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Sarasvati सरस्वती नदी

The Sarasvati River (Sanskrit: सरस्वती नदी sárasvatī nadī) is one of
the chief Rigvedic rivers mentioned in ancient Hindu texts. The
Nadistuti hymn in the Rigveda (10.75) mentions the Sarasvati between
the Yamuna in the east and the Sutlej in the west, and later Vedic
texts like Tandya and Jaiminiya Brahmanas as well as the Mahabharata
mention that the Sarasvati dried up in a desert. The goddess Sarasvati
was originally a personification of this river, but later developed an
independent identity and meaning.
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.
Etymology
The name Sárasvatī is descended from Proto-Indo-Iranian sáras-wn̥t-iH
(virtually PIE *séles-wn̥t-ih2), meaning "she with many pools".
Sanskrit saras- means "pool, pond"; the feminine sarasī́ means
"stagnant pool, swamp" (e.g. RV 7.103.2b). Cognate with Greek ἕλος
"swamp", the Rigvedic term refers mostly to stagnant waters, and
Mayrhofer considers unlikely a connection with the root sar- "run,
flow".[1]
Sarasvatī is the Devi feminine of an adjective sarasvant- (which in
the masculine occurs in the Rigveda as the name of the keeper of the
celestial waters, e.g. 7.96.4, 10.66.5); it is cognate to Avestan
*Haraxwaitī, speculated by Lommel (1927)[2] to refer to Arədvī Sūrā
Anāhitā, the Avestan mythological world river, which would point to an
already Proto-Indo-Iranian myth of a cosmic or mystical *Sáras-vn̥t-iH
River. In the younger Avesta, Haraxwaitī is identified with a region
described to be rich in rivers, and the Old Persian cognate
Hara[h]uvatiš was the name of the Helmand river system, the origin of
the Greek name Arachosia.
Rigvedic Sarasvati
The Sarasvati River is mentioned a total of 72 times in the Rigveda,
appearing in all books except for book four.
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 síndhumātā[3]. 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 life spans
(āyuṣ) 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 the hills or mountains (giri), where she "burst with her
strong waves the ridges of the hills (giri)". It is a matter of
interpretation whether this refers not merely to the Himalayan
foothills like the present-day Sarasvati (Sarsuti) river. The
Sarasvati is described as a river swollen (pinvamānā) by the 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. The Sarasvati River is also associated with the five
tribes (e.g. RV 6.61.12), with the Paravatas and with the Purus (RV
7.95; 7.96).
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 up
to the Indus in the west in a strict geographical order), as "Ganga,
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 and the Apaya (Āpayā) River.