IV. On some River Names in the Ṛgveda

Extract

The historical interest presented by Hymn x. 75 of the Ṛgveda, the famous Nadīatuti or “Song of the Rivers”, has been recognized ever since the critical study of Vedic literature began. The numerous ancient river-names of North-Western India therein mentioned furnish an indication more definite than can be found elsewhere of the area once occupied by, or familiar to, the Indo-Aryan people, to whom we owe the oldest literary remains of India as contained in the Vedic Saṁhitās.