Nadistuti sukta

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The Nadistuti sukta ("hymn of praise of rivers") is hymn 10.75 of the Rigveda.

It is important for the reconstruction of the geography of the Vedic civilization. Sindhu (the Indus) is addressed as the mightiest of rivers and addressed specifically in verses 1, 2, 7, 8 and 9.

In verse 5, the rishi enumerates ten rivers, beginning with the Ganga and moving westwards:

verse 6 adds northwestern rivers (tributaries of the Indus flowing through Afghanistan and north-western Pakistan),

and verse 8 mentions Silamavati and Urnavati (of unknown identification).

Griffith (1896) in his footnote to 10.75.5, explains this arrangement as follows:

"the poet addresses first the most distant rivers. Ganga: the Ganges is mentioned, indirectly, in only one other verse of the Rgveda, and even there, the word is said by some to be the name of a woman. See 6.45.31."

More recent interpretations take the arrangement to corresponds to the eastward expansion of the Vedic culture. At the time of the hymns composition, it had expanded as far as the Gangetic plain, and the poet looks back west to the known lands already settled. Recent linguistic reconstruction suggests that Book 6 is one of the earliest of the Rigveda, while book 10 is one of the youngest, so that it would appear that the Ganges fell within the area under the control of Vedic culture only shortly before the codification of the Rigveda.

The list of ten rivers in the Nadistuti sukta should not be confused with the Sapta Sindhu, the "Seven Rivers" of uncertain identification of the earlier Rigveda.

External links

[The Geography of the Rigveda]

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