Rigvedic rivers

Brbu hath set himself above the Panis, o'er their highest head, Like the wide bush on Ganga's bank. ~ Rigveda

O Gangā, Yamunā, Sarasvatī, Shutudrī, Parushnī, hear my praise! ~ Rigveda

Your ancient home, your auspicious friendship, O Heroes, your wealth is on the banks of the Jahnavi. ~ Rigveda

Rivers, such as the Sapta Sindhavah ("seven rivers" Sanskrit: सप्त सिन्धव:) play a prominent part in the hymns of the Rig Veda, and consequently in early Historical Vedic religion. Vedic texts have a wide geographical horizon, speaking of oceans, rivers, mountains and deserts. “Eight summits of the Earth, three shore or desert regions, seven rivers.” (asthau vyakhyat kakubhah prthivyam tri dhanva yojana sapta sindhun RV.I.35.8).

Quotes

• From the lap of the mountains, happy, smiling, like two running mares, like two bright Mother cows licking their calf, Vipas and Shutudri run with fluid. Directed by Indra, seeking power, as chariots they travel to the sea.
  • RV III.33.1‑2
  • Quoted in Frawley, David. The Rig Veda and the History of India. (2001). Quoted from Frawley, D. The Hindu, 25th June 2002. WITZEL’S VANISHING OCEAN – HOW TO READ VEDIC TEXTS ANY WAY YOU LIKE. A Reply to Michael Witzel’s article “A Maritime Rigveda? How not to read the Ancient Texts”.

• Your ancient home, your auspicious friendship, O Heroes, your wealth is on the banks of the Jahnavi.
  • Rigveda III.58.6. Jahnavi is another name for Ganges in Sanskrit literature and occurs also in Rigveda I.116.19, where it is associated with the Simsumara (I.116.18) [Gangetic river dolphin]. However, Griffith translated it as “the house of Jahnu”. As quoted from Talageri, S. (2000). The Rigveda: A historical analysis. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan. Chapter 4.

• Brbu hath set himself above the Panis, o'er their highest head,
  Like the wide bush on Ganga's bank.
  • Rigveda VI.45.31 (translated by R. Griffith)

• Sarasvati, pure in her course from the mountains to the sea.
  • RV VII.95.2
  • Quoted in Frawley, David. The Rig Veda and the History of India. (2001). Quoted from Frawley, D. The Hindu, 25th June 2002. WITZEL’S VANISHING OCEAN – HOW TO READ VEDIC TEXTS ANY WAY YOU LIKE. A Reply to Michael Witzel’s article “A Maritime Rigveda? How not to read the Ancient Texts”.

• Maruts, what medicine of yours is in the Indus and in the Asikni rivers, what is in the oceans or what is in the mountains.
  • RV VIII.20.25
  • Quoted in Frawley, David. The Rig Veda and the History of India. (2001). Quoted from Frawley, D. The Hindu, 25th June 2002. WITZEL’S VANISHING OCEAN – HOW TO READ VEDIC TEXTS ANY WAY YOU LIKE. A Reply to Michael Witzel’s article “A Maritime Rigveda? How not to read the Ancient Texts”.

• Favour ye this my laud, O Gangā, Yamunā, O Sutudri, Paruṣṇī and Sarasvatī: With Asikni, Vitasta, O Marudvrdha, O Ārjīkīya with Susoma hear my call. First with Trstama thou art eager to flow forth, with Rasā, and Susartu, and with Svetya here, With Kubha; and with these, Sindhu and Mehatnu, thou seekest in thy course Krumu and Gomati.
  • Variant: O Gangā, Yamunā, Sarasvatī, Shutudrī (Sutlej), Parushnī (Ravi), hear my praise! Hear my call, O Asiknī (Chenab), Marudvridhā (Maruvardhvan), Vitastā (Jhelum) with Ārjīkiyā and Sushomā. First you flow united with Trishtāmā, with Susartu and Rasā, and with Svetyā, O Sindhu (Indus) with Kubhā (Kabul) to Gomati (Gumal or Gomal), with Mehatnū to Krumu (Kurram), with whom you proceed together.
  • Rigveda X.75.5-6

• The rivers invoked are . . . the real rivers of the Punjāb, and the poem shows a much wider geographical horizon than we should expect from a mere village bard.
  • About the Nadistuti sukta. Müller, F. Max, in India—What Can It Teach Us?, first edn 1883, sec. edn 1892; republ. Penguin Books, New Delhi, 2000, p. 149. quoted in Danino, M. (2010). The lost river : on the trail of the Sarasvatī. Penguin Books India.