The History and Culture of the Indian People v1.c19.s1: I. Geographical Names in the Ṛigveda
The History and Culture of the Indian People v1.c19.s1
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I. Geographical Names in the Ṛigveda
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Although it is difficult to arrive at any definite conclusion regarding the original home of the Indo-Aryans, we are in a somewhat better position in respect of their early settlements in northern India and gradual expansion over the whole of this area. For here the evidence of Vedic literature comes to our aid, and fortunately the earliest part of it, the hymns of the *Ṛigveda*, contain abundant geographical data. It is a reasonable presumption that the geographical names which figure prominently or frequently in these hymns indicate regions which were familiar to their authors, and were scenes of the early activities of the Aryans. Names less prominent or frequent might be either outside settlements of the Aryans or the border regions inhabited by non-Aryans. It must be remembered, however, that the *Ṛigveda* is not a geographical manual and its various recensions have not come down to us in a complete form. It would, therefore, be unsafe and hazardous to draw any inference from the silence of the *Ṛigveda*. The non-mention of any locality in the hymns cannot be construed as evidence, one way or the other, unless, of course, it can be proved to be of such importance as to be inexplicable except on the hypothesis of want of knowledge.
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In order to ascertain the extent of the Aryan settlements in the period of the *Ṛigveda*, we should, therefore, consider the references to mountains, rivers, localities, countries, tribes, and kingdoms contained in the hymns. Courses of rivers, especially in the Punjab, have considerably changed in the course of the last three or four millennia. Their names have also varied in different times. There is, therefore, some difference of opinion with regard to the identifications of the rivers mentioned in the Vedic texts. The same is the case regarding the location of the various tribes and countries that figure in the Vedic texts, as their boundaries were subject to constant modifications and they were known by different names in different periods. But in spite of these difficulties it is possible to form a fair idea of the location of quite a large number of them.
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As regards mountains, only the Himālaya is directly mentioned in the *Ṛigveda*, Mūjavant, one of its peaks, being referred to as the source of Soma. According to Zimmer, this peak was probably on the south-west of the valley of Kāshmīr.
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Rivers have all along played an important part in the lives of the Hindus, and even in the Rigvedic age they were esteemed as deities, presumably on account of the immense benefits they conferred on humanity. Out of thirty-one rivers mentioned in the Vedic texts, about twenty-five names occur in the hymns of the *Ṛigveda* alone. In the celebrated *Nadīstuti* (X. 75), the *Ṛigveda* enumerates several streams most of which belong to the Indus system.
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Outside the rivers in the Indus basin, are mentioned Gaṅgā, Yamunā, Sarasvatī, and Sarayu. Gaṅgā does not appear to be a well known or even important stream in the period of the *Ṛigveda*. Yamunā has been mentioned thrice in the *Ṛigveda*, which refers to the great victory of Sudās and the Tṛitsus on the Yamunā in the famous *Dāśarājña*. The Sarasvatī is the river par excellence (*Nadītamā*, *RV*, II 41. 16), and occurs most frequently in the *Ṛigveda*. It seems to have been the holy stream of the Vedic age. In the enumeration of rivers in the *Nadīstuti* (X. 75. 5) Sarasvatī comes between the Yamunā and Śutudrī, and is generally identified with the modern Sarsuti, which is lost in the desert at Bhatnair. Roth, Zimmer, Griffith, and Ludwig hold that in many passages of the *Ṛigveda* the Sindhu is meant by the Sarasvatī.¹ It may be observed in this connection that it is possible that the Sarasvatī was as large as the Sutlej in the Vedic age, and actually reached the sea, as the *Ṛigveda* (VI. 61. 2, 8; VII. 95. 2) describes it as going to the ocean. The Sarasvatī was the first of the Vedic rivers (II. 41. 16) and its banks witnessed the development of the Vedic sacrifices.
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The Dṛishadvatī, which occurs many times along with the Sarasvatī as an important stream, is identified by some with the Ghaggar and by others with the modern Chittang.² Between the Sarasvatī and Dṛishadvatī, flowing past Thānesar, was the Āpayā (*RV*, III. 23. 4), a small tributary of the Sarasvatī. The Gomatī has been identified by some scholars with the Gomatī, which meets the Ganges to the east of Benares, and this identification may be accepted in so far as the later Saṁhitās and Brāhmaṇas are concerned. The Gomatī of the *Ṛigveda* as mentioned in the *Nadīstuti* is, however, placed between the Kubhā and Krumu. Hence, its identification with the Gomal, a western tributary of the Indus, seems more reasonable. Sarayu, on the eastern bank of which Chitraratha and Arṇa were defeated by the Turvaśa-Yadus, appears to be the modern Sarju in Oudh, as suggested by Zimmer and others.³ The identifications by Ludwig with the Krumu (Kurram) and by St. Martin with the united course of the Śutudrī (Sutlej) and Vipāś (Beās) are difficult to accept.
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Then we pass on to the five streams, viz. the Śutudrī, Vipāś, Parushṇī, Asiknī, and Vitastā, which give the Punjab its name and, united together, flow into the Indus. The *Nadīstuti* omits the Vipāś and inserts the Marudvṛidhā between the Asiknī and Vitastā. The Śutudrī is the most easterly river of the Punjab identified with the modern Sutlej. True to its name, it has considerably changed its course even during historical times. Vipāś, "fetterless," is the modern Beās, which has also changed its course considerably. Its non-mention in the earlier Vedic literature except in two *Ṛigveda*-hymns, coupled with its absence in the *Nadīstuti*-hymn, supports the hypothesis that it was of small importance.
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Parushṇī, the modern Rāvī, was an important stream which played a decisive part in the *Dāśarājña* (battle of the ten kings), by rising and drowning the enemies of Sudās. Asiknī, known later as the Chandrabhāgā, is the modern Chenāb in the Punjab. Finally comes Vitastā, the most westerly of these five rivers, known today as Jhelum. Roth and Zimmer consider that the Marudvṛidhā mentioned in the *Nadīstuti* (X. 75.5) denotes the combined waters of the Asiknī (Chenāb) and Vitastā (Jhelum) down to its junction with the Parushṇī (Rāvī), and Chakladar accepts this view.⁴ Stein, however, rightly places the Marudvṛidhā in Kāshmir, identifying it with Maruwardwan, a small Kashmirian stream flowing from north to south which joins the Chenāb on its northern bank at Kashtwar. Yāska identifies the Ārjikīyā and Sushomā, mentioned after the Vitastā in the *Nadīstuti*, respectively with the Vipāś and the Sindhu.⁶
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Now we turn to the western tributaries of the Indus. The Rasā has been identified with the Jaxartes, a stream in the extreme north-west of the Vedic territory. The Kubhā is the modern Kābul river which flows into the Indus a little above Attock and receives at Prāng the joint flow of its tributaries, the Swāt (Suvāstu) and Gauri. The Krumu or the Kurram and Gomatī or the Gomal are tributaries of the Indus meeting it further south. The Susartu and Śvetyā appear to have been the tributaries of the Indus above the Kubhā, whereas the Mehatnū, Krumu, and Gomatī are the three tributaries below the Kubhā.⁷ The Suvāstu, as already stated, is the Swāt, a tributary of the Kubhā, which itself is a tributary of the Indus. The word Suvāstu, signifying "fair dwellings," seems to indicate that there was an Aryan settlement along its banks. Hariyūpīyā, the scene of the defeat of the Vṛichīvants by Abhyāvartin Chāyamāna (*RV*, VI. 27.5) has been taken either as denoting a place or a river. As a place-name Harappā has been suggested as the modern name of Hariyūpīyā.⁸ Many other lesser streams have not yet been identified with any degree of certainty, and are not mentioned here.
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In conclusion, we must consider also the implication of the term *Saptasindhavaḥ* as used in the *Ṛigveda*. The term means a definite country in *Ṛigveda*, VIII. 24.27, whereas at other places seven streams themselves are intended. According to Max Müller, the seven rivers are the five rivers of the Punjab along with Indus and Sarasvatī. Ludwig, Lassen, and Whitney substitute Kubhā for the Sarasvatī and think that originally the Oxus also must have been one of the seven. Considering that the *Ṛigveda* mentions the Kubhā (Kābul), Gomatī (Gumal), Krumu (Kurram), Suvāstu (Swāt), etc., which lie to the west of the Indus, it is possible that the Rigvedic people knew of the existence of the Oxus. The reasonable view, however, appears to be to take the seven streams to be the Indus, the five streams of the Punjab and the Sarasvatī.
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We may thus conclude that the extent of the country as reflected in the hymns is, Afghānistān, the Punjab, parts of Sind and Rājputāna, the North-West Frontier Province, Kāshmīr, and Eastern India up to the Sarayu.
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This conclusion is confirmed by another consideration. That the Vedic people had not yet penetrated into the swampy jungles of Bengal may be inferred from the absence of the mention of the tiger in the *Ṛigveda* which assigns the premier place to the lion.
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There is a difference of opinion among scholars as to the part of India where the bulk of the *Ṛigveda* was composed. Max Müller, Weber, Muir, and others held that the Punjab was the main scene of the activity of the *Ṛigveda*, whereas the more recent view put forth by Hopkins and Keith is that it was composed in the country round the Sarasvatī river south of modern Ambāla.⁹ Brunnhofer, Hertel, Hüsing, and others, however, argue that the scene of the *Ṛigveda* is laid, not in the Punjab, but in Afghānistān and Irān.¹⁰ These and other theories need not be discussed in detail. Keith has rightly observed that "conclusions can be drawn only with much caution. It is easy to frame and support by plausible evidence various hypotheses, to which the only effective objection is that other hypotheses are equally legitimate, and that the facts are too imperfect to allow of conclusions being drawn."¹¹
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As the names of the rivers in the *Ṛigveda* show that the Vedic people knew the whole of the Punjab and occupied the best part of it, there is no need to suppose the bulk of the hymns to have been composed either in Irān or in the Ambāla district.
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It is a controversial question whether the Vedic tribes in the days of the *Ṛigveda* had reached the ocean and had knowledge of sea navigation. Keith and many other European scholars hold that there is no clear indication in the Rigvedic period that ocean and sea navigation were known.¹² Max Müller, Lassen, Zimmer, and the authors of the *Vedic Index* on the other hand assert that ocean was known to the Rigvedic people.¹³ This seems to be the more probable view. The Sarasvatī is stated to have reached the sea (above, p. 246), and the hymns X. 136, 5 and 6 seem clearly to refer to the western and eastern oceans. References to the treasures of the ocean and to Bhujyu's story appear to allude to marine navigation. The knowledge of high tide can be inferred from *Ṛigveda*, I. 48. 3. All these references indubitably prove that the Rigvedic people not only knew the sea, but were mariners and had trade relations with the outside world.
Linked texts (1)
- Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit