India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c7.s3.18

c7.s3.18

Pāṇini mentions another river Ajiravatī (VI.3.119) the Achiravatī of Pāli texts (modern Rapti) on which stood Srāvastī. The next river mentioned in this region is Sarayū (VI.4.174) of which the Rapti is a tributary. It may be noted that Sarayū was also the name of a river in remote Ṛigvedic India flowing past Herat (derived from Hari-Rūd; cf. Old-Persian Harayū from Vedic Sarayū). Darius I (516 B.C.) in his inscription mentions *Haraiva*, the people of Harayū, equal to Pāṇini’s *Sārava*. In the Elamite version of the Behistun inscription occurs the name Arriya (=Haraiva=Gk. Aria with its capital at Heart).