Rigvedic rivers "EMPOWER IAS"

In news:

• The Centre has reconstituted an advisory committee to chalk out a plan for studying the mythical Sarasvati River for the next two years after the earlier panel’s term ended in 2019.

 

 

Sarasvati River

• The Sarasvati River is an extinct river mentioned in the Rig Veda and later Vedic and post-Vedic texts.
• As a physical river, it is described as a small river ending in “a terminal lake (Samudra).
• As the goddess Sarasvati, the main referent for the term “Sarasvati” which developed into an independent identity in post-Vedic times, she is described as a powerful river and mighty flood.
• The Sarasvati is also considered by Hindus to exist in a metaphysical form, in which it formed a confluence with the sacred rivers Ganges and Yamuna, at the Triveni Sangam.

 

Vedic reference of the river

• Rigvedic and later Vedic texts have been used to propose identification with present-day rivers, or ancient riverbeds.
• The Nadistuti hymn in the Rigveda (10.75) mentions the Sarasvati between the Yamuna in the east and the Sutlej in the west.
• Later Vedic texts like the Tandya and Jaiminiya Brahmanas, as well as the Mahabharata, mention that the Sarasvati dried up in a desert.

 

What led to its extinction?

• Since the late 19th-century, scholars have proposed to identify the Rig Vedic Saraswati river with the Ghaggar-Hakra river system.
• This flows through northwestern India and eastern Pakistan, between the Yamuna and the Sutlej.
• Recent geophysical research suggests that the Ghaggar-Hakra system was glacier-fed until 8,000 years ago, and then became a system of monsoon-fed rivers.
• ISRO has observed that major Indus Valley Civilization sites at Kalibangan (Rajasthan), Banawali and Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Dholavira and Lothal (Gujarat) lay along this course.
• The Indus Valley Civilisation may have declined as a result of climatic change when the monsoons that fed the rivers diminished at around the time civilisation diminished some 4,000 years ago.

 

Rig Vedic Geography

• Rig Vedic people called themselves ‘Aryans’. They had detailed knowledge of the geographical area in which they lived. Name and location and pattern of geographical features such as rivers and mountains mentioned in Rig-Veda suggest location of the regions of the geographical area of their habitat.
• The Nadi-sukta hymn of the Rig Veda mentions 21 rivers, which include the Ganga in the east and the Kubha (Kabul) in the west.
• The pattern of rivers is given in a definite order from the east to west i.e. from the Ganga in the east to the Kubul in the west. The rivers like Yamuna, Saraswati, Sutlej, Ravi, Jhelum, and Indus are situated between Ganga and Kabul.
• The mountain namely the Himalayas and the Mujavant (as mentioned in the Veda) are located in the north.
• The Ocean i.e. ‘Samudra’ is mentioned in connection with rivers Sindhu and the river Saraswati had been falling into the ocean. Ocean has been also mentioned in the context of foreign trade.
• The geography of Rig Vedic period covers present-day western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, the whole of Pakistan, and the south of Afghanistan.
• The battle of ten kings, mentioned in the Rig Veda, gives names of ten kings who participated in a war against Sudas who was Bharata king of Tritsus It illustrates that the territory known to Vedic people was divided into a number of states-republics and monarchical (kingdoms).
• The battle was fought on the bank of Parushani (Ravi) river and Sudas emerged as victorious.
• ‘Bharatvarsha’ was the name used for the whole country. It was given by the most important people of the Rig Veda. They were ‘Bharatas’ who were settled in the region between the rivers Saraswati and Yamuna.
• The Rig Veda also gives the location of other people, such as Purus in the region of Kurukshetra; the Tritsus east of Ravi; the Alinas, the Pakhtas, the Bhalanas and the Sibis west of Indus (up to Kabul river) and so on

 

Society

• Occupation of individuals was the basis of classification of a society in the Rig Vedic period.
• It was divided into four varnas, namely
  1. Brahmanas (teacher and priests);
  2. Kshatriya (rulers and administrators);
  3. Vaisya (farmers, merchants, and bankers); and
  4. Sudra (artisan and laborers).
• There was complete freedom and mobility for the adoption of a profession.
• Trades and occupations did not assume a hereditary character in the society (till now).

 

Salient Features of Vedic Society

• The family was the smallest unit of a society. It was primarily monogamous and Patriarchal.
• Child marriage was not in fashion.
• There was freedom of choice in marriage.
• A widow could marry the younger brother of her deceased husband.
• The wife was a partner of the husband in all religious and social ceremonies.
• The father’s property was inherited by son.
• The daughter could inherit it only if she was the only child of her parents
• Right to property was known in moveable things like cattle, horse, gold, and ornament and so also in immoveable property like land and house.