Sarasvati (river)

Geography of the area in which the Rigveda was created; the Rigvedic name Sindhu corresponds to today's Indus

Sarasvati ( Sanskrit सरस्वती Sarasvatī , f.) Is in the Vedic religion and in Hinduism the name of a mythological river derived from the goddess Sarasvati , the localization of which is controversial.

Reconstruction of the course of the river: 1 = original course, 2 = today's river bed, 3 = today's Thar desert , 4 = original coastline, 5 = today's coastline, 6 = today's cities

myth

In Rigveda , the river Sarasvati is celebrated as well as the goddess of the same name. So it says:

• With impetuosity it broke open the ridge of the mountains with the mighty waves like a root digger . We would like to ask Sarasvati, who fends off the strangers, with hymns and prayers for mercy.

In verse 14 of the same passage it says:

• Sarasvati! Guide us to happiness; do not withdraw! Let's not miss out on your milk (water)! Enjoy our friendship and our clan cooperative. We don't want to go away from you to foreign countries!

In the hymn To the Rivers , 18 rivers, interestingly in the order from east to west, then from north to south, are listed with their Rigvedic names. Among them it is above all the Sindu (Indus) and its tributaries (including the Sarasvati), which are praised by the singers for their amount of water.

Others

The river is said to have gradually silted up due to tectonic shifts. It is believed that the beas or the ghaggar-hakra are the most frequently mentioned.

The Saraswati Koop , located in the Fort of Allahabad, is viewed by devout Hindus as the source of the river and is accordingly revered.

See also

The source river of the Shipra in Madhya Pradesh bears the name Saraswati to the north of the city of Indore .

Web links

Commons : Sarasvati  - collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

• Herbert Wilhelmy : The glacial valley on the eastern edge of the Indus plain and the Sarasvati problem. - In: Journal of Geomorphology , Supplementary Volume 8, Verlag Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin and Stuttgart 1969, pp. 76-93.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Karl Friedrich Geldner , Rigveda 6,61,2 de sa 
2. ^ Karl-Friedrich Geldner, Rig-Veda
3. ↑ Rigveda 10.75 de sa 
4. ↑ Michael Witzel and Toshifumi Goto: Rig-Veda; First and Second Circle of Songs, p. 432
5. ↑ so by Christian Lassen , Friedrich Max Müller , Marc Aurel Stein , CF Oldham and Jane Macintosh