Historical Development of Indian Music: A Critical Study c8.24

c8.24

Again we find in the Vedic literature that the sacred river, Sarasvatī was identified with the goddess. Yāska in his Nirukta (II.23) called Sarasvatī a ‘river’ as well as a ‘goddess’ : ‘Sarasvatī * * etasya nadivad devatāvacca nigamābhāvāḥ’. Sāyaṇa in his commentary on the Ṛk stanza 1.3.12 said that though the word ‘saras’ signified ‘water’ or a ‘river’, yet it meant a ‘god’ or a ‘goddess’ : ‘dvididha hi sarasvatī vigrahavad devatā-nadīrūpā ca’. Most of the Western scholars have identified the goddess with water or a river. In Vedic India, the river, Sarasvatī was regarded sacred like the rivers, Dṛṣadvatī, Vipāsā, etc. In fact, in the Ṛgveda we find the references of ‘pañcajātaḥ’, ‘pañcajāta vardhayanti’. It is said that the Ṛṣis, kings and also common people used to perform sacrifices on the bank of the river, Sarasvatī. The ‘pañcajātaḥ’ were again known as pañcajanāḥ, pañcajanāyāḥ and pañcakṛtayāḥ. Some are of opinion that pañcajāta or five races were no other than Gandharva or the semi-divine people, Pitṛ or the departed fathers, Deva or the gods, Asura or uncivilized non-Aryan people and Rākṣasa or the demon. Sometimes the name of Niṣāda is also found. Some say that by the word ‘pañcajātaḥ’ five kinds of races or clans were meant and they were *Anu*, *Drahyu*, *Puru*, *Turvāsa* and *Yadu* and *Atri*. *Atri* was their priest. These races or clans used to pray to *Agni*, *Soma*, *Mitra* (the sun), *Indra* and *Sarasvatī*. The *Ṛṣis* used to sing their daily prayers to the river, *Sarasvatī*. Gradually the *Ṛṣis* or *Brāhmaṇs* began to perform sacrifices on the bank of the river, *Sarasvatī*, invoking *Devī Sarasvatī*, and here we find that the river was identified with the divine goddess.