Arghandab is a river in Afghanistan, about in length. It rises in Ghazni Province, west of the city of Ghazni, and flows southwest passing near the city of Kandahar, and then joins the

Helmand River The Helmand River (also spelled Helmend, or Helmund, Hirmand; Pashto/ Persian: ; Greek: ' (''Etýmandros''); Latin: ') is the longest river in Afghanistan and the primary watershed for the endorheic Sistan Basin. It emerges in the Sanglak ...

below

Grishk Grishk ( ps, ګرِشک, translit=Grishk; fa, گِرِشک, translit=Gereshk), also spelled Gereshk, is a town in Grishk District of Helmand province, geographically located along the Helmand River in Afghanistan, some northwest of Kandahar, a ...

. In its lower course, it is much used for irrigation, under the control of the

Helmand and Arghandab Valley Authority The Helmand and Arghandab Valley Authority (HAVA) based in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan, originally named the Helmand Valley Authority (HVA) until its expansion in 1965,Arachotus is to be identified with the Arghandab or with its chief confluent the Tarnak, which joins it on the left southwest of Kandahar. The Tarnak, which flows south of Kandahar, is much shorter (length about 320 km or 200 miles) and less copious.

Historical background

The river was known to the ancient Iranians as ''Haraxvaiti'' in

Avestan Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...

and ''Harahuvati'' in Old Persian, which are cognate with

Rigvedic The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one S ...

Sarasvati Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati. The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a god ...

'' (as described in its "family books"). Scholars such as Boyce and Parpola have identified Greek ''

Arachosia Arachosia () is the Hellenized name of an ancient satrapy situated in the eastern parts of the Achaemenid empire. It was centred around the valley of the Arghandab River in modern-day southern Afghanistan, and extended as far east as the ...

'' as a Hellenization of the name, meaning the land of ''Haraxvaiti''. Rigveda's hymn VI.61.2 describes it with the words: Historian

Asko Parpola Asko Parpola (born 12 July 1941, in Forssa) is a Finnish Indologist, current professor emeritus of South Asian studies at the University of Helsinki. He specializes in Sindhology, specifically the study of the Indus script. Biography Parpola i ...

states: "Arghandab ..descends from a height of nearly four kilometers down to about 700 meters when it joins the Helmand River, which eventually forms shallow lakes." ''Sarasvatī-'' is interpreted to mean "full of lakes". Some historians, however, assert that the Avestan ''Haraxvaiti'' as well as the Rigvedic ''Sarasvati'' refer to the

. The Rigvedic name of Arghandab is then believed to be

Drishadvati The Drishadvati river (IAST:, "She with many stones") is a river hypothesized by Indologists to identify the route of the Vedic river Saraswati and the state of ''Brahmavarta''. According to ''Manusmriti'', the ''Brahmavarta'', where the Rishis c ...

. The ruins at Ulan Robat, supposed to represent the city

, are in its basin; and the lake known as

Ab-i Istada Ab-i Istada ("standing water") is an endorheic salt lake in Nawa District, Ghazni Province, Afghanistan. It lies in a large depression created by the Chaman Fault system in the southern foothills of the Hindu Kush, south-southwest of Ghazni. ...

, the most probable representative of Lake Arachotus, is near the head of the Tarnak, though not communicating with it. The Tarnak is dammed for irrigation at intervals, and in the hot season almost dries up.

Upper course

The upper course of the Arghandab river is relatively unexplored. The ''Historical and Political Gazetteer of Afghanistan'' cites the explorations of Major G. Lynch in 1841, according to whom the origin of the Arghandab is 20 to 30 miles north of

Sang-e-Masha Sang-e-Masha ( prs, سنگ ماشه), also spelled Sange-e-Masha or Sangi Masha, is the administrative center of Jaghori District in Ghazni Province of Afghanistan. See also * Jaghori District * Ghazni Province Ghazni (Dari: ) is one of the ...

. This places the source in the mountains southwest of the Nawar basin. Lynch also described the upper course of the river as being a "mountain torrent, dashing over great granite rocks and about 3 feet deep where fordable".

Lower course

There is a good deal of cultivation along the river, but few villages. The Kabul-Kandahar Highway passes this way (another reason for supposing the Tarnak to be Arachotus), and the people live off the road to avoid the onerous duties of hospitality.

Dahla dam

In 2008 a project was initiated to rehabilitate the

Dahla Dam The Dahla Dam, also known as Arghandab Dam and Kasa, is located in the Shah Wali Kot District of Kandahar Province in Afghanistan, approximately north of the provincial capital Kandahar. Constructed in 1952, it is said to be the second largest dam ...

and associated irrigation system.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Distance Learning Module 3 - Rivers of the Hindu Kush, Pamir, and Hindu Raj
the University of Nebraska, Center for Afghanistan Studies, Retrieved 15 April 2018. {{Coord, 31, 50, 58, N, 65, 53, 18, E, source:frwiki_region:AF, display=title Rivers of Afghanistan Helmand River drainage basin Helmand River Landforms of Helmand Province Landforms of Kandahar Province Landforms of Ghazni Province