Four Oceans in Rigveda (ऋग्वेदोक्त चतुःसमुद्राः)

Oceans mentioned in Rigveda have prominent implications directly in understanding the geographical conditions in the past. There has been a lot of controversy about the existence of oceans in the Rigvedic period. Scholars like Zimmer and Keith held the opinion that the sea was not known in the Rigvedic period and the word "samudra" in the Rigveda means gushing and expansive stream of the lower course of the river Sindhu or Indus, after it had received waters from the rivers of Punjab. Renou holds that there is no clear knowledge of the ocean (called samudra, “assemblage of waters”) before the time of the Brahmanas, where there are references to the ocean which surrounds the earth, and the eastern and western seas.

There are many references in the Rgvedic hymns, lending support that the Rigvedic people had knowledge of the sea as well as maritime activities. The use of the word "samudram" in the sense of the ocean is met with in the Rigveda. Samudra is said to be the chief of waters.

Number of Samudras

In the Rgveda, and Atharvaveda, there are references to two, three and four samudras. It is known that the present peninsular Indian subcontinent is surrounded by three seas (Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and the Arabian sea in the present terms).

उभौ समुद्रौ ॥ Two Oceans

In many mantras of Rgveda there is a mention about "two seas (उभी समुद्रौ)" namely the 'पूर्व (purva)' samudra which refers to the Bay of Bengal and 'पर (para)' samudra refers to Arabian sea (Rigveda 10.136.5) according to Pt. Kapil Dev Dvivedi.

However, many scholars (such as Dr. A. C. Das) point out that the Rigvedic human habitation did not extend beyond the Ganga and Yamuna rivers. In light of this, it is said that the present day Bay of Bengal sea was not referred to in the Rigveda as the Eastern sea.

A clear reference to two seas (उभौ समुद्रौ), the east and west is given as below.

वात॒स्याश्वो॑ वा॒योः सखाथो॑ दे॒वेषि॑तो॒ मुनि॑: । उ॒भौ स॑मु॒द्रावा क्षे॑ति॒ यश्च॒ पूर्व॑ उ॒ताप॑रः ॥५॥ (Rg. Veda. 10.136.5)

Summary: "The Muni is the aerial steed and friend of Vayu, whom all the Devas feel an eagerness to behold and who dwells in both the seas-that which is in the east and that which is in the west".

According to A. C. Das, the Muni referred to here is identified with Keshi or Sun whose rays are like the golden hairs of an ascetic. The Sun is also compared to a horse in the Rgveda. Keshi or Sun dwells both in the Eastern and Western seas, because he is seen to rise from the Eastern sea and sink down into the Western sea. Now this Eastern sea could be none other than the sea that washed the eastern shores of Sapta Sindhu. It is over this sea that the Ashvini devatas preceded and heralded the Dawn, used to come to Sapta-sindhu, sailing in their boats which they left moored in the harbour on the sea coast (1.46.8). Further it was from the depth of these waters that the Sun was seen, from the shores of Sapta Sindhu, to emerge and ascend the sky (Rg. Veda. 3.55.1). These waters were, rightly regarded as "the birth-place of the Sun", and "the mother of the Asvins". The Western Sea into which Keshi or the Sun sank down to rest was undoubtedly an arm of the Arabian sea which, in those days ran up the present lower valley of the Indus along the foot of the Western Range and covered a large portion of the present province of Sindh (presently in Pakistan).

The Rgveda mentions about two, the 'पूर्व (purva)' and 'अपर (apara)' samudras very clearly. The Purva (or अवर-Avara) samudra also called as Arvavat (अर्वावत्) is where the sunrises and the Apara (or पर - Para) samudra also called as Paraavat (परावत्) is where the sun sets. The Arabian sea is the Paraavat sea where the Sindhu and its tributaries drain into. It however, ran up the present lower valley of the Indus along the foot of the Western Range, and covered a large portion of the present province of Sindh. However, scholars opine that the Eastern sea or the Purva (Apara or Arvaavat) sea is not the same as the Bay of Bengal as this bay is very far from where the Saptasindhu rivers were flowing. It has been proposed that land areas that are now known to be Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, i.e., the gangetic plains were we find the rivers Ganga and Yamuna, were once areas of a vast sea (in the Pleistocene era) which got filled with the sands brought down by the rivers and became plains. According to Roth also, the term Paraavat (परावत्) indicates coming from a distant place. Mentioned in the following mantra, Sayanacharya also explains the term as a far distant ocean.

यद्वा॑ शक्र परा॒वति॑ समु॒द्रे अधि॒ मन्द॑से । अ॒स्माक॒मित्सु॒ते र॑णा॒ समिन्दु॑भिः ॥१७॥ (Rig. Veda. 8.12.17)

According to H.P. Chakraborti, Apara sea is definitely the Arabian sea into which the Sindhu flowed. It can be considered as an ocean of Southwestern part of Sapta-sindhu. According to P.L. Bhargava, the southwestern part of Sindhu is still under this sea.

चतुःसमुद्राः ॥ Four Oceans

It is important to note that Rgvedic texts mention about the presence of a fourth sea in the northern region of India below the Himalayas. The following mantras mention the term "four seas (चतुःसमुद्राः)"

रायः समुद्राँश्चतुरोऽस्मभ्यं सोम विश्वत: । आ पवस्व सहस्रिण: ॥६॥ (Rg. Veda 9.33.6)

Here Rshi Trita prays to Soma to help him bring the vast wealth found in the four seas.

स्वायुधं स्ववसं सुनीथं । चतुःसमुद्रं धरुणं रयीणाम् ॥ (Rg. Veda. 10.47.2)

Rshi Saptagu prays to Indra that the treasures available in the four seas may be bestowed on him to make him prosperous. Dr. A. C. Das, points out that ascertaining the four seas in present times was not attempted with care, probably for the simple reason that there is only one sea to the south-west of Saptasindhu at the present time, namely, the Arabian sea, and it is difficult to identify the other three with any modern seas. The Bay of Bengal to the east, the Indian Ocean to the south of India are quite out of consideration, as it has been admitted by many scholars that people of those times did not go beyond the limits of Saptasindhu and were not acquainted with any land eastward or southward during Rgvedic times. However, it is clearly emphasized that merchants navigated the four seas in quest of wealth, in the mantra below

ये अ॑स्या आ॒चर॑णेषु दध्रि॒रे स॑मु॒द्रे न श्र॑व॒स्यव॑: ॥३॥ (Rg. Veda. 1.48.3)

Geological evidence goes on to show that there were actually three seas on the three sides of Saptasindhu, i.e., the Eastern, the Western and the Southern and the fourth sea logically must have been somewhere on the north beyond the Himalayas. There is a mention that a deep trough (sea) did exist at the foot of the Himalayan range in ancient geological times as per Mr. Wadia (in his Geology of India book). This trough or sea lasted through long ages during which it was gradually filled up with alluvium into which were embedded the remains of a rich varied fauna "of herbivores, carnivores, rodents and of primates, the highest order of the mammals," brought down by the rivers and streams. According to Dr. A. C. Das, geological evidence proves that such a sea did actually exist in ancient times, stretching from below the highlands of modern Turkestan towards Siberia on one side, and from the confines of Mongolia to the Black Sea, on the other, covering an immense area. This sea disappeared in comparatively recent geological times, leaving the Black Sea, the Sea of Aral, Lake Balkash, and an extensive depression low, dry and converted into steppes, as its remnants. The Black Sea was not at that time connected with the Mediterranean, and its western shores formed the Isthmus of Bosphorus linking Europe with Asia. On the confines of East Turkestan also there was in ancient times another immense Asiatic Mediterranean Sea, of which Lake Lobnor is the remnant. These stern geological facts are corroborated in Rgvedic mantras. We can see the effects of climate change reflected in the mantras and the disappearance of one of the four seas around the Sapta Sindhu, and the upheaval of a vast tract of arid desert in the South. Dr. Das's discussion about various geological evidences

"clearly proved the existence of the four seas mentioned in the Rgveda, round about the region, inhabited by the ancient Aryans, which included Sapta-sindhu on the south, Bactriana and Eastern Turkestan on the north, Gandhara on the west and the upper valleys of the Ganga and Yamuna on the east. The age of the Rgveda, therefore, must be as old as the existence of these four seas in ancient times."

The third sea, according to Dr. A. C. Das, once covered the area into which the Sarasvati river drained into, and which is now the sandy desert area of Rajasthan. P. L. Bhargava called this sea as the Sarasvat (सरस्वत् समुद्र) ocean. In Rigveda (1.164.52) it has been mentioned that Sarasvat river is filled with many medicinal properties and was the source of water for many lakes. In the sukta 7.96 the first three mantras are in praise of the Sarasvati river while the rest of the three mantras are a stuti to the Sarasvat sea. With many beautiful poetic comparisons the Sarasvat sea bears an important position during the Rigvedic times. The husband-wife relationship of Sarasvat and Sarasvati is established even if Sarasvat (Sarasvan) is taken as the ocean and Sarasvati as the river of that name. In those ancient times, Sarasvati, the mightiest river is described to flow from mountains to ocean as follows

एका॑चेत॒त्सर॑स्वती न॒दीनां॒ शुचि॑र्य॒ती गि॒रिभ्य॒ आ स॑मु॒द्रात् । (Rig. Veda. 7.95.2)

Thus Sarasvat comes as the husband of Sarasvati. Sarasvat is called the source of water, of all plants, who delights all with rain. Sarasvan has close connection with river Sarasvati (Sukta 7.76). The ancient tradition which ascribes to Agasthya the extraordinary feat of sipping up the ocean dry, and depressing the top of the Vindhya hills in order to be able to go to the south pointed to the existence of a sea in Rajputana in Rgvedic times and even later. The fourth sea, according to Pt. Baldev Upadhyaya, is called Sharyanavat (शर्यणावत् समुद्र). It has been mentioned along with the Paraavat (परावत्) and Arvaavat (अर्वावत्) seas (Rig. Veda. 9.64.22), thus considered as an sea. According to Hillebrandt, it is sea in the Kashmir region a remnant of which is the Wular sea in the present times. In the mantra 7.64.11, where Sharyanavat is referred along with the river Sushoma and as a place where the Soma creeper grows. Based on the association with Sushoma which is a northern tributary of the Indus river and as a place where Soma is found, it's location is inferred as the sea which is to the north of the Sindhu river. The term Sharyanavat finds a mention in Rigveda mantra 10.35.2 as follows

दि॒वस्पृ॑थि॒व्योरव॒ आ वृ॑णीमहे मा॒तॄन्त्सिन्धू॒न्पर्व॑ताञ्छर्य॒णाव॑तः । (Rig. Veda. 10.35.2)

According to Sayanacharya, Sharyanavat means the mountains of the lake Sharyanavat. According to him, Sharyanavat is a lake in the district of Kurukshetra. According to P.L. Bhargava, the Wular lake of Kashmir is the only remnant of a sea surrounded by mountains in that part. It is stated that the large lake occupying the valley of Kashmir was the Sharyanavat sea in the Rgvedic times. The Satisar and Dal lake in the Kashmir seem remnants of the vast Sharyanavat sea or the Northern sea.

Thus, we see valuable geographical evidences in the Rgveda which have important bearings on humanity. It is time we delve deeper into the geological testimony which supports the vast antiquity of Rgveda stretching back to times immemorial.