The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c18.s4.4

v1.c18.s4.4

Sarasvatī is connected with Indra and with Pūṣan, but in the main with the Açvins: she takes part in the rite by which they heal Indra, and she is spoken of in the Yajurveda¹ as the wife of the Açvins. She forms also one of the triad of goddesses Bhāratī, Iḍā, and Sarasvatī, or Mahī, Hotrā, and Sarasvatī, who are invoked in the Āprī hymns of the animal sacrifice: Iḍā is a mere abstraction of the idea of the sacrificial offering, and Mahī and Hotrā are clearly deities of the same kind: Bhāratī, however, must refer to the lady of the Bharatas, and the identification is of first-rate importance as it enables us to decide which Sarasvatī is meant in these cases. The Bharatas, we know, dwelt on the Sarasvatī and the Dṛṣadvatī, and sacrifices on the Sarasvatī are prescribed in the Brāhmaṇas and the Sūtras: the combination of the goddesses must have grown up when Sarasvatī meant the stream which is connected with the Dṛṣadvatī.² Nor is it at all improbable that the same river is meant in every or nearly every case: the older view³ that Sarasvatī meant the Indus, or the view⁴ that in any case it refers still as originally to the Harahvaitī cannot be supported by any conclusive proof: it is true that the present river Sarasvatī is small, and loses itself in the sand, but it may well have been more important than this in the time of the Rigveda, and in any case there is no doubt of its holiness in the Brāhmaṇa period, a fact which really disposes of the argument against it, based on its size.