A History of Agriculture in India v1.c25.3

v1.c25.3

The extent of the country occupied by the Aryans, as mentioned in the Vedic texts, is eastern Afghanistan, North-West Frontier Province, Kashmir, the Punjab and parts of Sind and Rajasthan. The Aryan land is called Saptasindhavah—the land of seven rivers. The seven rivers are the five rivers of the Punjab, viz. the Sutudri (Satluj), the Vipas (Beas), the Parushni (Ravi), the Asikni (Chenab) and the Vitasta (Jhelum). The other two rivers are the Indus to the north and the Sarasvati in the present-day Haryana. Drishadvati, now represented by the Chutang, is also mentioned along with the Sarasvati. The Punjab was the land of the Rig-Veda. The Vedic people knew the whole of the Punjab, and occupied the best part of it along the river-beds. The rest was a jungle of xerophytic plants, e.g. *Salvadora persica* and *Prosopis cineraria* (*P. spicigera*) and remained as such till this arid area was irrigated by canals in first quarter of the current century.