A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1610

c5.1610

They appear in Zend as the Hapta-heando, and the early Muhammadan travellers have translated the term. But their Saba’ Sīn, ‘seven rivers,’ according to Bīrūnī, applies to the rivers which flow northwards from the mountains of the Hindu Koh, and “uniting near Turmuz, form the river of Balkh (the Oxus).” The hymn in which the names of the rivers have been given has the following description:—“Each set of seven (streams) has followed a threefold course. The Sindhu surpasses the other rivers in impetuosity. . . . Receive favourably this my hymn, O Gaṅgā, Yamunā, Saraswatī, Sutudri, Parushni; hear, O Marud-vridhā, with the Asiknī and Vitastā, and thou, Ārjikīyā, with the Sushomā. Unite first in thy course with the Trishtāmā, the Susartū, the Rasā, and the Swetī; thou meetest with the Gomatī, and the Krumu with the Kubhā and the Mehatnū.” According to this, the “seven rivers” are—(1.) Gaṅgā (Ganges); (2.) Yamunā (Jumna); (3.) Saraswatī (Sarsuti); (4.) Sutudri (Satlej); (5.) Parushni; (6.) Marud-vridhā; (7.) Ārjikīyā (the Vipāsā, Hyphasis Byās). Wilson says “the Parushni is identified with the Irāvatī” (Hydraotes, Rāvi), but in this hymn it is the Marud-vridhā which would seem to be the Irāvatī, because it is said to unite with the Asiknī (Akesines, Chandrabhāga, Chināb) and the Vitastā (Hydaspes or Jhilam). This would leave the Parushni unsettled. The other names, with the exception of the Gomatī (Gūmtī), are not identified. Sushomā has been said to be the Sindhu, but in this hymn the Sindhu is clearly distinct. In the Mahā-bhārata the seven rivers are named in one place Vaswokasārā, Nalinī, Pāvanī, Gaṅgā, Sītā, Sindhu, and Jambū-nadī; and in another, Gaṅgā, Yamunā, Plakshagā, Rathasthā, Saryu (Sarju), Gomatī, and Gandakī (Gandak). In the Rāmāyana and the Purānas the seven rivers are the seven streams into which the Ganges divided after falling from the brow of Siva, the Nalinī, Hlādinī, and Pāvanī going east, the Chakshu, Sītā, and Sindhu to the west, while the Ganges proper, the Bhāgīrathī, flowed to the south. The term is also used for the seven great oceans of the world, and for the country of the seven rivers.