The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c17.9

v1.c17.9

The five streams which give the Punjab its name and which after uniting flow into the Indus are all mentioned in the Rigveda: the Vitastā is the modern Jhelum, the Asiknī the Chenāb, the Parushṇī, later called Irāvatī, 'the refreshing,' the modern Rāvī, the Vipāç the Beās, and the Çutudrī the Sutlej. But of these only the Parushṇī plays a considerable part in the history of the time, for it was on this river that the famous battle of the ten kings, the most important contest of Vedic times, was fought. Far more important was the Sarasvatī, which we can with little hesitation identify with the modern Sarsūtī or Saraswatī, a river midway between the Sutlej and the Jumna¹. It is possible that in the period of the Rigveda that river was of greater importance than it was in the following period when it was known to bury itself in the sands, and that its waters may have flowed to the Indus; but, however that may be, it is mentioned in one passage together with the Dṛishadvatī, probably the Chautang, which with it in later times formed the boundaries of the sacred land known as Brahmāvarta. With these two streams is mentioned the Āpayā, probably a river near Thānesar². In this region too may be placed the lake Çaryaṇāvant³, and the place Pastyāvant, near the modern Patiāla.