The Rigveda refers to a number of rivers located in the northwestern Indian subcontinent, from Gandhara to Kurukshetra.
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.
Rivers with certain identifications stretch from eastern
Afghanistan to the western
Gangetic plain, clustering in the
Punjab. The Rigveda mentions the
sapta-sindhavaḥ (, seven rivers), along with other rivers:
Sapta-sindhavaḥ is cognate with Avestan hapta həndu, and is interpreted as referring to Punjab. 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".
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.
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.
Alongside, opinions of scholars about modern correlates are provided:
Indus:
-
Síndhu – Identified with Indus River.
Northwestern Rivers:
-
Tr̥ṣṭā́mā – Blažek identifies with Gilgit River.
-
Susártu – Unidentified.
-
Ánitabhā – Unidentified.
-
Rasā́ – Described once to be on the upper Indus; at other times a mythical entity.
-
Mehatnū – A tributary of Gomal River.
-
Śvetyā́ – Unidentified.
-
Kúbhā – Identified with Kabul River.
-
Krúmu – Identified with Kurrama River.
-
Suvā́stu – Identified with Swat River.
-
Gomatī́ – Identified with Gomal River.
-
Saráyu / Harōiiu – Blažek identifies with Sarju.
-
Kuṣávā – Probably the Kunar River.
-
Yavyā́vatī – Noted to be a branch of Gomatī́. Witzel as well as Blažek identifies with Zhob River.
Eastern tributaries:
Haryana:
-
Sarasvati River
-
Āpayā́ and Āpayā́ – Streams/rivers of Sarasvati basin.
-
Drishadvati
Eastern Rivers:
-
Áśmanvatī – Identified with Asan Barrage.
-
Yamúnā – Identified with Yamuna.
-
Aṃśumátī – Probably an epithet for Yamúnā.
-
Gáṅgā – Identified with Ganges.
See also
Further reading
- General
-
Blažek, Václav. " Hydronymia R̥gvedica". In: Linguistica Brunensia. 2016, vol. 64, iss. 2, pp. 7–54. ; .
-
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)
