Sarasvati River

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The Sarasvati River is an ancient river that is mentioned in Hindu texts and one of the chief Rigvedic rivers. The Nadistuti hymn in the Rigveda mentions the Sarasvati between the Yamuna in the east and the Sutlej in the west, and later texts like the Mahabharata mention that the Sarasvati dried up in a desert.

The name is descended from Proto-Indo-Iranian saras-vnt-ī, meaning "she with many pools" (Sanskrit saras- "pool, body of water"), cognate to Avestan Harahvaiti, the name of the Helmand River, and Old Persian Harachuwati, in Achaemenid times the name of the Arghandab River, chief tributary of the Helmand.

Most scholars agree that at least some of the references to the Sarasvati in the Rigveda refer to the Ghaggar-Hakra River, while the Helmand is often quoted as the locus of the early Rigvedic river. Whether such a transfer of the name has taken place, either from the Helmand to the Ghaggar-Hakra, or conversely from the Ghaggar-Hakra to the Helmand, is a matter of dispute.

There is also a small present-day Sarasvati River (Sarsuti) that joins the Ghaggar river.

The goddess Sarasvati was originally a personification of this river, and later developed an identity and meaning independently from the river.

Rigvedic Sarasvati

Sarasvati is mentioned both as the chief of the Sapta Sindhu, the seven holy rivers of the early Rigveda, and listed in the geographical list of ten rivers in the Nadistuti sukta of the late Rigveda, and it is the only river with hymns entirely dedicated to it, RV 6.61, 7.95 and 7.96.

Praise for the Sarasvati

The Rigveda describes the Sarasvati as the best of all the rivers (RV 2.41.16-18; also 6.61.8-13; 7.95.2). Rigveda 7.36.6 calls it "the Seventh, Mother of Floods" sárasvatī saptáthī síndhumātāHans Hock (1999) translates síndhumātā as a bahuvrihi, "whose mother is the Sindhu", which would indicate that the Sarasvati is here a tributary of the Indus. A translation as a tatpurusha ("mother of rivers", with sindhu still with its generic meaning) is more common.. RV 2.41.16 ámbitame nádītame dévitame sárasvati "best mother, best river, best goddess" expresses the importance and reverence of the Vedic religion for the Sarasvati river, and states that all generations abide on the Sarasvati. Other hymns that praise the Sarasvati River include RV 6.61; 7.96 and 10.17.

Rigveda 7.95.2. and other verses (e.g. 8.21.18) also tell that the Sarasvati poured "milk and ghee". Rivers are often likened to cows in the Rigveda, for example in 3.33.1cd,

Like two bright mother cows who lick their youngling, Vipas and Sutudri speed down their waters.

The course of the Sarasvati

Some Rigvedic verses (6.61.2-13) indicate that the Sarasvati river originated in high mountains, where she could "burst with her strong waves the ridges of the hills", and not merely in the Himalayan foothills like the present-day Sarasvati (Sarsuti) river. The Sarasvati is described as a river swollen (pinvamana) by many rivers (sindhubhih) (RV 6.52.6).

In RV 8.21.18ab mentions a number of petty kings dwelling along the course of Sarasvati,

Citra is King, and only kinglings [rājaka] are the rest who dwell beside Sarasvati.

Another reference to the Sarasvati is in the geographical enumeration of the rivers in the late Rigvedic Nadistuti sukta (10.75.5, this verse enumerates all important rivers from the Ganges in the east to the Punjab in the west in a strict geographical order), as "Yamuna, Sarasvati, Shutudri", the Sarasvati is placed between the Yamuna and the Sutlej, consistent with the Ghaggar identification. It is clear, therefore, that even if she has unmistakably lost much of her former prominence, Sarasvati remains characterized as a river goddess throughout the Rigveda.

In RV 3.23.4, the Sarasvati River is mentioned together with the Drsadvati River.

In some hymns, the Indus river seems to be more important than the Sarasavati, especially in the Nadistuti sukta. In RV 8.26.18, the Sindhu is the most conveying or attractive of the rivers.

In the Rig Veda (7.95.1-2, tr. Griffith) the Sarasvati is described as flowing to the samudra, which is usually translated as ocean.

This stream Sarasvati with fostering current comes forth, our sure defence, our fort of iron.

As on a car, the flood flows on, surpassing in majesty and might all other waters.

Pure in her course from mountains to the ocean, alone of streams Sarasvati hath listened.

Thinking of wealth and the great world of creatures, she poured for Nahusa her milk and fatness.

Sarasvati as a goddess

The name Sarasvati already in the Rigveda does not always relate to a river and its personification exclusively; and in some hymns, the goddess Sarasvati (the later Hindu goddess of knowledge) is becoming abstracted from the river.

In the 1 and 10 of the Rigveda, the Sarasvati is mentioned in 13 hymns (1.3, 13, 89, 164; 10.17, 30, 64, 65, 66, 75, 110, 131, 141). Only two of these references are unambiguously to the river, 10.64.9 calling for the aid of three "great rivers", Sindhu, Sarasvati and Sarayu, and the geographical Nadistuti list (10.75.5) discussed above. The others invoke Sarasvati as a goddess without direct connection to a specific river. In 10.30.12, her origin as a river goddess may cause the rishi invokes her as protective deity as he composes a hymn to the celestial waters. Similarly, in 10.135.5, as Indra drinks Soma he is described as refreshed by Sarasvati. The invocations in 10.17 address Sarasvati as a goddess of the forefathers as well as of the present generation. In 1.13, 1.89, 10.85, 10.66 and 10.141, she is listed with other gods and goddesses, not with rivers. In 10.65, she is invoked together with "holy thoughts" (dhī) and "munificence" (puraṃdhi), consistent with her role as the goddess of both knowledge and fertility

Other Hindu texts

Yajur Veda

Yajurveda 34.11 says: "The five equally celebrated rivers, merged with the mighty Sarasvati The same Sarasvati got (divided)into five glorified flows in the country." The commentator Uvat wrote that the five tributatries of the Sarasvati were the Punjab rivers Drishadvati, Satudri (Sutlej), Chandrabhaga (Chenab), Vipasa (Vyas) and the Iravati (Ravi).

The Vajasaneyi-Samhita mentions five tributaries to the Sarasvati. According to V. S. Wakankar and Parchure, "the five moutths can be identified at Jaisalmer/Badmer. It is significant to note that dried-up remnants of the following five rivers are presently observable near the holy place called Panchabhadra..." V. S. Wakankar and C.N. Parchure: The Lost Vedic Sarasvati River, Mysore 1994, p.45)

Atharva Veda

Brahmanas

The first reference to a drying up of the Sarasvati is from the Brahmanas, texts that are still composed in Vedic Sanskrit, but dating to a later date than the Vedas proper. The Tandya Brahmana (25.10.11-16) records that the Sarasvati became sluggish and followed meandering course, and that it drifted westwards. The distance between the Plaksa Prasravana (place of appearance of the river)This place may refer to a spring in the Siwalik mountains in this text. It has been argued that the source of the Rigvedic Sarasvati is not in the Siwalik Hills. and the Vinasana (place of disappearance of the river) is said to be 44 asvins (between several hundred and 1600 miles) (Tandya Br. 25.10.16; Av. 6.131.13). D.S. Chauhan in Radhakrishna, B.P. and Merh, S.S. (editors): Vedic Sarasvati 1999. According to this reference, 44 asvins may be over 2600 kmVishal Agarwal points out that 44 Asvinas could be according to one calculation 880 miles (1400 km) or at least several hundred miles.

In the Shatapatha Brahmana there is a description of the god Agni burning out rivers, which may be a reference to the drying up of rivers.

Post-Vedic

• The Latyayana Srautasutra (10.15-19) describes the Sarasvati. The Sarasvati in this text seems to be a perennial river until Vinasana, which is west of its confluence with Drshadvati (Chautang). The Drshadvati is described as a seasonal stream in this text (10.17). The Asvalayana Srautasutra and Sankhayana Srautasutra contain verses that are similar to the Latyayana Srautasutra.

• The Mahabharata says that the Sarasvati dried up in a desert (at a place named Vinasana or Adarsana).Mhb. 3.82.111; 3.130.3; 6.7.47; 6.37.1-4., 9.34.81; 9.37.1-2 According to the Mahabharata, the river dried up in order that the Nishadas and Abhiras might not see her.Mhb 3.130.3-5; 9.37.1-2 The Mahabharata also states that Vasishtha committed suicide by throwing himself into the Sutlej and that the Sutlej then broke up in a 100 channels (Yash Pal in S.P. Gupta 1995: 175). This myth seems to be related with the changing of the course of the Sutlej river. Recent research indicates that the Sutlej flowed into the Ghaggar-Hakra river in ancient times. According to Hindu mythology, the Sarasvati flows in a subterranenan channel and joins the Yamuna and the Ganga in the "Triveni Sangam" at Prayag (Allahabad). The Mahabharata also records that the Sarasvati joins the sea impetuously (Mbh. 3.88.2). Balaram, elder brother of Krishna took a journey along the banks of Saraswati and visited a number of holy places during the wartime. During his pilgrimage, Balaram visited Vinasana, the place where the Sarasvati disappears in the desert (Mbh. 3.80.118; 9.36.1; 3.130.4). In Mahabharata 9.53.11, Balaram visited karapacava (where the Yamuna originates) shortly after visiting Plaska Prasravana (where the Sarasvati originates). The Mahabharata also records that the Sarasvati, after having disappeared in the desert, reappears in some places (e.g. Mbh. 3.80.118). According to the Mahabharata (3.81.115), Kurukshetra is south of the Sarasvati and north of the Drishadvati. The Mahabharata also states that the Sarasvati is the first creation among rivers and that it flows to the ocean (Mbh. Anus’a_sana 134.15).

• Several Puranas describe the Sarasvati river, and also record that the river separated into a number of lakes (saras). D.S. Chauhan in Radhakrishna, B.P. and Merh, S.S. (editors): Vedic Sarasvati, 1999, p.35-44 In Skanda Purana, five distributaries of the Sarasvati are mentioned.D.S. Chauhan in Radhakrishna, B.P. and Merh, S.S. (editors): Vedic Sarasvati, 1999, p.35-44 The Skanda Purana states that the Sarasvati originates from the water pot of Brahma and flows from Plaksa on the Himalayas. It then turns west at Kedara and also flows underground.

• In the Manu Samhita (II.17-18), the sage Manu, escaping from a flood, founded the Vedic culture between the Sarasvati and Drishadvati rivers. The Sarasvati River is the western boundary of Brahmavarta in Manusmriti (2.17): "the land between the Sarasvati and Drishadvati is created by God; this land is Brahmavarta."
• Similarly, the Vasistha Dharma Sutra I.8-9 and 12-13 locates Aryavarta to the east of the disappearance of the Sarasvati in the desert, to the west of Kalakavana, to the north of the mountains of Pariyatra and Vindhya and to the south of the Himalaya. Patanjali's Mahābhāṣya defines Aryavarta like the Vasistha Dharma Sutra.
• Baudhayana Dharmasutra gives similar definitions and declares that Aryavarta is the land that lies west of Kalakavana, east of Adarsana (where the Sarasvati disappears in the desert), south of the Himalayas and north of the Vindhyas.

Identification

Ghaggar-Hakra River

Both 19th century fieldwork and recent satellite imagery suggest that the Ghaggar-Hakra river in the undetermined past had the Sutlej and the Yamuna as its tributaries. Geological changes diverted the Sutlej towards the Indus and the Yamuna towards the Ganga, and the formerly great river (the Rann of Kutch is likely the remains of its delta) did not have enough water to reach the sea anymore and dried up in the Thar desert. This change is dated to ca. 1700 BC, in the wake of a drought period. This corresponds to the final phase of the Indus Valley Civilization and IVC sites are found along the dried up riverbed. It is often assumed that the Sarasvati of the early Rigveda corresponds to the Ghaggar-Hakra before these changes took place (the "Old Ghaggar"), and the late Vedic end Epic Sarasvati disappearing in the desert to the Ghaggar-Hakra following the diversion of Sutlej and Yamuna.

The identification of the Vedic Sarasvati River with the Ghaggar-Hakra River was already accepted by Christian LassenIndische Alterthumskunde and Max MüllerSacred Books of the East, 32, 60. However, an alternate view has located the early Sarasvati River in Afghanistan. The identity of the dried-up Ghaggar-Hakra with the late Vedic and post-Vedic Sarasvati is widely accepted. The identification of the early Rigvedic Sarasvati with the Old Ghaggar is another matter, and the subject of dispute. Kochhar (1999) lists a number of reasons conflicting with the identification:

• The Sutlej (Sutudri) is known from the early Rigveda, but there is no evidence that it flowed into the Sarasvati; RV 3.33 rather connects it with the Beas (Vipas), the present-day tributary of the Sutlej

Recent research does suggest that the Sutlej did once join the Ghaggar-Hakra, though Kochhar argues that the Sutlej flowed into the Ghaggar before Harappan times.Kochhar 1999: The Vedic people This is however uncertain. Moreover, both the Sutlej and Beas have often changed their courses. (See Ghaggar-Hakra River)

Helmand river

Suggestions for the identity of the early Rigvedic Sarasvati River include the Helmand River in Afghanistan, separated from the watershed of the Indus by the Sanglakh Range. The Helmand historically besides Avestan Haetumant bore the name Harahvaiti, which is the Avestan form corresponding to Sanskrit Sarasvati. The Old Persian form is Harachuwati, in Achaemenid times the name of the Arghandab River, the chief tributary of the Helmand. This name was in turn hellenized to Arachosia.

The Avesta extols the Helmand in similar terms to those used in the Rigveda with respect to the Sarasvati: "the bountiful, glorious Haetumant swelling its white waves rolling down its copious flood" (Yasht 10.67). Kocchar (1999) argues that the Helmand is identical to the early Rigvedic Sarasvati of suktas 2.41, 7.36 etc., and that the Nadistuti sukta (10.75) was composed centuries later, after eastward an eastward migration of the bearers of the Rigvedic culture to the western Gangetic plain some 600 km to the east. The Sarasvati by this time had become a mythical 'disappeared' river, and the name was transferred to the Ghaggar which disappeared in the desert, which under the influence of the early hymns was made into an invisible river joining the Gangu and Yamuna.

The possibility of an inverse transfer of the name from India to Iran is proposed by several scholars, who argue that "it would be just as plausible to assume that Saraswati was a Sanskrit term indigenous to India and was later imported by the speakers of Avestan into Iran." George Erdosy (1989): cited after Bryant 2001: 133 A transfer of the name from India to Iran, would have taken place in pre-Proto-Iranian times, since the initial *s was regularly changed to h- in proto-Iranian. e.g. Bryant (2001: 133)

Criticism of the Helmand identification typically points out that the Helmand flows into a swamp in the Iranian plateau (the extended wetland and lake system of Hamun-i-Helmand), which allegedly does not match the Rigvedic description of samudra.

The present-day Sarasvati (Sarsuti)

References

     
     Waters of South Asia