Rivers in Ancient India (study)
by Archana Sarma | 2019 | 49,356 words
This page relates ‘4d. Sarasvati’s relation with Sarasvata’ 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.
4d. Sarasvatī’s relation with Sārasvata
In different contexts of the Purāṇas, Sārasvata has been referred to at several places. For example, it stands for the son of Sarasvatī and Dadhīca,[1] the twelfth kalpa,[2] the son of Jaigīṣavya,[3] a Vedavyāsa of the ninth dvāpara,[4] etc.
The Purāṇas tell that there lived an ancient cult of Hindus called Sārasvatas. They lived by the side of the river Sarasvatī. The people of the cult were supposed to be Brāhmaṇas. The area was called the Sārasvata nation after their name.[5] They were called Sārasvatas apparently because of their continuous inhabitance along the banks of the river Sarasvatī. They got benefits from the river and regarded it as their own mother. The sanctity and divinity attached to the river influenced their lives and many of them rose as seers.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
sārasvataḥ sarasvatyāmaṃ dadhīcāc co prapadyate | Brn.P., 3.1.94; Vāyu Purāṇa, 65.91
[2]:
Matsya Purāṇa, 390.5
[4]:
sārasvatyaśca navame | Viṣṇu Purāṇa, 3.3.13