Rivers in Ancient India (study)

by Archana Sarma | 2019 | 49,356 words

This page relates ‘The rivers and ancient civilizations of the world’ of the study on the rivers in ancient India as reflected in the Vedic and Puranic texts. These pages dicsusses the elements of nature and the importance of rivers (Nadi) in Vedic and Puranic society. Distinctive traits of rivers are investigated from descriptions found in the Vedas (Samhitas), Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanishads and Puranas. The research is concluded by showing changing trends of rivers from ancient to modern times.

5. The rivers and ancient civilizations of the world

The river is a natural stream of water that flows in a channel with more or less defined banks. Rivers are a fundamental link in the hydrologic cycle and they play a major role in shaping the surface features of the earth. Even apparently arid desert regions are greatly influenced by river action when periodic floodwaters surge down usually dry watercourses. River flow is sustained by the difference between water input and output. Rivers are fed by overland run off, groundwater seepage and melt water released along the edges of snowfields and glaciers. Direct precipitation contributes only very small amounts of water. Losses of river water result from percolation into porous and permeable rock, gravel or sand, evaporation and ultimately outflow into the ocean.[1]

The river is a very prestigious word for the Indian civilization as well as world civilization. Every great civilization of the world has been grown on the bank of a particular river. That is why, every civilization has given the respect towards these rivers. In India, almost all renowned societies have been developed with the help of a particular river. From the ancient time, people of India gave respect to these rivers and gave them status as ‘Mother’ (mātā).[2] Rituals were also done for the wellbeing of these rivers.

Among the most distinctive features of India are its rivers, which hold the highly religious importance among its people. Covering the vast geographical area of 329 million hectares, Indian rivers have been an important factor for the rural as well as urban prosperity of India. Carrying a wider importance in cultural, economical, geographical as well as religious development, the numerous rivers of India are of great value in India.

The rivers in India are even considered and worshipped god and goddess among the Hindus. The word India derives its name from Sindhu distorted into Sindh or Hind, which is said to have originally meant ‘flowing’[3] than a river, then some particular rivers especially the Sindhu, from where it was best known to all travelers whether from the west or the east. According to the early Greek writers, India is nothing more than Sindhu-Deśa—the country around the Indus and that Arrian, a writer of the second century, in the second chapter of his book Indicā, wanted to limit his India to the east of the Sindhu river.[4]

It is said that nearly ten thousand years ago when mighty rivers started flowing down the Himalayan slopes, western region of India was green and fertile. Great civilization prospered in the cool amiable climate on river banks of northwestern India. The abundant water of the rivers provided ample substance for their farming and other activities. Some six thousand years later, Sarasvatī, one of the rivers of great elegance in this region, for reason long enigmatic, dwindled and dried up. Several other rivers shifted their courses, some of their tributaries were pirated by neighbouring rivers or severed from their main course and took different names in different state.

There are ample references of rivers in the Vedic literature. Rivers constitute the lifeline for any country and some of the world’s great civilization (Indus Valley, Mesopotamian and Egyptian) have all prospered on the bank of river system. The Hindu considers rivers as sacred and have personified them as deities and sung their praises in their religious literature. Several rivers existed during the Vedic period and had their origin in the Himalayas. One such rivers, Sarasvatī, has been glorified in these texts and referred by various names like Mārkaṇḍā, Hākrā, Suprabhā, Kāñcankṣī, Viśālā, Manoramā etc.[5]

Rivers were attractive location for the first civilizations because they provided a steady supply of drinking water and made the land fertile for growing crops. Moreover, goods and people could be transported easily and the people in the civilization could fish and hunt the animals that came to drink water. Additionally those lost in the wilderness could return to civilization by travelling downstream, where the major centres of human population tend to concentrate.

Generally a river civilization in an agricultural nation flourished beside a river. In fact, all great civilization grew up in river valleys. The Nile Valley in Egypt had been home agricultural settlement, but the growth of Egypt as civilization began around 3100 B.C.E. A third civilization grew up along the Indus river around 2600 B.C.E, in parts of what now Indian and Pakistan. The fourth great river civilization emerged around 1700 B.C.E, along the Yellow river in China. It is also known as Huang-Ho River civilization.[6]

Civilization tended to grow up in river valleys for a number of reasons. The most obvious is access to a usually reliable source of water for agriculture and human needs. Plentiful water, and the enrichment of the soil due to annual floods, made it possible to grow excess crops beyond what was needed to sustain an agricultural village. This allowed some members of the community to engage in non agricultural activities such as construction of buildings and cities, metal working, trade and social organization.[7]

The earliest river valley civilization was Mesopotamia. The civilization was created after regular trading and started relationship between multiple cities and states around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Mesopotamian cities became self run civil governments. One of the cities within this civilization, Uruk, was the first literate society in history. Eventually, they all joined together to irrigate the two rivers in order to make their dry land fertile for agricultural growth. The increase in successful farming in this civilization allowed population growth throughout the cities and states within Mesopotamia.[8]

Another early civilization was founded by the Egyptian in the Nile River Valley. The waters of the Nile, the longest river in the world, were essential to the development of ancient Egypt. Every year the river gently flooded the valley, enriching the soil with silt and minerals. This fertile black soil made it possible for the Egyptian to grow a wide variety of foods. Without the Nile river, Egypt would have been nothing more than an empty desert.

Egypt also created irrigation system from its local river (The Nile river), but it was defined from the other civilization because its irrigation system was intricate than the others. The Egyptian would rotate legumes with cereal which would stop salt build up from the fresh water and enhance the fertility of their fields. The Nile river also allowed easier travel among the civilization and eventually created two kingdoms at the north and the south areas of the river until both were unified into one society.[9]

More than four thousand years ago their flourished in the north western parts of the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent a civilization which, deriving its name from the main river of the region, is known as the Indus civilization.[10] The Indus Valley civilization is different from the civilization of Egypt, Mesopotamia and

China in that much of its history is unknown. Discovered in the 1920s, Harappan society remains a mystery because the Harappan system of writing has not yet been deciphered. It was also larger than both Egypt and Mesopotamia, which is strange considering its apparent lack of both violence and a ruling class. There are no distinctive burial sites and there is not a lot of evidence to suggest a formal military. However, historians believe that the lack of knowledge about the ruling class and military is mainly due to the inability to read Harrapan writing.[11]

The rivers of ancient Greece were revered as deities since they provided the country with drinking water—a much coveted natural resource despite the country’s proximity to the sea. The fertile river basins yielded crops that were used for trade and food. The landscapes of Greece were beautiful because of these rivers and the ancients believed that their gods and goddesses resided on earth because of its beauty.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

cf., Encyclopedia Britannica, p.168

[3]:

pratyāyaṃ sindhumāvadan | Ibid.,1.11.6

[4]:

cf., Borooah, Anundaram., Ancient Geography of India, pp.3-4

[5]:

Bhargava, M.L., The Geography of Ṛgvedic India, pp.18-20

[6]:

McCannon, John, Barron’s AP World History, pp.57-60

[7]:

Mauntjoy, Shane, The Indus River (Rivers in World History, Book I), p.15

[8]:

Vide, Cole, Adrian and Ortega, Stephen, The Thinking Past, pp. 83, 95-101

[9]:

Ibid.

[10]:

Vide, Basham, A.L. , A Cultural History of India, p.96

[11]:

Vide, Cole, Adrian and Ortega, Stephen, Thinking past, pp. 106-108

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