1.
River
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A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of water, small rivers can be referred to using names such as stream, creek, brook, rivulet, and rill. There are no official definitions for the term river as applied to geographic features. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location, examples are run in parts of the United States, burn in Scotland and northeast England. Sometimes a river is defined as being larger than a creek, but not always, Rivers are part of the hydrological cycle. Potamology is the study of rivers while limnology is the study of inland waters in general. Extraterrestrial rivers of liquid hydrocarbons have recently found on Titan. Channels may indicate past rivers on other planets, specifically outflow channels on Mars and rivers are theorised to exist on planets, a river begins at a source, follows a path called a course, and ends at a mouth or mouths. The water in a river is confined to a channel. In larger rivers there is also a wider floodplain shaped by flood-waters over-topping the channel. Floodplains may be wide in relation to the size of the river channel. This distinction between river channel and floodplain can be blurred, especially in areas where the floodplain of a river channel can become greatly developed by housing. Rivers can flow down mountains, through valleys or along plains, the term upriver refers to the direction towards the source of the river, i. e. against the direction of flow. Likewise, the term describes the direction towards the mouth of the river. The term left bank refers to the bank in the direction of flow. The river channel typically contains a stream of water, but some rivers flow as several interconnecting streams of water. Extensive braided rivers are now found in only a few regions worldwide and they also occur on peneplains and some of the larger river deltas. Anastamosing rivers are similar to braided rivers and are quite rare
2.
Gandhara
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Gandhara is also an ancient name for Kandahar, Afghanistan. Gandhāra was an ancient Indic kingdom situated in the region of Pakistan. It encompassed the Peshawar valley and later extended to both Jalalabad district of modern-day Afghanistan as well as Taxila, in Pakistan. During the Achaemenid period and Hellenistic period, its city was Charsadda. It is mentioned in the Zend Avesta as Vaēkərəta, the sixth most beautiful place on earth and it was known as the crown jewel of Bactria and also held sway over Takṣaśilā. Gandhara existed since the time of the Rigveda and formed part of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BC, after it was conquered by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1001 AD, the name Gandhara disappeared. During the Muslim period, the area was administered from Lahore or from Kabul, during Mughal times, it was an independent district which included the Kabul province. The name Gāndhāra occurs later in the classical Sanskrit of the epics and it is recorded in Avestan as Vaēkərəta. The Gandhari people are a tribe mentioned in the Rigveda, the Atharvaveda, one proposed origin of the name is from the Sanskrit word gandha, meaning perfume and referring to the spices and aromatic herbs which they traded and with which they anointed themselves. Some authors have connected the modern name Kandahar to Gandhara, Herodotus records that those Iranic tribes, which were adjacent to the city of Caspatyrus and the district of Pactyïce, had customs similar to the Bactrians, and are the most warlike amongst them. These are also the people who obtain gold from the ant-hills of the adjoining desert, on the identity of Caspatyrus, there have been two opinions, one equating it with Kabul, the other with the name of Kashmir. The boundaries of Gandhara varied throughout history, sometimes the Peshawar Valley and Taxila were collectively referred to as Gandhara, sometimes the Swat Valley was also included. The heart of Gandhara, however, was always the Peshawar Valley, the kingdom was ruled from capitals at Kapisa, Pushkalavati, Taxila, Puruṣapura and in its final days from Udabhandapura on the River Indus. Evidence of the Stone Age human inhabitants of Gandhara, including stone tools, the artifacts are approximately 15,000 years old. More recent excavations point to 30,000 years before the present, the region shows an influx of southern Central Asian culture in the Bronze Age with the Gandhara grave culture, and the nucleus of Vedic civilisation. This culture flourished from 1500 to 500 BC and its evidence has been discovered in the hilly regions of Swat and Dir, and even at Taxila. The name of the Gandhāris is attested in the Rigveda and in ancient inscriptions dating back to Achaemenid Persia, the Behistun inscription listing the 23 territories of King Darius I includes Gandāra along with Bactria and Sattagydia. In the book Histories by Herodotus, Gandhara is named as a source of tax collections for King Darius, the Gandhāris, along with the Balhika, Mūjavants, Angas, and the Magadhas, are also mentioned in the Atharvaveda, as distant people
3.
Kurukshetra
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Kurukshetra is a city in the state of Haryana, India. It is also known as Dharmakshetra, according to the Puranas, Kurukshetra is a region named after King Kuru, the ancestor of Kauravas and Pandavas, as depicted in epic Mahabharata. The population of Kurukshetra was 964,655 in 2016, before the establishment of a refugee camp named Kurukshetra in 1947, Thanesar was the name of the tehsil headquarters and the town. Thanesar or Sthaneswar is a town located adjacent to what is now the newly created Kurukshetra city. Thanesar derives its name from the word Sthaneshwar, which means Place of God, the Sthaneshwar Mahadev Temple, whose presiding deity is Lord Shiva, is believed to be the oldest temple in the vicinity. Local hearsay identifies the legendary Kurukshetra with a place near Thanesar, a few kilometers from Kurukshetra is the village known as Amin, where there are remnants of a fort which is believed to be Abhimanyus. In most ancient Hindu texts, Kurukshetra is not a city, the boundaries of Kurukshetra correspond roughly to the central and western parts of state of Haryana and southern Punjab. Thus according to the Taittiriya Aranyaka 5.1.1, the Kurukshetra region is south of Turghna, north of Khandava, east of Maru and west of Parin. In early July 2013 the Haryana Department of Archaeology and Museums announced that the excavated remains of a Buddhist stupa in Kurukshetra were ready to be displayed for the public. It is written in Puranas that Kurukshetra is named after King Kuru of the Bharata Dynasty, the Vamana Purana tells how King Kuru came to settle here. He chose this land at the banks of Sarasvati River for embedding spirituality with eight virtues, austerity, truth, forgiveness, kindness, purity, charity, yajna, Lord Vishnu was impressed with the act of King Kuru and blessed him. God gave him two boons, one that this land forever will be known as a Holy Land after his name as Kurukshetra, the land of Kurukshetra was situated between two rivers — the Sarasvati and the Drishadvati. This land has been known as Uttarvedi, Brahmavedi, Dharamkshetra and Kurukshetra at different periods, when King Kuru came on this land it was called Uttarvedi. Over the period this land has been ruled by many empires, the Bharata Dynasty came and settled here. According to the Hindu mythology, the Battle of Mahabharata was fought on this land, by the archaeological grounds it has been proved that Ashoka the Great made Kurukshetra a centre of learning for people from all over the world. It reached the zenith of its progress during the reign of King Harsha, the climate of the district is very hot in summer and cold in winter with rains in July and August. In 2012, Kurukshetra banned the sale, possession and consumption of meat within the limits of the Municipal Corporation owing to its religious significance and it is supposed to be the worlds largest man-made pond. The worlds largest chariot of bronze is placed in purushotam bagh in the center of Brahma Sarovar and it is believed that when Duryodhan lost Mahabharta war, he tried to hide in this lake
4.
Indra
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Indra is a Vedic deity in Hinduism, a guardian deity in Buddhism, and the king of first heaven called Saudharmakalpa in Jainism. His mythologies and powers are similar, though not identical to those of the Indo-European deities such as Zeus, Jupiter, Perun, Thor, in the Vedas, Indra is the king of Svarga and the Devas. He is the god of lightning, thunder, storms, rains, Indra is the most referred to deity in the Rigveda. He is celebrated for his powers, and the one who kills the great symbolic evil named Vritra who obstructs human prosperity, Indra destroys Vritra and his deceiving forces, and thereby brings rains and the sunshine as the friend of mankind. In Buddhism, Indra has been a popular deity, referred by many names and he is featured in Buddhism somewhat differently than Hinduism, such as being shown as less war oriented and one paying homage to the Buddha. Indra rules over the much sought Devas realm of rebirth within the Samsara doctrine of Buddhist traditions, however, like the Hindu texts, Indra also is a subject of ridicule and reduced to a figurehead status in Buddhist texts, shown as a god that suffers rebirth and redeath. In the Jainism traditions, like Buddhism and Hinduism, Indra is the king of gods, Indras iconography shows him wielding a lightning thunderbolt known as Vajra, riding on a white elephant known as Airavata. In Buddhist iconography the elephant sometimes features three heads, while Jaina icons sometimes show the elephant with five heads, sometimes a single elephant is shown with four symbolic tusks. Indras heavenly home is on or near Mount Meru, the etymological roots of Indra are unclear, has been a contested topic among scholars since the 19th-century, one with many proposals. The significant proposals have been, root ind-u, or rain drop, based on the Vedic mythology that he conquered rain, root ind, or equipped with great power. Root idh or kindle, and ina or strong, root indha, or igniter, for his ability to bring light and power that ignites the vital forces of life. This is based on Shatapatha Brahmana, root idam-dra, or It seeing which is a reference to the one who first perceived the self-sufficient metaphysical Brahman. This is based on Aitareya Upanishad, roots in ancient Indo-European, Indo-Aryan deities. Later scholarship has linked Vedic Indra to the European Aynar, Abaza, Ubykh, colarusso suggests a Pontic origin and that both the phonology and the context of Indra in Indian religions is best explained from Indo-Aryan roots and a Circassian etymology. Indra is also called Śakra frequently in the Vedas and in Buddhism, Indra has many epithets in the Indian religions, notably Śakra, Vṛṣan, Vṛtrahan, Meghavāhana, Devarāja, Devendra, Surendra, Svargapati, Vajrapāṇī and Vāsava. Indra is of ancient but unclear origin, the similarities between Indra of Hindu mythologies and of Thor of Nordic and Germanic mythologies are significant states Max Muller. Michael Janda suggests that Indra has origins in the Indo-European *trigw-welumos smasher of the enclosure, brave and heroic Innara or Inra, which sounds like Indra, is mentioned among the gods of the Mitanni, a Hurrian-speaking people of Hittite region. Indra as a deity had a presence in northeastern Asia minor and this tablet mentions a treaty, but its significance is in four names it includes reverentially as Mi-it-ra, U-ru-w-na, In-da-ra and Na-sa-at-ti-ia
5.
Beas River
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The Beas River also known as the Biás or Bias, is a river in north India. The river rises in the Himalayas in central Himachal Pradesh, India and its total length is 470 kilometres and its drainage basin is 20,303 square kilometres large. The river was known as Arjikuja of the Vedas, or Vipasa to the ancient Indians. It is said that Beas is a misnomer for Vyasa and is named after Veda Vyasa, the patron of the river, he is said to have created it from its source lake. The Beas River marks the eastern-most border of Alexander the Greats conquests in 326 BC and it was one of the rivers which created problems in Alexanders invasion of India. His troops mutinied here in 326 BCE, refusing to go any further, Alexander shut himself in his tent for three days, but when his men did not change their desires he gave in, raising twelve colossal altars to mark the limit and glory of his expedition. According to the Kavyamimansa of Rajasekhara, the kingdom-territories of the Gurjara-Pratihara monarch Mahipala I extended as far as the course of the river Beas in the north-west. In the 20th century, the river was developed under the Beas Project for irrigation, the second-phase Pong Dam was completed in 1974 followed by the first-phase 140 kilometres upstream, Pandoh Dam in 1977. The Pong Dam served initially to provide irrigation below Talwara but was soon developed as well for power generation. The Pandoh Dam diverts the river through a system of tunnels and channels to the 990 MW Dehar Power Station on the Sutlej River, the river rises 4,361 metres above sea-level on the southern face of Rohtang Pass in Kullu. It traverses the Mandi District and enters the Kangra District at Sandhol,590 metres above sea-level, during its lower course the Beas is crossed by numerous ferries, many of which consist of inflated skins. Near Reh in Kangra District it divides into three channels, which reunite after passing Mirthal,300 metres above sea-level, on meeting the Sivalik Hills in Hoshiarpur, the river sweeps sharply northward, forming the boundary with Kangra District. Then bending round the base of the Sivalik Hills, it takes the southerly direction, after touching the Jullundur district for a short distance, the river forms the boundary between Amritsar and Kapurthala. Finally the Beas joins the river Sutlej at the boundary of Kapurthala district of Punjab after a total course of 470 kilometres. The chief tributaries are Bain, Banganga, Luni and Uhal, the Sutlej continues into Pakistani Punjab and joins the Chenab River at Uch near Bahawalpur to form the Panjnad River, the latter in turn joins the Indus River at Mithankot. The water of the Beas river is allocated to India under the terms of the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan. On 8 June 2014,24 engineering students, and one operator, were drowned when the flood gates of the Larji dam were opened, allegedly without proper warnings. The water level rose suddenly to 5 to 6 feet, and the surge carried the students away
6.
Sutlej
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The Sutlej River is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as Satadree and it is the easternmost tributary of the Indus River. The waters of the Sutlej are allocated to India under the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan, and are mostly diverted to canals in India. There are several hydroelectric projects on the Sutlej, including the 1,000 MW Bhakra Dam, the 1,000 MW Karcham Wangtoo Hydroelectric Plant. The Upper Sutlej Valley, called Langqên Zangbo in Tibet, was known as the Garuda Valley by the Zhangzhung. The Garuda Valley was the centre of their empire, which stretched many miles into the nearby Himalayas, the Zhangzhung built a towering palace in the Upper Sutlej Valley called Kyunglung, the ruins of which still exist today near the village of Moincêr, southwest of Mount Kailash. Eventually, the Zhangzhung were conquered by the Tibetan Empire, the boundaries of Greater Nepal extended westward to beyond Satluj River until the tide turned in 1809 and Kangra king repulsed Gorkha army eastward with help from Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Today, the Sutlej Valley is inhabited by descendants of the Zhangzhung. The Sutlej was the medium of transportation for the kings of that time. In the early 18th century, it was used to transport devdar woods for Bilaspur district, Hamirpur district, of four rivers mythically flowing out of holy Lake Manasarovar, the Sutlej is actually connected by channels that are dry most of the time. The source of the Sutlej is west of Lake Rakshastal in Tibet, Rakshastal in turn is ephemerally connected by Ganga Chhu to sacred Lake Manasarovar about 4 KM further east. The nascent river flows at first west-northwest for about 260 kilometres under the Tibetan name Langqên Zangbo to the Shipki La pass and it then turns slightly, heading west-southwest for about 360 kilometres to meet the Beas River near Makhu, Firozpur district, Punjab state. North western part of Panchkula district in Haryana state is located in the Sutlej river basin, thus Haryana is also a riparian state of Indus river basin. The area to the southeast on the Pakistani side of the Indian border is called the Cholistan Desert and, on the Indian side, during floods, Indus river water flows in to Indian part of Great Rann of Kutch. Thus Gujarat state of India is also a state of Indus river as Rann of Kutch area lying west of Kori Creek in the state is part of the Indus River Delta. The Sutlej, along all of the Punjab rivers, is thought to have drained east into the Ganges prior to 5 mya. Geologists believe that tectonic activity created elevation changes which redirected the flow of Sutlej from the southeast to the southwest, however, the Sutlej may have already been captured by the Indus thousands of years earlier. There is some evidence that the rate of erosion caused by the modern Sutlej River has influenced the local faulting
7.
Ahura Mazda
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Ahura Mazda is the Avestan name for the creator and sole God of Zoroastrianism, the old Iranian religion which spread across Asia predating Christianity. Ahura Mazda is described as the highest spirit of worship in Zoroastrianism, the literal meaning of the word Ahura is mighty or lord and Mazda is wisdom. Ahura Mazda first appeared in the Achaemenid period under Darius Is Behistun Inscription, until Artaxerxes II, Ahura Mazda was worshipped and invoked alone. With Artaxerxes II, Ahura Mazda was invoked in a triad, with Mithra, images of Ahura Mazda began in the Parthian period, but were stopped and replaced with stone carved figures in the Sassanid period. Mazda, or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā-, nominative Mazdå and it is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhās, means intelligence or wisdom. Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā-, from Proto-Indo-European *mn̩sdʰeh₁, literally meaning placing ones mind, the name was rendered as Ahuramazda during the Achaemenid era, Hormazd during the Parthian era, and Ohrmazd was used during the Sassanian era. The name may be attested on cuneiform tablets of Assyrian Assurbanipal, in the form Assara Mazaš, even though Ahura Mazda was a spirit in the Old Iranian religion, he had not yet been given the title of uncreated spirit. This title was given by Zoroaster, who proclaimed Ahura Mazda as the spirit, wholly wise, benevolent and good, as well as the creator. As Ahura Mazda is described as the creator and upholder of Asha, he is a supporter and guardian of justice, as a result of this vision, Zoroaster felt that he was chosen to spread and preach the religion. He stated that source of all goodness was the only Ahura worthy of the highest worship. He further stated that Ahura Mazda created spirits known as yazatas to aid him, Zoroaster proclaimed that all of the Iranian daevas were bad spirits and deserved no worship. These bad spirits were created by Angra Mainyu, the hostile, the existence of Angra Mainyu was the source of all sin and misery in the universe. Zoroaster claimed that Ahura Mazda was not an omnipotent God, nonetheless, Ahura Mazda is Angra Mainyus superior, not his equal. Angra Mainyu and his daevas which attempt to attract humans away from the path of righteousness would eventually be destroyed, whether the Achaemenids were Zoroastrians is a matter of much debate. However, it is known that the Achaemenids were worshipers of Ahura Mazda, the representation and invocation of Ahura Mazda can be seen on royal inscriptions written by Achaemenid kings. The most notable of all the inscriptions is the Behistun Inscription written by Darius I which contains references to Ahura Mazda. An inscription written in Greek was found in a late Achaemenid temple at Persepolis which invoked Ahura Mazda, on the Elamite Persepolis Fortification Tablet 377, Ahura Mazda is invoked along with Mithra and Voruna. Artaxerxes III makes this invocation to the three again in his reign
8.
Ravi River
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The Ravi is a transboundary river crossing Northwestern India and Eastern Pakistan. It is one of six rivers of the Indus System in Punjab region, the waters of Ravi are allocated to India under Indus Water Treaty. Under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, the waters of the Ravi, subsequently, the Indus Basin Project has been developed in Pakistan and many inter-basin water transfers, irrigation, hydropower and multipurpose projects have been built in India. According to ancient history traced to Vedas, the Ravi River was known as Iravati The Ravi was known as Parushani or Iravati to Indians in Vedic times and as Hydraotes to the Ancient Greeks. Part of the battle of the ten kings was fought on a River, the Ravi River, a transboundary river of India and Pakistan, is an integral part of the Indus River Basin and forms the headwaters of the Indus basin. The waters of the Ravi River drain into the Arabian Sea through the Indus River in Pakistan, the river rises in the Bara Bhangal, District Kangra in Himachal Pradesh, India. The river drains a catchment area of 14,442 square kilometres in India after flowing for a length of 720 kilometres. Flowing westward, it is hemmed by the Pir Panjal and Dhauladhar ranges, source reach The Ravi River originates in the Himalayas in the Multhan tehsil of Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, India. It follows a course and is a perennial river. It is the smallest of the five Punjab rivers that rises from glacier fields at an elevation of 14,000 feet and it flows through Barabhangal, Bara Bansu and Chamba districts. It flows in rapids in its initial reaches with boulders seen scattered in the bed of the river. The Ravi River in this reach flows in a gorge with a bed slope of 183 feet per mile and is mostly fed by snow melt. Two of its tributaries, the Buddhu and Mai or Dhona join 64 kilometres downstream from its source. The Budhil River rises in Lahul range of hills and is sourced from the Manimahesh Kailash Peak and the Manimahesh Lake, at an elevation of 4,080 metres, the entire length of Budhil is 72 kilometres where it has a bed slope of 314 feet per mile. It flows through the ancient capital of Bharmwar, now known as Bharmour in Himachal Pradesh, during 1858–1860, the Raja of Bharmour had considered the Budhil valley as an excellent source of Deodar trees for supply to the British Raj. However, a part of the forest surrounding the temple was considered sacred and declared a reserved area. The second tributary, the Mai, rises at Kali Debi pass and this valley was also exploited for its forest wealth during the English period. Another major tributary joins the Ravi River, just below Bharmour
9.
Jhelum River
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Jehlam River or Jhelum River is a river that flows in the Indian and Pakistani controlled portions of Kashmir, and Punjab in Pakistan. It is the westernmost of the five rivers of Punjab, and it is a tributary of the Chenab River and has a total length of about 725 kilometres. Anjum Sultan Shahbaz recorded some stories of the name Jhelum in his book Tareekh-e-Jhelum as, one suggestion is that in ancient days Jhelumabad was known as Jalham. The word Jhelum is reportedly derived from the words Jal and Ham, the name thus refers to the waters of a river which have their origins in the snow-capped Himalayas. With the passage of time it became Jhelum from Ja-e-Alam, the Sanskrit name of this river is Vitasta. The river got this name from the incident regarding the origin of the river as explained in Nilamata Purana. Goddess Parvati was requested by sage Kasyapa to come to Kashmir for purification of the land from evil practices and impurities of Pisachas living there, Goddess Parvati then assumed the form of a river in the Nether World. Then Lord Shiva made a stroke with his spear near the abode of Nila, by that stroke of the spear, Goddess Parvati came out of the Nether World. Shiva himself named her as Vitasta and he had excavated with the spear a ditch measuring one Vitasti, through which the river - gone to the Nether World - had come out, so she was given the name Vitasta by him. The river Jhelum is called Vitastā in the Rigveda and Hydaspes by the ancient Greeks, the Vitasta is mentioned as one of the major rivers by the holy scriptures — the Rigveda. It has been speculated that the Vitastā must have one of the seven rivers mentioned so many times in the Rigveda. The name survives in the Kashmiri name for this river as Vyeth, according to the major religious work Srimad Bhagavatam, the Vitastā is one of the many transcendental rivers flowing through land of Bharata, or ancient India. He was the brother of Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, and half-brother to the Harpies, the snatching winds. Since the river is in a country foreign to the ancient Greeks, it is not clear whether they named the river after the god, or whether the god Hydaspes was named after the river. Alexander the Great and his army crossed the Jhelum in BC326 at the Battle of the Hydaspes River where he defeated the Indian king and it is thought that ancient Bukephala was near the site of modern Jhelum City. They say that the name Phalia was the distortion of the word Bucephala, the waters of the Jhelum are allocated to Pakistan under the terms of the Indus Waters Treaty. India is working on a project on a tributary of Jhelum river to establish first-use rights on the river water over Pakistan as per the Indus waters Treaty. The river Jhelum rises from Verinag Spring situated at the foot of the Pir Panjal in the part of the valley of Kashmir
10.
Indus River
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The Indus River, also called Sindhū or Abāsīn, is a major south-flowing river in South Asia. The total length of the river is 3,180 km which makes it one of the longest rivers in Asia and it is the longest river and national river of Pakistan. The river has a drainage area exceeding 1,165,000 km2. Its estimated annual flow stands at around 207 km3, making it the twenty-first largest river in the world in terms of annual flow, the Zanskar is its left bank tributary in Ladakh. In the plains, its left tributary is the Chenab which itself has four major tributaries, namely, the Jhelum, the Ravi, the Beas. Its principal right tributaries are the Shyok, the Gilgit, the Kabul, the Gomal. Beginning in a spring and fed with glaciers and rivers in the Himalayas. The Indus forms the delta of present-day Pakistan mentioned in the Vedic Rigveda as Sapta Sindhu, the river has been a source of wonder since the Classical Period, with King Darius of Persia sending his Greek subject Scylax of Caryanda to explore the river as early as 510 BC. In Pali, Síndhu means river, stream and refers to the Indus River in particular, the word Indus is the romanised form of the ancient Greek word Indós, borrowed from the old Persian word Hinduš which is in turn borrowed from the Sanskrit word Sindhu. Megastheness book Indica derives its name from the rivers Greek name, Indós, the ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indói, literally meaning the people of the Indus. The country of India and the Pakistani province of Sindh owe their names to the river, Rigveda also describes several mythical rivers, including one named Sindhu. The Rigvedic Sindhu is thought to be the present-day Indus river and is attested 176 times in its text –95 times in the plural, more often used in the generic meaning. In the Rigveda, notably in the hymns, the meaning of the word is narrowed to refer to the Indus river in particular. The Rigvedic hymns apply a feminine gender to all the rivers mentioned therein, Sindhu is seen as a strong warrior amongst other rivers which are seen as goddesses and compared to cows and mares yielding milk and butter. The Indus River provides key resources for Pakistans economy – especially the breadbasket of Punjab province, which accounts for most of the nations agricultural production. The word Punjab means land of five rivers and the five rivers are Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej, the Indus also supports many heavy industries and provides the main supply of potable water in Pakistan. The ultimate source of the Indus is in Tibet, the river begins at the confluence of the Sengge Zangbo and Gar Tsangpo rivers that drain the Nganglong Kangri, the Indus then flows northwest through Ladakh and Baltistan into Gilgit, just south of the Karakoram range. The Shyok, Shigar and Gilgit rivers carry glacial waters into the main river and it gradually bends to the south, coming out of the hills between Peshawar and Rawalpindi
11.
Vedic period
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The Vedic period was the period in Indian history during which the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, were composed. During the early part of the Vedic period, the Indo-Aryans settled into northern India, scholars consider Vedic civilisation to have been a composite of the Indo-Aryan and Harappan cultures. The end of the Vedic period witnessed the rise of large, around the beginning of the Common Era, the Vedic tradition formed one of the main constituents of the so-called Hindu synthesis. The commonly proposed period of earlier Vedic age is dated back to 2nd millennium BCE, after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilisation, which ended c.1900 BCE, groups of Indo-Aryan peoples migrated into north-western India and started to inhabit the northern Indus Valley. The knowledge about the Aryans comes mostly from the Rigveda-samhita, which was composed between c and they brought with them their distinctive religious traditions and practices. The Vedic beliefs and practices of the era were closely related to the hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion. According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the zone between the Zeravshan River and Iran. It was a mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements. At least 383 non-Indo-European words were borrowed from this culture, including the god Indra, Indra was the subject of 250 hymns, a quarter of the Rig Veda. He was associated more than any other deity with Soma, a stimulant drug probably borrowed from the BMAC religion and his rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of the Old Indic speakers. These migrations may have been accompanied with violent clashes with the people who inhabited this region. The Rig Veda contains accounts of conflicts between the Aryas and the Dasas and Dasyus, the Rig Veda describes Dasas and Dasyus as people who do not perform sacrifices or obey the commandments of gods. Their speech is described as mridhra which could variously mean soft, uncouth, hostile, other adjectives which describe their physical appearance are subject to many interpretations. Internecine military conflicts between the tribes of Vedic Aryans are also described in the Rig Veda. Most notable of such conflicts was the Battle of Ten Kings, which took place on the banks of the river Parushni. The battle was fought between the tribe Bharatas, led by their chief Sudas, against a confederation of ten tribes— Puru, Yadu, Turvasha, Anu, Druhyu, Alina, Bhalanas, Paktha, Siva, Vishanin. Bharatas lived around the regions of the river Saraswati, while Purus, their western neighbours. The other tribes dwelt north-west of the Bharatas in the region of Punjab, division of the waters of Ravi could have been a reason for the war
12.
Afghanistan
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Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia. It has a population of approximately 32 million, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north and its territory covers 652,000 km2, making it the 41st largest country in the world. The land also served as the source from which the Kushans, Hephthalites, Samanids, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Khiljis, Mughals, Hotaks, Durranis, the political history of the modern state of Afghanistan began with the Hotak and Durrani dynasties in the 18th century. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a state in the Great Game between British India and the Russian Empire. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, King Amanullah unsuccessfully attempted to modernize the country and it remained peaceful during Zahir Shahs forty years of monarchy. A series of coups in the 1970s was followed by a series of wars that devastated much of Afghanistan. The name Afghānistān is believed to be as old as the ethnonym Afghan, the root name Afghan was used historically in reference to a member of the ethnic Pashtuns, and the suffix -stan means place of in Persian. Therefore, Afghanistan translates to land of the Afghans or, more specifically in a historical sense, however, the modern Constitution of Afghanistan states that he word Afghan shall apply to every citizen of Afghanistan. An important site of historical activities, many believe that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites. The country sits at a unique nexus point where numerous civilizations have interacted and it has been home to various peoples through the ages, among them the ancient Iranian peoples who established the dominant role of Indo-Iranian languages in the region. At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, and the Islamic Empire. Archaeological exploration done in the 20th century suggests that the area of Afghanistan has been closely connected by culture and trade with its neighbors to the east, west. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, urban civilization is believed to have begun as early as 3000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization. More recent findings established that the Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up towards modern-day Afghanistan, making the ancient civilisation today part of Pakistan, Afghanistan, in more detail, it extended from what today is northwest Pakistan to northwest India and northeast Afghanistan. An Indus Valley site has found on the Oxus River at Shortugai in northern Afghanistan. There are several smaller IVC colonies to be found in Afghanistan as well, after 2000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia began moving south into Afghanistan, among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians. These tribes later migrated further into South Asia, Western Asia, the region at the time was referred to as Ariana
