Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s12.405

v1.c3.s12.405

**Go-matī**, ‘possessing cows,’ is mentioned as a river in the Nadī-stuti, or ‘Praise of Rivers,’ in the tenth Maṇḍala of the Rigveda.¹ In that hymn a river flowing into the Indus must be meant, and its identification² with the Gomal, a western tributary of the Indus, cannot be doubted. In one other passage of the Rigveda³ the accentuation of Gomatī shows that a river is meant. It is possible that in a third passage⁴ the reading should be changed to *gomatīr* from *gómatīr*. Geldner⁵ suggests that in the two last passages the Gumti, or rather its four upper arms (hence the use of the plural) is meant: this accords well with the later use of the name and with the general probability of the river here intended being in Kurukṣetra, as the centre of Vedic civilization.⁶