Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s1.180

v1.c3.s1.180

Ārjīka¹ and Ārjīkīya² (masc.), Ārjīkīyā³ (fem.).—The two masculine forms probably denote the people or land, while the feminine word designates the river of the land. Hillebrandt⁴ locates the country in or near Kaśmīr, as Arrian⁵ mentions Arsaces, brother of Abhisares, who presumably took his name from his people, and Abhisāra bordered on Kaśmīr. Pischel⁶ accepts Ārjīka as designating a country, which he, however, thinks cannot be identified. But neither Roth⁷ nor Zimmer⁸ recognizes the word as a proper name. On the other hand, all authorities agree in regarding Ārjīkīyā as the name of a river. Roth⁹ does so in one passage¹⁰ only, elsewhere seeing references to Soma vessels; but it seems necessary to treat the word alike in all passages containing it. Zimmer does not locate the river, and Pischel denies the possibility of its identification. Hillebrandt thinks it may have been the Upper Indus, or the Vitastā (the Jhelum), or some other stream. Grassmann follows Yāska¹¹ in identifying it with the Vipāś (Beäs), but this is rendered improbable by the position of the name in the hymn in praise of rivers (nadī-stuti).¹² Brunnhofer¹³ identifies it with the Arghesan, a tributary of the Arghanab.