The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c18.s4.1

v1.c18.s4.1

It is perhaps doubtful whether the rivers can claim to be regarded as among the great gods of the Rigveda, but their importance in the mind of the Vedic Indians was perhaps sufficient to justify their treatment in this place. One whole long hymn³ is accorded to the Sarasvatī, and in two verses of it are enumerated her tributaries and other affluents, while the Vipāç and Çutudrī claim another hymn⁴ of some poetical beauty. By far the greatest of rivers is the Sarasvatī, which has in all three hymns devoted to it: she flows from the mountains, tearing them down; she has seven sisters and is mother of streams: she is daughter of the lightning (*pāvīravī*) and has a spouse, who later is called Sarasvant. She is divine, she comes with the Fathers to the sacrifice, and is stated to be descended from the sky, an early anticipation of the common Indian belief of the divine birth of the Ganges. She has other and more intimate connexions with human life: she bestows progeny, wealth, and immortality, she gave Vadhryaçva a son; she is terrible and a Vṛtra-slayer, but to her worshippers a protector.