Rivers in Ancient India (study)
by Archana Sarma | 2019 | 49,356 words
This page relates ‘Depiction of Sarasvati as mother’ 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.
1(c). Depiction of Sarasvatī as mother
[1. The river Sarasvatī in the Ṛgveda-saṃhitā, (c): Depiction of Sarasvatī as mother]
In ancient times, the river Sarasvatī was really a great river and made its way to the sea.[1] Among the rivers, the only names of frequent occurrences are those of the Sindhu and the Sarasvatī. Sarasvatī is one of the seven rivers. Sarasvatī is regarded as most celebrated among the rivers.[2]
The river Sarasvatī is poetically conceived as an affectionate mother in the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā. Only a few mantras express her motherly character. She is the source of fertility,[3] a milch cow and even a goddess. Like a mother, the river Sarasvatī also does well to the worshippers living along the banks as if they are its own children. Her motherly nature is clear from her epithet ambitame.[4] This means best of ‘mothers’. The word indicates the existence of several other Mother Goddesses in the Ṛgvedic period. As a mother, she grants renown to the unrenowned.[5] The epithet ambitame or the ‘most motherly’ brings Sarasvatī into close connection with other Mother Goddesses of the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā, as Aditi, Puramdhi etc. According to S.K. Das, this could happen, firstly because she was worshipped by the tribes along the rivers as the spirit of fertility, promoting by her abundant water, the growth of crops cultivated on her banks and the secondly, because she nourished by her full swelling volumes of water of the small streams which issued from her, just as mother feeds suckling babies.[6]
The Sarasvatī is, however, more greatly celebrated than any other river. But, though the personification in this case goes much further than in the others, the connection of the goddess with the river is in the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā always present to the minds of the poets. The conception of motherly attributes is really significant and plays a great part in the Vedic period. Sarasvatī provides profuse waters to the rivers to flow and to the people for different purposes. So, Sarasvatī is addressed as the mother of the rivers or waters, i.e. Sindhumātā.[7] Being prominent among all the rivers, she is the mother of streams. She is the most celebrated among the rivers.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
ācetatsarasvatī nadīnāṃ śuciryatī giribhya ā samudrāt | ek Ibid.,7.95.6; 7.96.2 rāyaścetantī bhuvanasya bhūrerghṛtaṃ payo duduhe nāhuṣāya ||
[2]:
ambitame nadītame devitame sarasvatī | Ibid.,7.95.2 aprasaśtā iva smasi praśastimamba naskṛdhi Ibid., 2.41.16
[3]:
ā yatsākaṃ yaśaso vāvaśānāḥ sarasvatī saptathī sindhhumātā | yāḥ suṣvayanta sududhāḥ sudhārā abhi svena payasā pīpyānāḥ || Ibid.,7.36.6
[4]:
ambitame nadītame devitame sarasvatī | aprasaśtā iva smasi praśastimamba naskṛdhi || Ibid., 2.41.16
[6]:
Vide,Srivastava, M.C.P., Mother Goddess in Indian Art Arcaeoloy and Lirterature, p.47
[7]:
ā yatsākaṃ yaśaso vāvaśānāḥ sarasvatī saptathī sindhhumātā | yāḥ suṣvayanta sududhāḥ sudhārā abhi svena payasā pīpyānāḥ || Ṛgveda Saṃhitā,7.36.6