http://voi.org/books/rig/ch4.htm
The same link you posted is mentioning as below
II.A. The
Westward Expansion in the Bharata Period
The graph of
the rivers clearly shows that there was a westward expansion of the Vedic Aryans from the
time of SudAs onwards.
In the Early
period, right from pre-Rigvedic times to the time of SudAs, the Vedic Aryans
were settled in the area to the east of the Punjab: MaNDala VI knows of no
river to the west of the SarasvatI.
However, in the
MaNDalas and upa-maNDalas following MaNDala VI, we find a steady movement
westwards:
a. MaNDala III
refers to the first two rivers of the Punjab from the east: the SutudrI and
the VipAS.
b. MaNDala VII
refers to the next two rivers of the Punjab from
the east: the ParuSNI and AsiknI.
c. The middle
upa-maNDalas of MaNDala I contain the first reference to the Indus, but none to
the rivers west of the Indus.
d. MaNDala IV
contains the first references to rivers west of the Indus.
If the case for
the westward expansion is strong enough even merely from the evidence of thenames of the rivers, it becomes
unimpeachable when we examine the context in which these names appear in the
hymns:
1. The SutudrI
and VipAS are not referred to in a casual vein. They are referred to in a
special context: hymn III.33 is a special ode to these two rivers by ViSvAmitra
in commemoration of a historical movement of the warrior bands of the Bharatas
led by SudAs and himself, across the billowing waters of these rivers.
What is
important is that this hymn is characterized by
the Western scholars themselves as
a historical hymn commemorating the migratory movement of the Vedic Aryans
across the Punjab.,
But the Western
scholars depict it as a movement from the west to the east: Griffith calls the
hymn “a relic of the traditions of the Aryans regarding their progress eastward
in the land of the Five Rivers”.
However, an
examination of the facts leaves no doubt that the direction of this historical
movement was from the east to
the west: the very distribution of the river-names in the Rigveda, as
apparent from our graph of the rivers, makes this clear.
But there is
more specific evidence within the hymns to show that this movement was from the
east to the west:
SudAs is a
descendant of DivodAsa (VII.18.25), DivodAsa is a descendant of SRnjaya
(VI.47.22 and Griffith’s footnotes to it) and SRnjaya is a descendant of
DevavAta (IV.15.4): SudAs is therefore clearly a remote descendant of DevavAta.
DevavAta
established the sacrificial fire on the banks of the ApayA between the
SarasvatI and the DRSadvatI (III.23.3-4) The SarasvatI is to the east of the VipAS and SutudrI, and the
ApayA and DRSadvatI are even
further east. No ancestor of SudAs is associated with any river to the west
of the SarasvatI.
The historical
movement of the Vedic Aryans across the SutudrI and the VipAS, at the time of
SudAs, can only be a westward movement.
2. The ParuSNI
and AsiknI, also, are not referred to in a casual vein: they also are referred
to in a special context. The context is a major battle fought on the
ParuSNI by the Bharatas under SudAs and VasiSTha (who replaced ViSvAmitra as
the priest of SudAs).
The direction
of the movement is crystal clear in this case as well: SudAs with his earlier priest ViSvAmitra is associated
with the SutudrI and VipAS, and with his later priest VasiSTha is associated with the
ParuSNI which is to the west of the two other rivers.
But there is
more specific evidence in MaNDala VII about the direction of movement in this
battle, which is the subject of various references throughout the MaNDala:
a. The battle is fought on the ParuSNI and the enemies of SudAs
(who is referred to here as the PUru) are described in VII.5.3 as the people of
the AsiknI. The AsiknI is to the west of the ParuSNI hence it is clear that the
enemies of SudAs are fighting from the west of the ParuSNI while SudAs is fighting
from the east.
Curiously,
Griffith mistranslates the name of the river AsiknI as “dark-hued”, thereby
killing two birds with one stone: the people of the AsiknI become “the
dark-hued races”, thereby wiping out the sense of direction inherent in the
reference, while at the same time introducing the racial motif
b. In VII.83.1, two of the tribes fighting against SudAs, the
PRthus and the ParSus, are described as marching eastwards (prAcA) towards him.
Griffith again
mistranslates the names of the tribes as “armed with broad axes” and the word prAcA
as “forward”.
c. VII.6.5 refers indirectly to this battle by talking of the
defeat of the tribes of Nahus (i.e. the tribes of the Anus and Druhyus who
fought against SudAs) as follows: “Far, far away hath Agni chased the Dasyus,
and, in the east, hath turned
the godless westward”. SudAs is therefore clearly pressing forward
from the east.
3. The first
references to the Indus are in the middle upa-maNDalas (I.83.1) and in MaNDala
IV (IV.30.12; 54.6; 55.3). There is, perhaps, a westward movement indicated
even in the very identity of the composers of the hymns which contain these
references: I.83 is composed by Gotama RAhUgaNa who does not refer to any river
west of the Indus, while the references in MaNDala IV are by his descendants, the VAmadeva
Gautamas, who also refer to two rivers to the west of the Indus (IV.18.8;
30.18).
Thus, we have a
clear picture of the westward movement of the Vedic Aryans from their homeland
in the east of the SarasvatI to the area to the west of the Indus, towards the
end of the Early Period of the Rigveda: IV.30.18 refers to what is clearly the
westermnost point in this movement, a battle fought in southern Afghanistan “on
yonder side of Sarayu”.
II. B. The
Evidence of Some Key Rivers:
The key rivers
in the Rigveda are:
a. The
Indus to the west of the Five Rivers of the Punjab.
b. The
SarasvatI to the east of the Five Rivers of the Punjab.
c. The GaNgA
and YamunA, the easternmost rivers named in the Rigveda.
The evidence of
these key rivers is extremely significant:
1. The Indus and the SarasvatI:
The word Sindhu
in the Rigveda primarily means “river” or even “sea”; it is only secondarily a
name of the Indus river: thus Saptasindhava can mean “seven rivers” but not
“seven Induses”.
The relative
insignificance of the Indus in the Rigveda is demonstrated by the fact that the Indus is not mentioned even
once in the three oldest MaNDalas of the Rigveda.
Since the word
Sindhu, in its meaning of “river”, occurs frequently throughout the Rigveda,
scholars are able to juggle with the word, often mistranslating the word Sindhu
as “the Indus” even when it means “river”.
However, even this sophistry is not possible
in the case of the three oldest MaNDalas (VI, III and VII): the word
Sindhu, except in eight verses, occurs only in the plural, and can be
translated only as “rivers”.
In seven of the
eight references, in which the word occurs in the singular, it clearly refers
to some other “river” which is specified within the context of the reference
itself:
a.
III.33.3, 5; 53.9: VipAS.
b. VII.18.5:
ParuSNI.
c.
VII.33.3: YamunA.
d.
VII.36.6; 95.1: SarasvatI.
In the eighth
reference (VII.87.6) the word means “sea”: the verse talks of the sun setting
in the sea.
In sharp
contrast, the SarasvatI is referred to many times in the three oldest MaNDalas.
In fact, there are three whole hymns dedicated to it in these MaNDalas: VI.61;
VII.95, 96.
All in all, the
SarasvatI is referred to in nine MaNDalas out of ten in the Rigveda (i.e. in
all except MaNDala IV, which represents the westernmost thrust in the westward
movement of the Vedic Aryans). The Indus is referred to in only six
MaNDalas (I, IV, V, VIII, IX, X); and in three of these (V, IX, X), the
references to the SarasvatI far outnumber the references to the Indus.
It is only in
the latest parts of the Rigveda that the Indus
overshadows the SarasvatI:
a. In MaNDala VIII, the references to the Indus outnumber the
references to the SarasvatI (by six verses to four).
b. In the general and late upa-maNDalas of MaNDala I, the
Indus, but not the SarasvatI, is enumerated with other deities in the refrain
of the Kutsas which forms the last verse of nineteen out of their twenty-one
hymns.
c. In MaNDala X, although there are more references to the
SarasvatI, it is the Indus, and not the SarasvatI, which is the main river
lauded in the nadIstuti (X.75), the hynm in Praise of the
Rivers.
The SarasvatI
is so important in the whole of the Rigveda that it is worshipped
as one of the Three Great Goddesses in the AprI-sUktas of all the ten families
of composers (being named in nine of them and implied in the tenth). The
Indus finds no place in these AprI-sUktas.
The contrast
between the overwhelming importance of the SarasvatI and the relative
unimportance of the Indus is so striking, and so incongruous with the theory of
an Aryan invasion from the northwest, that many scholars resort to desperate
explanations to account for it: Griffith, in his footnote to VI.61.2, suggests
that perhaps “SarasvatI is also another name of Sindhu or the Indus”.
2. The Eastern Rivers
The GaNgA and
the YamunA are the two easternmost rivers named in the Rigveda. One or
the other of these two rivers (either by these names, or by their other names,
JahnAvI and AMSumatI respectively) is named in seven of the ten MaNDalas of the
Rigveda, including the three
oldest MaNDalas (VI, III and
VII).
By contrast,
the Indus and its western tributaries, as we saw, are named in only six
MaNDalas, which do not include the three oldest MaNDalas of
the Rigveda.
But even more
significant than these bare statistics is the particular nature of the four
references to the GaNgA, the easternmost river of them all:
a. The nadIstuti begins its enumeration of the rivers
with the GaNgA and moves westwards.
Whether this
circumstance in itself is a significant one or not is debatable; but while many
scholars, without necessarily having arrived at any specific ideas about
Rigvedic chronology or geography, find it important, certain others seek to
deflect its importance, and even to dismiss the importance of the GaNgA itself
in the Rigveda:
Griffith, in
his footnote to X.75.5, takes pains to suggest that “the poet addresses first
the most distant rivers. GaNgA:
the Ganges is mentioned, indirectly, in only one other verse of the Rgveda, and even there, the
word is said by some to be the name of a woman. See VI.45.3l.”
b. The reference in VI.45.31 is definitely significant: the
composer compares the height of a patron’s generosity to the height of the wide
bushes on the banks of the GaNgA.
This makes it
clear that even in the oldest MaNDala in the Rigveda, the GaNgA is a familiar
geographical landmark, whose features conjure up images which are very much a
part of traditional idiomatic expression.
c. The reference in III.58.6. is infinitely more
significant. Griffith translates the verse as follows: “Ancient your
home, auspicious is your friendship: Heroes, your wealth is with the house of
Jahnu.”
Here, not only
does Griffith mistranslate JahnAvI as “the house of Jahnu”, he compounds it
with a further misinterpretation of the grammatical form:
JahnAvyAm is clearly “on (the banks of) the JahnAvI” on the lines of
similar translations by Griffith himself in respect of other rivers: ParuSNyAm (V.52.9: on the banks of the ParuSNI), YamunAyAm(V.52.17: on the banks
of the YamunA), DRSadvatyAm… ApayAyAm SarasvatyAm (III.23.4: on the banks of the
DRSadvatI, ApayA and SarasvatI).
The correct
translation of III.58.6, addressed to the ASvins, is: “Your ancient home, your
auspicious friendship, O Heroes, your wealth is on (the banks of the JahnAvI.”
What is
noteworthy is that the phrase PurANamokah “ancient home” is used in the second
oldest MaNDala in the Rigveda, in reference to the banks of the GaNgA.
d. The reference in I.116.19 associates the JahnAvI with
BharadvAja, DivodAsa and the Gangetic dolphin (all of whom are referred to in
the earlier verse I.116.18). It is clear, therefore, that the river is
specially associated with the oldest period of the Rigveda, the period of
MaNDala VI (which is also the only place, outside the nadIstuti, where the GaNgA is
referred to by that name).
The evidence of
the rivers in the Rigveda is therefore unanimous in identifying the area to the
east of the SarasvatI as the original homeland of the Vedic Aryans.