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 wate ...

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 Sh ...

'', 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 Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Vall ...

Kurukshetra Kurukshetra (, ) is a city and administrative headquarter of Kurukshetra district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is also known as Dharmakshetra ("Realm of duty ") and as the "Land of the Bhagavad Gita". Legends According to the Pura ...

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, betw ...

. 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 ...

. 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 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 ...

. 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). Witze ...

. Alongside, opinions of scholars about modern correlates are provided: Indus: * Síndhu - Identified with

Indus The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...

. The central lifeline of RV. Northwestern Rivers: * Tr̥ṣṭā́mā - Blažek identifies with

Gilgit Gilgit (; Shina: ; ur, ) is the capital city of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan. The city is located in a broad valley near the confluence of the Gilgit River and the Hunza River. It is a major tourist destination in Pakistan, serving as a h ...

. 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 Districts of Pakistan, 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 fr ...

. * Suvā́stu - Identified with

Swat In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

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

Sarju The Sarju ( Kumaoni: सरज्यू, Hindi: सरयू), also known as Saryu, is a major river draining Central Kumaon region in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Originating from Sarmul, Sarju flows through the cities of Kapkot, Bageshwar ...

. 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 Poonch, sometimes also spelt Punchh, may refer to: * Historical Poonch District, a district in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in British India, split in 1947 between: ** Poonch district, India ** Poonch Division, in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, ...

or Tawi. * Rivers of Punjab: ** Vitástā - Identified with

Jhelum Jhelum ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a city on the east bank of the Jhelum River, which is located in the district of Jhelum in the north of Punjab province, Pakistan. It is the 44th largest city of Pakistan by population. Jhelum is known for p ...

. ** 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 regi ...

. ** Paruṣṇī - Probably

Ravi Ravi may refer to: People * Ravi (name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Ravi (composer) (1926–2012), Indian music director * Ravi (Ivar Johansen) (born 1976), Norwegian musical artist * Ravi (music director) (1926–201 ...

. ** Vípāś/Vípāśi/Vípāśā - Identified with

Beas Beas is a riverfront town in the Amritsar district of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Punjab, India, Punjab. Beas lies on the banks of the Beas River. Beas town is mostly located in revenue boundary of Budha Theh wit ...

. ** Śutudrī́ - Identified with

Sutlej The Sutlej or Satluj River () is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as ''Satadru''. It is the easternmost tributary of the Ind ...

. ** 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 god ...

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

Yamuna The Yamuna (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in List of major rivers of India, India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a ...

. **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