Rivers in Rigveda (ऋग्वेदे नदीनां विवेचनम्)

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While studying about the rivers of Rgvedic times, one must note that even though we find the same names of rivers at present in some instances, the course of the river may or mostly may not remain the same in the present times. It is well known that even now rivers change course of their flow due to various reasons. The Yangtsze river in China is one such famous example.

Many rivers are mentioned in the Rigveda. The term "Sapta-sindhu" appears in many instances in this veda. But in the present situations, finding these seven rivers has been a little challenging. It is possible that the five rivers in Punjab, शुतुद्री (Sutlej), विपाश (Beas), पुरुष्णी (Iravati present Raavi river), वितस्ता (Jhelum), असिक्नी (Chandrabhaga presently Chenab river) along with Sindu and Sarasvati are the rivers that are accounted for the term Sapta Sindhu. Following are more details about the rivers in Rgveda.

• Rivers flow towards and empty into the sea (Rgveda 1.190.7, 6.19.5, 8.6.4)
• Seven rivers emptying into the sea has been referred in Rgveda 1.71.7.
• Nadi-sukta (नदीसुक्तम्) mentioned in Mandala 10, is a sukta fully dedicated to the rivers. At least nineteen rivers have been invoked in the 5th and 6th mantras of this sukta, listed from east to west, mentioning the major rivers along with the tributaries of the Sindu river.

इ॒मं मे॑ गङ्गे यमुने सरस्वति॒ शुतु॑द्रि॒ स्तोमं॑ सचता॒ परु॒ष्ण्या ।

अ॒सि॒क्न्या म॑रुद्वृधे वि॒तस्त॒याऽऽर्जी॑कीये शृणु॒ह्या सु॒षोम॑या ॥५॥

तृ॒ष्टाम॑या प्रथ॒मं यात॑वे स॒जूः सु॒सर्त्वा॑ र॒सया॑ श्वे॒त्या त्या ।

त्वं सि॑न्धो॒ कुभ॑या गोम॒तीं क्रुमुं॑ मेह॒त्न्वा स॒रथं॒ याभि॒रीय॑से ॥६॥ (Rg.Veda. 10.75.5-6)

O Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvati, Shutudri, Parushni, Asikni, Marudvrdha, Vitasta along with Sushoma and Arjikiya, accept and hear my praise for you. O Sindhu, you, to meet the swift-flowing Gomati, first joined with river Trshtama. Later you join with Susarta, Rasa, Sveta, Kubha, Krumu, and Mehatnu and travel in the same chariot (meaning flows as one river along with them).

Sarasvati River

According to Shri. Avinashchandra Das, in the Rg vedic times Sarasvati river flowed and ended its journey in what was once a vast water body in area where we now see the desert sands of Rajasthan. The Mahabharata also describes the Sarasvati as flowing westward and getting "lost in the desert". It was, according to some scholars, in this sea that Sarasvati joined and drained into. Dr. P. L. Bhargava has called this water body as Sarasvat sea of the Rgvedic times. There are at least two suktas in which Sarasvat and Sarasvati are described and that Sarasvat is that sea into which Sarasvati river had drained into. In the Rg veda we find several occurrences about the vast, swift flowing Sarasvati river.

एकाचेतत्सरस्वती नदीनां शुचिर्यती गिरिभ्य आ समुद्रात् ।.... (Rg. Veda. 7.95.2)

Here it is mentioned that Sarasvati river flows from the mountains to the sea. Dr. Bhargava gives references of Puranas and mahakavyas to support his theory that the large parts of the modern day Rajasthan was once covered by a large sea into which Sarasvati river drained into. Other investigations identify the "sea" into which the Sarasvati drained into was the present day Arabian sea.

Dr. Michel Danino, who authored the chapter: The Sarasvati River - Issues and Debates, mentions that the identification of the Ghaggar river as the Sarasvati river of the Vedic times was initially proposed in 1855 by a French geographer, Louis Vivien de Saint-Martin. He proposed this based on the surveys of the Thar Desert by British topographers, who reported the presence of a huge dry bed (the Ghaggar) between the Yamuna and Sutlej, precisely where in the Rgveda is located the Sarasvati. Many British maps (from 1760 onwards) also showed a small river named 'Soorsuty' or 'Sursooty' or 'Sarsuti' in the same location. Local tradition describes a seasonal river 'Sarsuti' as one of Ghaggar's tributaries and that there was once a vast river whose drying up caused the region's desolation. The gradual disappearance of Sarasvati is also known from the later Vedic literature, the Brahmanas, in which it is mentioned that Sarasvati breaks up at a point called Vinashana or Adarshana; and it a sacred tirtha.