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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.^[1]^[2] Rivers with certain identifications stretch from eastern Afghanistan to the western Gangetic plain, clustering in the Punjab. The Rigveda mentions the sapta-sindhavaḥ (Sanskrit: सप्तसिन्धवः, seven rivers), along with other rivers:

“He has surveyed eight summits of the Earth, three shore or desert regions, seven rivers.” (aṣṭaú vy àkhyat kakúbhaḥ pr̥thivyā́s trī́ dhánva yójanā saptá síndhūn RV.I.35.8).^[3]

Sapta-sindhavaḥ is cognate with Avestan hapta həndu, and is interpreted as referring to Punjab.^[a] 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".^[4]

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.^[1]

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.^[1] Alongside, opinions of scholars about modern correlates are provided:^[5]^[6]

Indus:

Síndhu – Identified with Indus.^[5] The central lifeline of RV.^[6]

Northwestern Rivers:

Tr̥ṣṭā́mā – Blažek identifies with Gilgit.^[5] Witzel notes it to be unidentified.^[1]
Susártu – Unidentified.
Ánitabhā – Unidentified.
Rasā́ – Described once to be on the upper Indus; at other times a mythical entity.^[5]
Mehatnū – A tributary of Gomatī́.^[5] Unidentifiable.^[1]
Śvetyā́ – Unidentified.
Kúbhā – Identified with Kabul river.
Krúmu – Identified with Kurrum.
Suvā́stu – Identified with Swat.
Gomatī́ – Identified with Gomal.
Saráyu / Harōiiu – Blažek identifies with Sarju.^[5] Witzel identifies with Hari.^[1]
Kuṣávā – Probably the Kunar River.
Yavyā́vatī – Noted to be a branch of Gomatī́. Witzel as well as Blažek identifies with Zhob River.^[1]^[5] Dähnhardt comments it to be synonymous to Yamúnā or flowing very close to it.^[6]

Eastern tributaries:

Suṣómā – Identified with Soan.
Arjikiya – Blažek identifies with Haro.^[5] Witzel speculates it to be Poonch or Tawi.^[1]
Rivers of Punjab:
- Vitástā – Identified with Jhelum.
- Asiknī́ – Identified with Chenab.
- Iravatī – Identified with Ravi.
- Vípāśā – Identified with Beas.
- Śutudrī́ – Identified with Sutlej.
- Marúdvr̥dhā – Identified with Mahuvardhavan.^[5]

Haryana:

Sarasvati^[7]
- Āpayā́ and Āpayā́ – Streams/rivers of Sarasvati basin.^[5]
- Drishadvati^[5]^[6]^[8]

Eastern Rivers:

Áśmanvatī – Identified with Assan.
Yamúnā – Identified with Yamuna.
- Aṃśumátī – Probably an epithet for Yamúnā.^[5]
Gáṅgā – Identified with Ganga.

References

^ 'Seven Rivers' include Indus and the five rivers of Punjab. Seventh is generally believed to be the legendary Sarasvati; however, J. S. Grewal considers river Kabul more likely to be the seventh river instead.^[4] See also Avestan geography#Vendidad references

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Witzel, Michael (1998). "Aryan and non-Aryan Names in Vedic India: Data for the linguistic situation, c. 1900-500 B.C". In Bronkhorst, James; Deshpande, Madhav (eds.). Aryans and Non-Non-Aryans: Evidence, Interpretation and Ideology. Harvard Oriental Series. Cambridge. pp. 337–404.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ "Sapta Sinhavas- The land of seven rivers" (PDF). M. Aslamkhan.
^ Wilson, H.H (27 August 2021). "Rig Veda 1.35.8 [English translation]". www.wisdomlib.org. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
^ ^a ^b Grewal, J. S. (2004). "Historical Geography of the Punjab" (PDF). Journal of Punjab Studies. 11 (1). University of California, Santa Barbara: 1–18. ISSN 0971-5223. OCLC 436148809.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Blažek, Václav (2016). "Hydronymia R̥gvedica". Linguistica Brunensia. 64 (2). Masaryk University: 7–54.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Dähnhardt, Thomas Wolfgang Peter (2009). "The descent of King Lion: Some considerations on the relations between the Indus and other rivers in the sacred geography and culture of ancient India". In Filippi, Gian Giuseppe (ed.). I fiumi sacri. Indoasiatica. Vol. 6. Libreria Editrice Cafoscarina. pp. 189–208. ISBN 9788875432416.
^ Kochhar, Rajesh (1999), "On the identity and chronology of the Ṛgvedic river Sarasvatī", in Roger Blench; Matthew Spriggs (eds.), Archaeology and Language III; Artefacts, languages and texts, Routledge, p. 262, ISBN 0-415-10054-2
^ Kar, Amal; Ghose, Bimal (1984). "The Drishadvati River System of India: An Assessment and New Findings". The Geographical Journal. 150 (2): 221–229. doi:10.2307/635000. ISSN 0016-7398. JSTOR 635000.