River A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

s play a prominent part in the hymns of the ''

Rigveda 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 ...

'', and consequently in early Vedic religion. Vedic texts have a wide geographical horizon, speaking of oceans, rivers, mountains and deserts. The Vedic land is described as a land of the seven rivers (''sapta sindhavaḥ''; sa, सप्तसिन्धवः) flowing into the ocean. It encompasses the northwestern Indian subcontinent from Gandhara to Kurukshetra.

Geography of the Rigveda

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 The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (ca. 1300–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, betwe ...

. Rivers with certain identifications stretch from eastern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

to the western

Gangetic plain The Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as the North Indian River Plain, is a fertile plain encompassing northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, including most of northern and eastern India, around half of Pakistan, virtually all of Bangla ...

, clustering in the

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

. The region's name comes from پنج, ''panj'', 'five' and آب, ''āb'', 'water' thus " five waters", a Persianized form of the Indo-Aryan ''Panchanada'' meaning "five rivers". Many have cognates in Avestan. 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 mainland India via Punjab.

List

Multiple hydronyms are located in the Rigvedic corpus; they are slotted according to rough geographical locations, following the scheme of

Michael Witzel Michael Witzel (born July 18, 1943) is a German-American philologist, comparative mythologist and Indologist. Witzel is the Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and the editor of the Harvard Oriental Series (volumes 50–80). Witz ...

. Alongside, opinions of scholars about modern correlates are provided: Indus: * Síndhu - Identified with Indus. The central lifeline of RV. Northwestern Rivers: * Tr̥ṣṭā́mā - Blažek identifies with Gilgit. Witzel notes it to be unidentified. * Susártu - Unidentified. * Ánitabhā - Unidentified. * Rasā́ - Described once to be on the upper Indus; at other times a mythical entity. *Mehatnū - A tributary of Gomatī́. Unidentifiable. * Śvetyā́ - Unidentified. * Kúbhā - Identified with Kabul river. * Krúmu - Identified with

Kurrum Kurram District ( ps, کرم ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Kohat Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.The name Kurram comes from the river Kuramá ( ps, کورمه) in Pashto which itself derives from the Sanskrit name Kr ...

. * Suvā́stu - Identified with Swat. *Gomatī́ - Identified with Gomal. *Saráyu / Harōiiu - Blažek identifies with

Sarju The Sarju (Kumaoni language, Kumaoni: सरज्यू, Hindi Language, Hindi: सरयू), also known as Saryu, is a major river draining Central Kumaon Division, Kumaon region in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Originating from Sarmul, S ...

. Witzel identifies with

Hari Hari ( sa, हरि) is among the primary epithets of the Hindu preserver deity Vishnu, meaning 'the one who takes away' (sins). It refers to the one who removes darkness and illusion, the one who removes all obstacles to spiritual progress ...

. * Kuṣávā - Probably Kunar. *Yavyā́vatī - Noted to be a branch of Gomatī́. Witzel as well as Blažek identifies with

Zhob River Zhob River ( ps, ږوب سيند; ) is located in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The total length of the Zhob River is 410 km, and it flows on a generally northeasterly course. Etymology In the Pashto language, ''Zhob'' means ...

. Dähnhardt comments it to be synonymous to Yamúnā or flowing very close to it but Witzel had rejected a similar take by Talgeri. Eastern tributaries: * Suṣómā - Identified with Soan. * Arjikiya - Blažek identifies with Haro. Witzel speculates it to be Poonch or Tawi. * Rivers of Punjab: ** Vitástā - Identified with Jhelum. ** Asiknī́ - Identified with

Chenab The Chenab River () is a major river that flows in India and Pakistan, and is one of the 5 major rivers of the Punjab region. It is formed by the union of two headwaters, Chandra and Bhaga, which rise in the upper Himalayas in the Lahaul ...

. ** Paruṣṇī - Probably Ravi. ** Vípāś/Vípāśi/Vípāśā - Identified with

Beas Beas is a riverfront town in the Amritsar district of the Indian state of Punjab. Beas lies on the banks of the Beas River. Beas town is mostly located in revenue boundary of Budha Theh with parts in villages Dholo Nangal and Wazir Bhullar. ...

. ** Śutudrī́ - Identified with Sutlej. ** Marúdvr̥dhā - Identified with Mahuvardhavan. Haryana: *

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 go ...

- . ** Āpayā́ and Āpayā́ - Streams/rivers of Sarasvati basin. **Dr̥ṣádvatī - . Eastern Rivers: * Áśmanvatī - Identified with Assan. *Yamúnā - Identified with

Yamuna The Yamuna ( Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of about on the southwestern slopes of B ...

. **Aṃśumátī - Probably an epithet for Yamúnā. * Gáṅgā - Identified with

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

Geography of the Rigveda

List

See also

References

Further reading