Rigvedic rivers

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Rivers, such as the Sapta Sindhu ("seven rivers"),
[1]
play a prominent part in the hymns of the Rigveda,
and consequently in early Vedic religion. It may have been derived from an older Proto-Indo-Iranian
hydronym, as a cognate name, hapta hndu, exists in the Avestan language.
Contents
1 Mythology
2 Sapta Sindhu
2.1 Identity of the seven rivers
3 Geography of the Rigveda
4 List
5 Notes
6 See also
7 References
Mythology
A recurring theme in the yajur veda 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. The two
myths are separate
[2]
however, rivers and cows are often poetically correlated in the Rigveda, for example in
3.33, a notable hymn describing 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]
Sapta Sindhu
The Sapta Sindhu 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 hndu are preemptively equated
with the Vedic Sapta Sindhava or vis-a-vis: in Vendidad 1.18 these are described to be the fifteenth of the
sixteen lands created by Mazda.
[4]
Identity of the seven rivers
It is not entirely clear how the seven rivers were intended to be enumerated. They are often located in the in
northern India / eastern Pakistan. If the Sarasvati and the five major rivers of the Punjab are included
(Sutudri, Parusni, Asikni, Vitasta, Vipas (Vip), 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
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Geography of the Rigveda; the extent of the Swat and
Cemetery H cultures are indicated.
Indus, in the Nadistuti sukta, RV 10.75. In 6.61.10, Sarasvati is called "she with seven sisters" (saptasvas)
indicating a group of eight rivers, the number seven being more important than the individual members (see
also saptarshi, hapta karuuar /haft keshvar in Avestan), so that the list of the Sapta Sindhu 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 (tr
sapt sasr nadya "thrice seven wandering rivers"), as well as 99 rivers. The Sapta-Sindhu 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 Sindhu region only refers to a small area including Haryana and a part of north Rajasthan but
leaving out most of Punjab. 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.
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 Punjab (Five
waters(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. Hariim, mod. Persian
Har).
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 the 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 Harauua), Gandhara and eastern Afghanistan into the Indus plains and beyond, though there is no
archaeological evidence for such a movement. On the other hand archaeologists like B.B. Lal have shown
the possibility of reverse westward movements of some Indo-aryan clans from indus basin as well as the
absence of the certain archaeological trace for any outside intrusion to the subcontinent.
[5]
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.
Northwestern Rivers (western tributaries of the Indus):
Trstama (Gilgit)?
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Kabul River near Jalalabad
Swat River in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Har Rd in Afghanistan
Susartu
Anitabha (listed once, in 5.53.9, with the Afghan rivers Rasa
(Avestan Rangha/Rah), Kubha, Krumu, Sarayu (Avest.
Hariiu)
Rasa (on the upper Indus (often a mythical river, Avestan
Rangha, Scythian Rha)
Svetya
Kubha (Kabul), Greek Kophn
Krumu (Kurrum)
Mehatnu (along with the Gomati and Krumu)
Suvastu (Swat) in RV 8.19.37)
Gauri (Panjkora)??
Kusava (Kunar)??
The Indus and its minor eastern tributaries:
Sindhu (Indus; (sindhu also means "stream" generically)
Susoma (Sohan)
Arjikiya (Haro)?
Central Rivers (rivers of the Punjab):
Vitasta (Jhelum)
Asikni (Chenab)
Parusni (Ravi)
Vipas (Beas)
Sutudri (Sutlej)
Marudvrdha
East-central Rivers (rivers of Haryana):
Sarasvati (References to the Sarasvati river in the Rigveda are identified with the present-day Ghaggar
River, although the Arghandb River (a tributary of Helmand River) as a possible locus of early
Rigvedic references has been discussed.)
Drsadvati, Apaya (RV 3.23.4, Mahabharata Apaga.)
Eastern Rivers:
Asmanvati (Assan)?
Yamuna
Ganges
Sarayu in Uttar Pradesh
Gomati or Adi Ganga
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Gandaki
Uncertain / other
Silamavati?
Urnavati?
Yavyavati (Zhob river?)
Notes
^ e.g. RV 2.12; RV 4.28; RV 8.24 1.
^ H.-P. Schmidt, Brhaspathi and Indra, Wiesbaden 1968 2.
^ http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv03033.htm 3.
^ Gnoli 1989 pp.4446 4.
^ http://www.archaeologyonline.net/artifacts/19th-century-paradigms.html 5.
See also
Ap (water)
Aryan migration
Nadistuti sukta
Old European hydronymy
Out of India theory
Rigvedic deities
River goddess
Samudra
Zhetysu - 7 rivers of Central
Asia
References
S.C. Sharma. 1974. The description of the rivers in the Rig Veda. The Geographical Observer, 10:
79-85.
Michael Witzel, Tracing the Vedic dialects in Dialectes dans les litteratures Indo-Aryennes ed.
Caillat, Paris, 1989, 97265.
Gherardo Gnoli, De Zoroastre Mani. Quatre leons au Collge de France (Travaux de lInstitut
dtudes Iraniennes de lUniversit de la Sorbonne Nouvelle 11), Paris (1985)
Shrikant G. Talageri, The Rigveda, a historical analysis, Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi (chapter 4
(http://www.tri-murti.com/ancientindia/rigHistory/ch4.htm))
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Categories: Rigvedic rivers Rig Veda History of India Rivers of Sindh Hydronymy
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