3. Historical Facts of the river Sarasvatī

The Sarasvatī river was the boundary of Brahmavarta, the home of the early Aryans. In ancient times, Sarasvatī was supposed to be the goddess of the Bharatas tribe who held themselves as descending from her. It is the source of food and wealth of the descendants of Nahuṣa and other living beings, viz. the five tribes such as the Bhāratas, Kurus, Kuśānas, Matsyas and Videhas, for it is said in the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā that the Sarasvatī causes prosperity of five folks.^[1] Sarsvatī is described to be excessively generous to the kings residing along the banks of the Sarasvatī.^[2] Sarasvatī’s association with the Bhāratas proved that she would have flowed in the western part of the Indian Peninsula. Moreover, the references to the early kurus assign them to the western provinces of India. As they were closely associated with the Sarasvatī, the letter must have flowed in the western part of India, especially in the Punjab. It can be said that the Sarasvatī of the Ṛgvedic time flowed through their regions and made them flourish in the western part of India in Punjab and the south of Rajasthan.

Sarasvatī as the embodiment of the Sarasvatī river is significant in both a historical and a theological sense. The Vedic Aryans, who migrated into NorthWest India, and gradually spread throughout the subcontinent in the course of many generations. The reverence given to Sarasvatī as the embodiment of a river in North-West India, is important which indicates that the Aryan had begun to identify their culture with a specific geographical location and were beginning to settle down to a non-nomadic way of life.

The river Sarasvatī could not maintain its flow and it disappeared long ago. Max Müller is of the opinion that the Sarasvatī did not disappear in the Ṛgvedic age, but later.^[3]