The Saraswati River that joins the Ghaggar may not be the Saraswati River of the Rig Veda?
Indus Valley Civilization | Sindhu-Saraswati Civilization | Saraswati River | Rig Veda
The Indus Valley Civilization prospered in the Western part of India in the Bronze Age. It is often known as the “Sindhu-Saraswati Civilization.” The idea behind this name is the Saraswati River that flows through Haryana and joins the Ghaggar River is the same Saraswati River that is mentioned in the Rig Veda.
The Nadi Stuti or River Worship Hymn of the Rig Veda (10:75) has many anomalies.
Rig Veda | Nadi Stuti Hymn | Hymn 10:75| Rivers|21 Rivers
This identification is further supported by the Nadi Stuti Hymn or “River Worship” Hymn of the Rig Veda (10:75). A close reading of this Hymn indicates there are certain anomalies in it. The first verse of this Hymn says “The rivers has come forward triply seven and seven.” This indicates there are three groups of seven rivers or a total of 21 rivers. However, verses 5 and 6 give names of only 19 rivers.
One of the two missing rivers from Nadi Stuti Hymn is likely to be the Sarayu?
Rig Veda | Sarayu | Sindhu| Saraswati Rivers
Therefore, two names are missing. One of these two could be the Sarayu because in another verse the Rig Veda talks about only three rivers Sindhu, Saraswati and Sarayu. Only three rivers are mentioned here. This means that these three rivers were placed at the same pedestal and they were as glorious as the other. In view of this the missing name of Sarayu is disconcerting. It suggests that some modification has been done in this Hymn.
Rig Vedic Ganga must be some other west-flowing river?
Rig Veda | Nadi Stuti Hymn|Rig Vedic Sarayu|Ganga| Rig Vedic Saraswati
Second difficulty is that this Hymn tell of the Sindhu River carrying waters of all the other rivers. Verse 4 says: “Like mothers to their calves…so, Sindhu, unto thee the roaring rivers run.” Again, in verse 6: “Thou Sindhu seekest these rivers in thy course.” Therefore, Ganga, which is first of the rivers mentioned in this Hymn, should also flow into the Sindhu River. But such is not possible. There is evidence of Yumuna flowing westward at an early time. There is no evidence for Ganga flowing westward. This suggests that the name of Ganga has been used in this Hymn for some others river that used to flow westward at that time. It could be Somb, Markanda or another river that flows westward even today. Considering everything, it is incorrect to rely on the Nadi Stuti Hymn to identify the Rivers. Our suggestion is that the Ghaggar may be the Rig Vedic Sarayu; and the Luni that comes out of Pushkar may be the Rig Vedic Saraswati.
Ghaggar and Luni both flow into the Rann of Kutch and either could be the Saraswati of the Rig Veda.
Rig Veda |Saraswati|Sindhu|Ghaggar |Luni | Rann of Kutch
The statement made elsewhere in the Rig Veda that the Saraswati flows to the sea dose not hamper our suggestion because the Ghaggar and Luni both flow into the Rann of Kutch and the Sindhu also flowed into the Rann of Kutch at an early time. In this way the Sindhu carried the waters of both the Ghaggar and Luni rivers through the Rann of Kutch. Therefore, the statement that the Saraswati flows to the sea matches both with Ghaggar and Luni.
Sarayu |Living Ayodhya|Ghaghara|Ghaggar
It must be noted that the name of the present Sarayu which flows from Living Ayodhya is Known as Ghaghara. So, if the Sarayu is known as the “Ghaghara” today, then the “Ghaggar” could be known as Sarayu in the past.
The sequence of rivers in the River Worship Hymn has been deliberately changed?
Ganga|Yumuna|Sutudri |Sutluj|Parusni |Ravi|Saraswati
Also, the order of the rivers in this Hymn appears to have been changed. Ralph Griffith, who has translated the Rig Veda into English, gives the sequence of the first five rivers as Ganga, Yumuna, Sutudri (Sutluj), Parusni (Ravi) and Saraswati. However modern translators including Satwalekar give the sequence as Ganga, Yumuna, Saraswati, Sutudri (Sutluj ), Parusni (Ravi). In doing so, they may have transposed the Saraswati to a position between Sutluj and Yumuna to match with the present Saraswati of Haryana.
It is quite plausible that the Rigvedic Sindhu was Indus, Sarayu was Ghaggar and the Saraswati was the Luni. If this be true, then it would be proper to rename the civilization as “Sindhu-Sarayu Civilization.”
My article is published in Transactions of the Institute of Indian Geographers, which you can see here: – https://www.academia.edu/45296281/Saraswati_River_of_the_Rig_Veda
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