Rigvedic rivers

"Hindu river" redirects here. For the river known as the Sindhū, see Indus River.

The Rigveda refers to a number of rivers located in the northwestern Indian subcontinent, from Gandhara to Kurukshetra.

Rivers mentioned in Rigveda

Rigvedic geography

Identification of Rigvedic hydronyms has engaged multiple historians; it is the single most important way of establishing the geography and chronology of the early Vedic period. ^{[1] [2]} Rivers with certain identifications stretch from eastern Afghanistan to the western Gangetic plain, clustering in the Punjab. The Rigveda mentions the sapta-sindhavaḥ (Sanskrit : सप्तसिन्धवः, seven rivers), along with other rivers:

“He has surveyed eight summits of the Earth, three shore or desert regions, seven rivers.” (aṣṭaú vy àkhyat kakúbhaḥ pr̥thivyā́s trī́ dhánva yójanā saptá síndhūn RV.I.35.8). ^[3]

Sapta-sindhavaḥ is cognate with Avestan hapta həndu, and is interpreted as referring to Punjab. ^[a] The region's name comes from پنج, panj, 'five' and آب, āb, 'water' thus "five waters", a Persian calque of the Indo-Aryan Pancha-nada meaning "five rivers". ^[4]

The same names were often imposed on different rivers as the Vedic culture migrated eastward from around Afghanistan (where they stayed for a considerable time) to the subcontinent via Punjab. ^[1]

List of rivers

Multiple hydronyms are located in the Rigvedic corpus; they are slotted according to rough geographical locations, following the scheme of Michael Witzel. ^[1] Alongside, opinions of scholars about modern correlates are provided: ^{[5] [6]}

Indus:

• Síndhu – Identified with Indus. ^[5] The central lifeline of RV. ^[6]

Northwestern Rivers:

• Tr̥ṣṭā́mā – Blažek identifies with Gilgit. ^[5] Witzel notes it to be unidentified. ^[1]
• Susártu – Unidentified.
• Ánitabhā – Unidentified.
• Rasā́ – Described once to be on the upper Indus; at other times a mythical entity. ^[5]
• Mehatnū – A tributary of Gomatī́. ^[5] Unidentifiable. ^[1]
• Śvetyā́ – Unidentified.
• Kúbhā – Identified with Kabul river.
• Krúmu – Identified with Kurrum.
• Suvā́stu – Identified with Swat.
• Gomatī́ – Identified with Gomal.
• Saráyu / Harōiiu – Blažek identifies with Sarju. ^[5] Witzel identifies with Hari. ^[1]
• Kuṣávā – Probably the Kunar River.
• Yavyā́vatī – Noted to be a branch of Gomatī́. Witzel as well as Blažek identifies with Zhob River. ^{[1] [5]} Dähnhardt comments it to be synonymous to Yamúnā or flowing very close to it. ^[6]

Eastern tributaries:

• Suṣómā – Identified with Soan.
• Arjikiya – Blažek identifies with Haro. ^[5] Witzel speculates it to be Poonch or Tawi. ^[1]
• Rivers of Punjab:
  • Vitástā – Identified with Jhelum.
  • Asiknī́ – Identified with Chenab.
  • Iravatī – Identified with Ravi.
  • Vípāśā – Identified with Beas.
  • Śutudrī́ – Identified with Sutlej.
  • Marúdvr̥dhā – Identified with Mahuvardhavan. ^[5]

Haryana:

• Sarasvati ^[7] (also ientified with Helmand in Afghanistan ^[8] )
  • Āpayā́ and Āpayā́ – Streams/rivers of Sarasvati basin. ^[5]
  • Drishadvati ^{[5] [6] [9]}

Eastern Rivers:

• Áśmanvatī – Identified with Assan.
• Yamúnā – Identified with Yamuna.
  • Aṃśumátī – Probably an epithet for Yamúnā. ^[5]
• Gáṅgā – Identified with Ganga.

See also

• Ap (water)
• Aryan migration
• India (Herodotus)
• Nadistuti sukta
• Old European hydronymy
• Out of India theory
• Rigvedic deities
• River goddess
• Samudra
• Zhetysu – 7 rivers of Central Asia

References

1. 'Seven Rivers' include Indus and the five rivers of Punjab. Seventh is generally believed to be the legendary Sarasvati; however, J. S. Grewal considers river Kabul more likely to be the seventh river instead. ^[4] See also Avestan geography#Vendidad references

1. Witzel, Michael (1998). "Aryan and non-Aryan Names in Vedic India: Data for the linguistic situation, c. 1900-500 B.C". In Bronkhorst, James; Deshpande, Madhav (eds.). Aryans and Non-Non-Aryans: Evidence, Interpretation and Ideology. Harvard Oriental Series. Cambridge. pp. 337–404.
2. "Sapta Sinhavas- The land of seven rivers" (PDF). M. Aslamkhan.
3. Wilson, H.H (27 August 2021). "Rig Veda 1.35.8 [English translation]". www.wisdomlib.org. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
4. Grewal, J. S. (2004). "Historical Geography of the Punjab" (PDF). Journal of Punjab Studies. 11 (1). University of California, Santa Barbara: 1–18. ISSN   0971-5223. OCLC   436148809.
5. Blažek, Václav (2016). "Hydronymia R̥gvedica". Linguistica Brunensia . 64 (2). Masaryk University: 7–54.
6. Dähnhardt, Thomas Wolfgang Peter (2009). "The descent of King Lion: Some considerations on the relations between the Indus and other rivers in the sacred geography and culture of ancient India". In Filippi, Gian Giuseppe (ed.). I fiumi sacri. Indoasiatica. Vol. 6. Libreria Editrice Cafoscarina. pp. 189–208. ISBN   9788875432416.
7. Kochhar, Rajesh (1999), "On the identity and chronology of the Ṛgvedic river Sarasvatī", in Roger Blench; Matthew Spriggs (eds.), Archaeology and Language III; Artefacts, languages and texts, Routledge, p. 262, ISBN   0-415-10054-2
8. Kochhar, Rajesh (1999), "On the identity and chronology of the Ṛgvedic river Sarasvatī", in Roger Blench; Matthew Spriggs (eds.), Archaeology and Language III; Artefacts, languages and texts, Routledge, p. 262, ISBN   0-415-10054-2
9. Kar, Amal; Ghose, Bimal (1984). "The Drishadvati River System of India: An Assessment and New Findings" . The Geographical Journal. 150 (2): 221–229. doi:10.2307/635000. ISSN   0016-7398. JSTOR   635000.

Further reading

General

• Blažek, Václav. "Hydronymia R̥gvedica". In: Linguistica Brunensia. 2016, vol. 64, iss. 2, pp. 7–54. ISSN   2336-4440; ISSN   1803-7410.
• Gherardo Gnoli, De Zoroastre à Mani. Quatre leçons au Collège de France (Travaux de l'Institut d’Études Iraniennes de l’Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle 11), Paris (1985).