna

Hariyupiya/Yavyavati

See Drishadvati river and Yavyavati

Sarasvati River

  • The particular references given by Witzel (I1.3.8; 41.6) not only give no cause for assuming that the river of Afghanistan is being referred to, but one of them in fact confirms that it is the river of KurukSetra. II.3.8 refers to the three Goddesses of KurukSetra: BhAratI, ILA and SarasvatI. They are the Goddesses of the holy pilgrim centres in KurukSetra, of which two, ILAyAspada and MAnuSa, are referred to in III.23.4.
  • Here, the reader will note that almost all other scholars see the Sarasvati as a river between the Yamuna and Sutlej in RV VI.61 (KAZANAS 1999:19). SHARFE (1996:358) has provided a very conservative list of names of various rivers as they occur in various hymns of the Rigveda. He has left out all references to Sarasvati that allude to any “heavenly river” or have other unearthly connotations, at the slightest suspicion, per his own admission. And yet he also sees a river Sarasvati (which he places between the Sutlej and Yamuna) in RV VI.49.7, VI.52.6, and VI.61.1 Before banishing Sarasvati from India to Arachosia or to the “night time sky”, Witzel should have examined the primary and the primeval significance of the word. Was Sarasvati originally a river goddess that was deified or was it a spiritual concept whose name was later transferred to some river? LUDVIK (2000) has thrown water over Witzel’s attempts here to banish Sarasvati to the “night time sky” by suggesting that in the RV, she is primarily a river goddess but becomes increasingly identified with “Speech” etc. later on. Ludvik has studied Renou and Geldner and several other scholars who wrote in “modern scholarly languages” other than English.Further, from the point of view of linguistics, “Haraxvaiti” (in Arachosia) is derived from the word “Sarasvati” and not the other way around. A simple way to explain this derivation would be to postulate an east to west migration (from N W India to Arachosia) or else indulge in a lot of linguistic jugglery (e.g., ERDOSY 1989:41) in trying to prove that the “original” Sarasvati lay in Arachosia. Had Witzel read the comprehensive study on the concept of Sarasvati in the Vedic literature by AIRI (1977) he would not have made such absurd statements. (Talageri 2001)
  • As for Burrow‘s thesis (Burrow 1973) that some place names reflect the names of geographical features to the west, and thus preserve an ancestral home, they once again rather rely on an assumption of Arya migrations than prove it. [...] His cited equivalence of Sanskrit Saraswati and Avestan Haraxvaiti is a case in point. Burrow accepts that it is the latter term that is borrowed, undergoing the usual change of s- > h in the process, but suggests that Saraswati was a proto-Indoaryan term, originally applied to the present Haraxvaiti when the proto-Indoaryans still lived in northeastern Iran, then it was brought into India at the time of the migrations, while its original bearer had its name modified by the speakers of Avestan who assumed control of the areas vacated by proto-Indoaryans. It would be just as plausible to assume that Saraswati was a Sanskrit term indigenous to India and was later imported by the speakers of Avestan into Iran. The fact that the Zend Avesta is aware of areas outside the Iranian plateau while the Rigveda is ignorant of anything west of the Indus basin would certainly support such an assertion.
    • ERDOSY 1989: Ethnicity in the Rigveda and its Bearing on the Question of Indo- European Origins. Erdosy, George. pp. 35-47 in ―South Asian Studies‖ vol. 5. London
  • But the geographical references in the Rigveda do not differ in the Old Hymns and Redacted Hymns in any Old Book of the Rigveda, as I have shown clearly in my book (TALAGERI 2008:): the Sarasvatī, to take the point under discussion, is referred to in many hymns in the three oldest Books of the Rigveda, not only in Redacted Hymns (VI.49, 50, 52, 61: VII.96), but also in the Old Hymns (III.4, 23, 54; VII.2, 9, 35, 36, 39, 40, 95), along with other eastern places, lakes and animals (in these or other hymns in all the six Family Books), while the western rivers, mountains, lakes, places and animals are completely missing in both the Old as well as Redacted Hymns in all these Books. The picture is too large and too consistent to be “discarded” on the basis of Witzel’s selective citing of the Sarasvatī-referring hymns in Book 6 alone. [1] [archive]

SutudrI and VipAS

The SutudrI and VipAS are not referred to in a casual vein. They are referred to in a special context: hymn III.33 is a special ode to these two rivers by ViSvAmitra in commemoration of a historical movement of the warrior bands of the Bharatas led by SudAs and himself, across the billowing waters of these rivers. What is important is that this hymn is characterized by the Western scholars themselves as a historical hymn commemorating the migratory movement of the Vedic Aryans across the Punjab... SudAs is a descendant of DivodAsa (VII.18.25), DivodAsa is a descendant of SRnjaya (VI.47.22 and Griffith’s footnotes to it) and SRnjaya is a descendant of DevavAta (IV.15.4): SudAs is therefore clearly a remote descendant of DevavAta. DevavAta established the sacrificial fire on the banks of the ApayA between the SarasvatI and the DRSadvatI (III.23.3-4) The SarasvatI is to the east of the VipAS and SutudrI, and the ApayA and DRSadvatI are even further east. No ancestor of SudAs is associated with any river to the west of the SarasvatI. The historical movement of the Vedic Aryans across the SutudrI and the VipAS, at the time of SudAs, can only be a westward movement. (Talageri 2000)

  • In II.15.6, the reference is to a mythical clash between Indra and USas on the banks of a river (Griffith’s translation: “With mighty power he made the stream move upward, crushed with his thunderbolt the car of USas.”). And which is this stream or river? No guesswork is required: the Rigveda refers to this myth in one more hymn, VI.30.11, as well (Griffith’s translation: “So there this car of USas lay, broken to pieces, in VipAS, and she herself fled away.”).

ParuSNI and AsiknI

The ParuSNI and AsiknI, also, are not referred to in a casual vein: they also are referred to in a special context. The context is a major battle fought on the ParuSNI by the Bharatas under SudAs and VasiSTha (who replaced ViSvAmitra as the priest of SudAs). The direction of the movement is crystal clear in this case as well: SudAs with his earlier priest ViSvAmitra is associated with the SutudrI and VipAS, and with his later priest VasiSTha is associated with the ParuSNI which is to the west of the two other rivers.

a. The battle is fought on the ParuSNI and the enemies of SudAs (who is referred to here as the PUru) are described in VII.5.3 as the people of the AsiknI. The AsiknI is to the west of the ParuSNI hence it is clear that the enemies of SudAs are fighting from the west of the ParuSNI while SudAs is fighting from the east.

Curiously, Griffith mistranslates the name of the river AsiknI as “dark-hued”, thereby killing two birds with one stone: the people of the AsiknI become “the dark-hued races”, thereby wiping out the sense of direction inherent in the reference, while at the same time introducing the racial motif

b. In VII.83.1, two of the tribes fighting against SudAs, the PRthus and the ParSus, are described as marching eastwards (prAcA) towards him.

Griffith again mistranslates the names of the tribes as “armed with broad axes” and the word prAcA as “forward”.

c. VII.6.5 refers indirectly to this battle by talking of the defeat of the tribes of Nahus (i.e. the tribes of the Anus and Druhyus who fought against SudAs) as follows: “Far, far away hath Agni chased the Dasyus, and, in the east, hath turned the godless westward”. SudAs is therefore clearly pressing forward from the east.

3. The first references to the Indus are in the middle upa-maNDalas (I.83.1) and in MaNDala IV (IV.30.12; 54.6; 55.3). There is, perhaps, a westward movement indicated even in the very identity of the composers of the hymns which contain these references: I.83 is composed by Gotama RAhUgaNa who does not refer to any river west of the Indus, while the references in MaNDala IV are by his descendants, the VAmadeva Gautamas, who also refer to two rivers to the west of the Indus (IV.18.8; 30.18).

Thus, we have a clear picture of the westward movement of the Vedic Aryans from their homeland in the east of the SarasvatI to the area to the west of the Indus, towards the end of the Early Period of the Rigveda: IV.30.18 refers to what is clearly the westermnost point in this movement, a battle fought in southern Afghanistan “on yonder side of Sarayu”. (Talageri 2000)

Indus River

See Indus River

Sarayu

See Sarayu

Puranic rivers

...or to interpret the Avestan river-name Ranha (correlate of Sanskrit RasA, the Puranic name of the Amu Darya or Oxus) as meaning the Volga. Remark that in other contexts, Rasa can also mean the Narmada river, and also the mythical river which surrounds the world. Oxus and Narmada were apparently the borderline rivers of the Indus-Saraswati civilization. Elst 1999

Expansion of the Ṛgvedic Horizon.

See this table of Expansion of the Ṛgvedic Horizon (source: Rivers of Rgveda: A Geographic Exploration - Jijith Nadumuri Ravi)

Maṇḍala Newly Discovered Rivers Expansion of the Ṛgvedic Horizon
6 Hariyūpīyā, Yavyāvatī, Gaṅgā, Sarasvatī Between Gaṅgā and Sarasvatī (Western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana)
3 Dṛṣadvatī, Āpayā, Śutudrī, Vipāś, Jahnāvī North-West upto Vipāś (Beas River); Indian Punjab
7 Asiknī, Paruṣṇī, Yamunā North-West upto Asiknī (Chenab). Parts of Pakistan Punjab.
4 Vibālī [Vitasthā], Sindhu, Sarayu, Rasā North-West upto Sarayu (Haro) West up to Sindhu (Indus) Almost all of the Pakistan Punjab
2 Ūrjayantī, Sarapas Mostly confined to Sarasvatī
1 Śiphā, Añjasī, Kuliśī, Vīrapatnī Confined into southern Haryana (Kurujāṅgala)
5 Anitabhā, Kubhā, Krumu, Gomatī Ventured into the west of Sindhu for the 1st time.
8 Suvāstu, Śvetayāvarī, Suṣomā, Ārjīkīyā, Aṃśumatī West upto Suvāstu (Swat River in Pakistan). North upto Śvetayāvarī (Gilgit River). Moved south-eastwards along Yamunā (Aṃśumatī).
9 Gaurī West upto Gaurī (Panjkora River) a little to the east of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border
10 Aśmanvatī, Marudvṛdhā, Vitastā, Śvetyā, Rasā, Susartū, Tṛṣṭāmā, Mehatnū, Vājinīvatī, Ūrṇāvatī, Sīlamāvatī West along the Kabul River in Afghanistan North along the Gilgit River in Gilgit-Baltistan


See also

Notes

  1. e.g. RV 2.12; RV 4.28; RV 8.24
  2. H.-P. Schmidt, Brhaspathi and Indra, Wiesbaden 1968
  3. http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv03033.htm [archive]
  4. Gnoli 1989 pp.44–46
  5. Prasad, R. U. S. (2017-05-25). River and Goddess Worship in India: Changing Perceptions and Manifestations of Sarasvati [archive]. Routledge. ISBN 9781351806541.
  6. "Microsoft Word - Jan10E.doc" [archive] (PDF). Retrieved 2018-06-27.
  7. http://www.archaeologyonline.net/artifacts/19th-century-paradigms.html [archive]

References

Links

https://dharmawiki.org/index.php/Rivers_in_Rigveda_(%E0%A4%8B%E0%A4%97%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%87_%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%80%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%82_%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B5%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%9A%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%8D) [archive]