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.
Sanskrit language
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Sanskrit is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, a philosophical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and a literary language and lingua franca of ancient and medieval South Asia. As a result of transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia and parts of Central Asia, as one of the oldest Indo-European languages for which substantial written documentation exists, Sanskrit holds a prominent position in Indo-European studies. The body of Sanskrit literature encompasses a rich tradition of poetry and drama as well as scientific, technical, philosophical, the compositions of Sanskrit were orally transmitted for much of its early history by methods of memorization of exceptional complexity, rigor, and fidelity. Thereafter, variants and derivatives of the Brahmi script came to be used, Sanskrit is today one of the 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India, which mandates the Indian government to develop the language. It continues to be used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals and Buddhist practice in the form of hymns. The Sanskrit verbal adjective sáṃskṛta- may be translated as refined, elaborated, as a term for refined or elaborated speech, the adjective appears only in Epic and Classical Sanskrit in the Manusmṛti and the Mahabharata. The pre-Classical form of Sanskrit is known as Vedic Sanskrit, with the language of the Rigveda being the oldest and most archaic stage preserved, Classical Sanskrit is the standard register as laid out in the grammar of Pāṇini, around the fourth century BCE. Sanskrit, as defined by Pāṇini, evolved out of the earlier Vedic form, the present form of Vedic Sanskrit can be traced back to as early as the second millennium BCE. Scholars often distinguish Vedic Sanskrit and Classical or Pāṇinian Sanskrit as separate dialects, although they are quite similar, they differ in a number of essential points of phonology, vocabulary, grammar and syntax. Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, a collection of hymns, incantations and theological and religio-philosophical discussions in the Brahmanas. Modern linguists consider the metrical hymns of the Rigveda Samhita to be the earliest, for nearly 2000 years, Sanskrit was the language of a cultural order that exerted influence across South Asia, Inner Asia, Southeast Asia, and to a certain extent East Asia. A significant form of post-Vedic Sanskrit is found in the Sanskrit of Indian epic poetry—the Ramayana, the deviations from Pāṇini in the epics are generally considered to be on account of interference from Prakrits, or innovations, and not because they are pre-Paninian. Traditional Sanskrit scholars call such deviations ārṣa, meaning of the ṛṣis, in some contexts, there are also more prakritisms than in Classical Sanskrit proper. There were four principal dialects of classical Sanskrit, paścimottarī, madhyadeśī, pūrvi, the predecessors of the first three dialects are attested in Vedic Brāhmaṇas, of which the first one was regarded as the purest. In the 2001 Census of India,14,035 Indians reported Sanskrit to be their first language, in India, Sanskrit is among the 14 original languages of the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. The state of Uttarakhand in India has ruled Sanskrit as its official language. In October 2012 social activist Hemant Goswami filed a petition in the Punjab. More than 3,000 Sanskrit works have been composed since Indias independence in 1947, much of this work has been judged of high quality, in comparison to both classical Sanskrit literature and modern literature in other Indian languages
3.
Rigveda
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The Rigveda is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. It is one of the four sacred texts of Hinduism known as the Vedas. The text is a collection of 1,028 hymns and 10,600 verses, a good deal of the language is still obscure and many hymns as a consequence seem unintelligible. The hymns are dedicated to Rigvedic deities, for each deity series the hymns progress from longer to shorter ones, and the number of hymns per book increases. In the eight books that were composed the earliest, the hymns predominantly discuss cosmology, Rigveda is one of the oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language. 1700–1100 BC has also been given, some of its verses continue to be recited during Hindu rites of passage celebrations such as weddings and religious prayers, making it probably the worlds oldest religious text in continued use. This redaction also included some additions and orthoepic changes to the Vedic Sanskrit such as the regularization of sandhi, the Padapatha and the Pratisakhya anchor the texts fidelity and meaning, and the fixed text was preserved with unparalleled fidelity for more than a millennium by oral tradition alone. In order to achieve this the oral tradition prescribed very structured enunciation, involving breaking down the Sanskrit compounds into stems and inflections and this interplay with sounds gave rise to a scholarly tradition of morphology and phonetics. The Rigveda was probably not written down until the Gupta period, the oral tradition still continued into recent times. The text is organized in 10 books, known as Mandalas, of varying age, the family books, mandalas 2–7, are the oldest part of the Rigveda and the shortest books, they are arranged by length and account for 38% of the text. Within each book, the hymns are arranged in collections each dealing with a deity, Agni comes first, Indra comes second. They are attributed and dedicated to a rishi and his family of students, within each collection, the hymns are arranged in descending order of the number of stanzas per hymn. If two hymns in the collection have equal numbers of stanzas then they are arranged so that the number of syllables in the metre are in descending order. The second to seventh mandalas have a uniform format, the eighth and ninth mandalas, comprising hymns of mixed age, account for 15% and 9%, respectively. The first and the tenth mandalas are the youngest, they are also the longest books, of 191 suktas each, however, adds Witzel, some hymns in Mandala 8,1 and 10 may be as old as the earlier Mandalas. The first mandala has an arrangement not found in the other nine mandalas. The ninth mandala is arranged by both its structure and hymn length, while the first eighty four hymns of the tenth mandala have a structure different than the remaining hymns in it. Each mandala consists of hymns called sūkta intended for various rituals, the sūktas in turn consist of individual stanzas called ṛc, which are further analysed into units of verse called pada
4.
Historical Vedic religion
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The religion of the Vedic period was the religion of the Indo-Aryans of northern India. It is a predecessor of modern Hinduism, though significantly different from it. The Vedic liturgy is conserved in the portion of the four Vedas. The religious practices centered on a clergy administering rites, the complex Vedic rituals of Śrauta continue in coastal Andhra. The commonly proposed period of earlier Vedic age is dated back to 2nd millennium BCE, the Vedic religion was the religion of the Indo-Aryans, and existed in northern India from c.1750 to 500 BCE. The Indo-Aryans were a branch of the Indo-European language family, which originated in the Kurgan culture of the Central Asian steppes, the Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion, and the Indo-Iranian 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. The oldest inscriptions in Old Indic, the language of the Rig Veda, are not in northwestern India and Pakistan, but in northern Syria. The Mitanni kings took Old Indic throne names, and Old Indic technical terms were used for horse-riding and chariot-driving, the Old Indic term rta, meaning cosmic order and truth, the central concept of the Rig Veda, was also employed in the Mitanni kingdom. Old Indic gods, including Indra, were known in the Mitanni kingdom. David Gordon White cites three other scholars who have emphatically demonstrated that Vedic religion is partially derived from the Indus Valley Civilizations. Texts dating to the Vedic period, composed in Vedic Sanskrit, are mainly the four Vedic Samhitas, the Vedas record the liturgy connected with the rituals and sacrifices performed by the 16 or 17 Śrauta priests and the purohitas. According to traditional views, the hymns of the Rigveda and other Vedic hymns were divinely revealed to the rishis, in addition the Vedas are said to be apauraṣaya, a Sanskrit word meaning uncreated by man and which further reveals their eternal non-changing status. The mode of worship was worship of the elements like fire and rivers, worship of gods like Indra, chanting of hymns. The priests performed the rituals for the noblemen and wealthy commoners Vaishyas
5.
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
6.
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
7.
Yajurveda
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The Yajurveda is the Veda of prose mantras. An ancient Vedic Sanskrit text, it is a compilation of ritual offering formulas that were said by a priest while an individual performed ritual actions such as those before the yajna fire, Yajurveda is one of the four Vedas, and one of the scriptures of Hinduism. The exact century of Yajurvedas composition is unknown, and estimated by scholars to be around 1200 to 1000 BCE, the Yajurveda is broadly grouped into two – the black Yajurveda and the white Yajurveda. The term black implies the un-arranged, unclear, motley collection of verses in Yajurveda, in contrast to the white which implies the well arranged, the black Yajurveda has survived in four recensions, while two recensions of white Yajurveda have survived into the modern times. The earliest and most ancient layer of Yajurveda samhita includes about 1,875 verses, the middle layer includes the Satapatha Brahmana, one of the largest Brahmana texts in the Vedic collection. The youngest layer of Yajurveda text includes the largest collection of primary Upanishads and these include the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the Isha Upanishad, the Taittiriya Upanishad, the Katha Upanishad, the Shvetashvatara Upanishad and the Maitri Upanishad. Yajurveda is a compound Sanskrit word, composed of yajus and veda, monier-Williams translates yajus as religious reverence, veneration, worship, sacrifice, a sacrificial prayer, formula, particularly mantras muttered in a peculiar manner at a sacrifice. Johnson states yajus means prose formulae or mantras, contained in the Yajur Veda, michael Witzel interprets Yajurveda to mean a knowledge text of prose mantras used in Vedic rituals. Ralph Griffith interprets the name to mean knowledge of sacrifice or sacrificial texts, carl Olson states that Yajurveda is a text of mantras that are repeated and used in rituals. The Yajurveda text includes Shukla Yajurveda of which about 16 recensions are known, only two recensions of the Shukla Yajurveda have survived, Madhyandina and Kanva, and others are known by name only because they are mentioned in other texts. These two recensions are nearly the same, except for few differences, in contrast to Shukla Yajurveda, the four surviving recensions of Krishna Yajurveda are very different versions. The samhita in the Shukla Yajurveda is called the Vajasaneyi Samhita, the name Vajasaneyi is derived from Vajasaneya, patronymic of sage Yajnavalkya, and the founder of the Vajasaneyi branch. There are two surviving recensions of the Vajasaneyi Samhita, Vajasaneyi Madhyandina and Vajasaneyi Kanva, there are four surviving recensions of the Krishna Yajurveda – Taittirīya saṃhitā, Maitrayani saṃhitā, Kaṭha saṃhitā and Kapiṣṭhala saṃhitā. A total of eighty six recensions are mentioned to exist in Vayu Purana, the Katha school is referred to as a sub-school of Carakas in some ancient texts of India, because they did their scholarship as they wandered from place to place. The best known and best preserved of these recensions is the Taittirīya saṃhitā, some attribute it to Tittiri, a pupil of Yaksa and mentioned by Panini. The text is associated with the Taittiriya school of the Yajurveda, the Kāṭhaka saṃhitā or the Caraka-Kaṭha saṃhitā, according to tradition was compiled by Katha, a disciple of Vaisampayana. Like the Maitrayani Samhita, it offers more detailed discussion of some rituals than the younger Taittiriya samhita that frequently summarizes such accounts. The Kapiṣṭhala saṃhitā or the Kapiṣṭhala-Kaṭha saṃhitā, named after the sage Kapisthala is extant only in some large fragments and this text is practically a variant of the Kāṭhaka saṃhitā
8.
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
9.
Vritra
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In the early Vedic religion, Vritra is a serpent or dragon, the personification of drought and adversary of Indra. In Hinduism, Vritra is identified as an Asura, Vritra was also known in the Vedas as Ahi. He appears as a blocking the course of the rivers and is heroically slain by Indra. According to the Rig Veda, Vritra kept the waters of the world captive until he was killed by Indra, the combat began soon after Indra was born, and he had drunk a large volume of Soma at Tvashtris house to empower him before facing Vritra. Tvashtri fashioned the thunderbolt for Indra, and Vishnu, when asked to do so by Indra, Vritra broke Indras two jaws during the battle, but was then thrown down by Indra and, in falling, crushed the fortresses that had already been shattered. For this feat, Indra became known as Vritrahan slayer of Vritra, vritras mother, Danu, was then attacked and defeated by Indra with his thunderbolt. In one of the versions of the story, three Devas - Varuna, Soma and Agni - were coaxed by Indra into aiding him in the fight against Vritra whereas before they had been on the side of Vritra. In one verse of a Rig-Vedic hymn eulogising Sarasvati, she is portrayed as the one who slayed Vritra, mention of this occurs nowhere else. Hymn 18 of Mandala IV provides the most elaborate account of the Vedic version, the verses describe the events and circumstances leading up to the battle between Indra and Vritra, the battle itself, and the outcome of the battle. As per the given to King Yudhishthira in Mahabharata, Vritra was a demon created by Tvashta to avenge the killing of his son by Indra. Vritra won the battle and swallowed Indra, but the other Gods forced him to vomit Indra out, the battle continued and Indra was eventually forced to flee. Indra used the foam from the waves of the ocean to kill him at twilight, srimad Bhagavatam recognizes Vritra as a bhakta of Vishnu who was slain only due to his failure to live piously and without aggression. This story runs thus, SB6.9.11, After Visvarupa was killed, his father, Tvashta and he offered oblations in the sacrificial fire, saying, O enemy of Indra, flourish to kill your enemy without delay. SB6.9.12, Thereafter, from the side of the sacrificial fire known as Anvaharya came a fearful personality who looked like the destroyer of the entire creation at the end of the millennium. SB6.9. 13-17, Like arrows released in the four directions, tall and blackish, he appeared like a burnt hill and was as lustrous as a bright array of clouds in the evening. The hair on the body and his beard and moustache were the color of melted copper. He appeared unconquerable, as if holding the three worlds on the points of his blazing trident, dancing and shouting with a loud voice, he made the entire surface of the earth tremble as if from an earthquake. As he yawned again and again, he seemed to be trying to swallow the whole sky with his mouth and he seemed to be licking up all the stars in the sky with his tongue and eating the entire universe with his long, sharp teeth
10.
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
11.
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
12.
Saptarishi
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The Saptarishi are the seven rishis who are extolled at many places in the Vedas and Hindu literature. The Vedic Samhitas never enumerate these rishis by name, though later Vedic texts such as the Brahmanas and they are regarded in the Vedas as the patriarchs of the Vedic religion. The late Gopatha Brahmana 1.2.8 has Vashista, Visvamitra, Jamadagni, Gautama, Bharadvaja, Gungu, Agastya, Bhrigu and Kaśyapa. In post-Vedic texts, different lists appear, some of these rishis were recognized as the mind born sons of Brahma, other representations are Mahesha or Shiva as the Destroyer and Vishnu as the Preserver. Since these seven rishis were also among the eight rishis, who were considered to be the ancestors of the Gotras of Brahmins. In some parts of India, people believe these are seven stars of the Big Dipper named Vashista, Marichi, Pulastya, Pulaha, Atri, Angiras, there is another star slightly visible within it, known as Arundhati. Arundhati is the wife of Vashista, the seven Rishis in the next Manvantara will be Diptimat, Galava, Parasurama, Kripa, Drauni or Ashwatthama, Vyasa and Rishyasringa. Sapta Rishis are the Hierarchy working under the guidance of the Highest Creative Intelligence, the present batch of the Sapta Rishis is Bhrigu, Atri, Angirasa Vashista, Pulastya, Pulalaha and Kratu. They bring down to the earth the required Knowledge and Energies to strengthen the processes of Transition and they are naturally the most evolved Light Beings in the Creation and the guardians of the Divine Laws. In post-Vedic religion, Manvantara is the time within an Kalpa, a day of Brahma, like the present Śveta Vārāha Kalpa. The names of the current Saptarshis are, Kashyapa, Atri, Vashista, Vishvamitra, Gautama Maharishi, Jamadagni, the Saptarishis keep changing for every Yuga. As per Hindu Shastras, there are four yugas, Krita Yuga / Sat Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and Kali Yuga. We are at present in the Kali Yuga, which will last for 432,000 years, Dvapara Yuga is twice Kali Yuga, Treta Yuga is thrice Kali Yuga, over all,4,320,000 years termed as 1 Chaturyuga. 1000 Chaturyugas make the day of 12 hours for Brahma and during another 12 hours, Brahma takes rest, thus 1 day for Brahma constitutes 1000 Chaturyugas. The valid avatars clan will be named after Ashvamedh, at the end of every four ages there is a disappearance of the Vedas and it is the province of the seven Rishis to come down upon earth from heaven to give them currency again. The Shatapatha Brahmana and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad acknowledge the names of seven rishis as, krishna Yajurveda in the Sandhya-Vandana Mantras has it as, Angiras Atri Bhrigu Gautama Maharishi Kashyapa Kutsa Vashista 3. Mahabharata gives the Seven Rishis names, Marichi Atri Pulaha Pulastya Kratu Vashista Kashyapa etc.4. )They all were sons of King Shri Nandan of Prabhapurnagar, Shri Nandan king took diksha becoming shishya of Omniscient Pritinkar Muniraaj and attained salvation. Because of great tapcharan of these seven digamber munis the Mahamaari disease stopped its evil effect, many idols of these seven munis were made after that event by King Shatrughna in all four directions of city
13.
Seven Seas
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The Seven Seas is an ancient phrase for all the worlds oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization lists over 70 distinct bodies of water called seas, the term Seven Seas appears as early as 2300 BC in Hymn 8 of the Sumerian Enheduanna to the goddess Inanna. The first of them is the Sea of Fars, which men sail setting out from Siraf and it ends at Ra’s al-Jumha, it is a strait where pearls are fished. The second sea begins at Ra’s al-Jumha and is called Larwi and it is a big sea, and in it is the Island of Waqwaq and others that belong to the Zanj. One can only sail this sea by the stars and it contains huge fish, and in it are many wonders and things that pass description. The third sea is called Harkand, and in it lies the Island of Sarandib, here are islands with kings, but there is one king over them. In the islands of this sea grow bamboo and rattan, the fourth sea is called Kalah and is shallow and filled with huge serpents. Sometimes they ride the wind and smash ships, here are islands where the camphor tree grows. The fifth sea is called Salahit and is large and filled with wonders. The sixth sea is called Kardanj, it is very rainy, the seventh sea is called the sea of Sanji, also known as Kanjli. It is the sea of China, one is driven by the wind until one reaches a freshwater bay, along which are fortified places and cities. Not all Roman uses of septem maria would strike a chord today. The navigable network in the mouths of the Po river discharges into saltmarshes on the Adriatic shore and was called the Seven Seas in ancient Roman times. A history of Venice states, The expression to sail the seven seas was a classical flourish signifying nautical skill and it was applied to the Venetians long before they sailed the oceans. The Arabs and their near neighbours considered the Seven Seas to be the seas that they encountered in their voyages to The East and they were trading routes in ancient times and since the time of Muhammad, they are the places where Islam spread and is widely practised. The Persians used the term the Seven Seas to refer to the forming the Oxus River. The 17th century churchman and scholar John Lightfoot mentions a different set of seas in his Commentary on the New Testament. In Colonial times the Clipper Ship Tea Route from China to England was the longest trade route in the world
14.
Avesta
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The Avesta /əˈvɛstə/ is the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the otherwise unrecorded Avestan language. The Avesta texts fall into different categories, arranged either by dialect. The principal text in the group is the Yasna, which takes its name from the Yasna ceremony, Zoroastrianisms primary act of worship. The most important portion of the Yasna texts are the five Gathas and these hymns, together with five other short Old Avestan texts that are also part of the Yasna, are in the Old Avestan language. The remainder of the Yasnas texts are in Younger Avestan, which is not only from a stage of the language. Extensions to the Yasna ceremony include the texts of the Vendidad, the Visperad extensions consist mainly of additional invocations of the divinities, while the Vendidad is a mixed collection of prose texts mostly dealing with purity laws. Even today, the Vendidad is the liturgical text that is not recited entirely from memory. Some of the materials of the extended Yasna are from the Yashts, unlike the Yasna, Visperad and Vendidad, the Yashts and the other lesser texts of the Avesta are no longer used liturgically in high rituals. Aside from the Yashts, these lesser texts include the Nyayesh texts, the Gah texts, the Siroza. Together, these texts are conventionally called Khordeh Avesta or Little Avesta texts. When the first Khordeh Avesta editions were printed in the 19th century, the term Avesta is from the 9th/10th-century works of Zoroastrian tradition in which the word appears as Zoroastrian Middle Persian abestāg, Book Pahlavi ʾpstʾkʼ. In that context, abestāg texts are portrayed as received knowledge, the literal meaning of the word abestāg is uncertain, it is generally acknowledged to be a learned borrowing from Avestan, but none of the suggested etymologies have been universally accepted. The surviving texts of the Avesta, as they exist today and that master copy, now lost, is known as the Sassanian archetype. The oldest surviving manuscript of an Avestan language text is dated 1323 CE, summaries of the various Avesta texts found in the 9th/10th century texts of Zoroastrian tradition suggest that about three-quarters of the corpus has since been lost. A pre-Sasanian history of the Avesta, if it had one, is in the realm of legend, the oldest surviving versions of these tales are found in the ninth to 11th century texts of Zoroastrian tradition. The legends run as follows, The twenty-one nasks of the Avesta were created by Ahura Mazda, supposedly, Vishtaspa or another Kayanian, Daray, then had two copies made, one of which was stored in the treasury, and the other in the royal archives. Following Alexanders conquest, the Avesta was then supposedly destroyed or dispersed by the Greeks after they translated the scientific passages that they could make use of, the Denkard also transmits another legend related to the transmission of the Avesta. In that story, credit for collation and recension is given to the early Sasanian-era priest Tansar, who had the works collected
15.
Vendidad
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The Vendidad or Videvdat is a collection of texts within the greater compendium of the Avesta. However, unlike the other texts of the Avesta, the Vendidad is an ecclesiastical code, not a liturgical manual. According to the divisions of the Avesta as described in the Denkard, a 9th-century text, the Vendidad includes all of the 19th nask, the Vendidads different parts vary widely in character and in age. Although some portions are relatively recent in origin, the matter of the greater part is very old. In 1877, Karl Friedrich Geldner identified the texts as being distinct from both the Old Avestan language texts as well as from the Yashts of the younger Avesta. Today, there is controversy over development of the Vendidad. The Vendidad is classified by some as an artificial, young Avestan text, the Vendidad is thought to be a Magi composition. It has also suggested that the Vendidad belongs to a particular school. The Vendidad consists of 22 fargards containing fragments of discussions between Ahura Mazda and Zoroaster, the arrangement does not suggest it was composed by the prophets contemporaries. However, some consider the Vendidad a link to ancient early oral traditions, the writing of the Vendidad began - perhaps substantially - before the formation of the Median and Persian Empires, before the 8th century B. C. E. In addition, as with the Yashts, the date of composition of the version does not exclude the possibility that some parts of the Vendidad may consist of very old material. Even in this age, Zoroastrians are continually rewriting old spiritual material. The first chapter is dualistic creation myth, followed by the description of a destructive winter comparable with the floods of various other mythologies. The second chapter recounts the legend of Yima, chapter 19 relates the temptation of Zoroaster, who, when urged by Angra Mainyu to turn from the good religion, turns instead towards Ahura Mazda. The remaining chapters cover diverse rules and regulations, through the adherence of which evil spirits may be confounded, there is a degree of moral relativism apparent in the Vendidad, and the diverse rules and regulations are not always expressed as being mystical, absolute, universal or mandatory. The Vendidad is mainly about social laws, mores, customs, in some instances, the description of prescribed behaviour is accompanied by a description of the penances that have to be made to atone for violations thereof. Such penances include, payment in cash or kind to the aggrieved, corporal punishment such as whipping and they argue that it has origins on early oral tradition, being only later written. They argue that it was written nearly 700 years after the death of Zarathustra, an article by Hannah M. G. Shapero sums up the refomist perspective, How do Zoroastrians view the Vendidad today
16.
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
17.
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
18.
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
19.
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
20.
Haro River
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Haro is the name of a river that flows through parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. Its main valley is in Abbottabad District in the North West Frontier Province of northern Pakistan and its coordinates are 33°468 N and 72°1443 E in DMS or 33.7689 and 72.2453. Famous Khanpur Dam has been built on this river at Khanpur in the Haripur District to provide drinking water to the twin cities i. e. Islamabad, the decrease in inlfows of Khanpur dam from Haro River results in water shortage in the twin cities during summer season. Minor tributaries include the following rivulets, chanjah Jab kattha Pakshahi kattha Narota Muslimabad kattha Najafpur kattha This river joins the Indus River near Ghazi Barotha Dam
21.
Soan River
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The Soan River, also referred to as the Swan, Sawan, or Sohan, is a river in Punjab, Pakistan. The Soan River is an important stream of the Pothohar region of Pakistan and it drains much of the water of Pothohar. It starts near the village of Bun in the foothills of Patriata. It provides water to Simly Dam, which is the reservoir for Islamabad. Near Pharwala Fort it cuts through a mountain range, a wonderful natural phenomenon called Soan Cut. No stream can cut such a mountain, which proves that the Soan was there before the formation of this range. And as the mountain rose through millions of years, the stream continued its path by cutting the rising mountain, Ling stream, following a relatively long course through Lehtrar and Kahuta falls in the Soan near Sihala on southern side of Village Gagri/Bhandar. Islamabad Highway crosses this stream near Sihala where the famous Kak Pul bridge is constructed over it, the Ling Stream joins the Soan river just before the Kak Pul. Two other famous streams, the Korang River joins it just before the Soan Bridge and Lai stream, after following a tortuous path along a big curve, the stream reaches Kalabagh proposed Dam Site close to Pirpiyahi where it falls into the Indus river. There is a railway station by the name of Sohan. This relatively small stream is more than 250 kilometers long, due to its mountainous course and shallow bed, it is hardly used for irrigation purposes. There are many species of fish in this river like China Rahu, Mahasher, Snakehead, Balm and Catfish are the species of fish in this stream. In addition, there are species of tortoises and turtles. The marine life of river has been endangered due to drainage of chemicals of Sihala Industrial State. The river might be the Sushoma River of the Rig Veda, according to an important Hindu scripture, the Srimad Bhagavatam, the Sushoma is one of the many transcendental rivers flowing to the north of the land of Bharata. Soan Sakaser Valley Indus River Soan Culture Photo of fossils found in Soan valley
22.
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
23.
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
24.
Indo-Gangetic Plain
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The region is named after the Indus and the Ganges, and encompasses a number of large urban areas. The Indus-Ganga plain is bound on the north by the Himalayas which feed its numerous rivers and are the source of the alluvium deposited across the region by the two river systems. The southern edge of the plain is marked by the Chota Nagpur Plateau, on the west rises the Iranian Plateau. The region is known for the Indus Valley Civilization, which was responsible for the birth of ancient South Asian culture, during the Vedic and Epic eras of Indian history, this region was referred to as Aryavarta. According to Manusmṛti, Aryavarta is the tract between the Himalaya and the Vindhya ranges, from the Eastern Sea to the Western Sea. During the Islamic period, the Turkish, Afghan and Iranian rulers referred to this region as Hindustan, some geographers subdivide the Indo-Gangetic Plain into several parts, the Sindh, Punjab, Doab, and Bengal regions. This divide is only 300 metres above sea level, causing the perception that the Indus-Ganga Plain appears to be continuous between the two drainage basins, the middle Ganga plain extends from the Yamuna River in the west to the state of West Bengal in the east. The lower Ganges plain and the Assam Valley are more verdant than the middle Ganga plain, the lower Ganga is centered in West Bengal, from which it flows into Bangladesh. After joining the Jamuna, a distributary of Brahmaputra, both form the Ganges Delta. The Brahmaputra rises in Tibet as the Yarlung Zangbo River and flows through Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, as a large plain, the exact extent can vary from source to source. The fertile Terai region is the Nepalese extension of the Plain, the rivers encompassed are the Beas, the Chambal, the Chenab, the Ganga, the Gomti, the Indus, the Ravi, the Sutlej and the Yamuna. The soil is rich in silt, making the one of the most intensely farmed areas of the world. Even rural areas here are densely populated, the Indus-Ganga plains, also known as the Great Plains, are large floodplains of the Indus and the Ganga–Brahmaputra river systems. They run parallel to the Himalaya mountains, from Jammu and Kashmir in the west to Assam in the east, the plains encompass an area of 700,000 km² and vary in width through their length by several hundred kilometres. The major rivers of this system are the Ganga and the Indus along with their tributaries, Beas, Yamuna, Gomti, Ravi, Chambal, Sutlej, extent of the Indo-Gangetic plain across South Asia. As the porosity of this belt is very high, the streams flow underground, the bhabar is generally narrow about 7–15 km wide. The Terai belt — lies next to the Bhabar region and is composed of newer alluvium, the underground streams reappear in this region. The region is excessively moist and thickly forested and it also receives heavy rainfall throughout the year and is populated with a variety of wildlife
25.
Sarasvati River
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The Sarasvati River is one of the main Rigvedic rivers mentioned in the scripture Rig Veda and later Vedic and post-Vedic texts. The goddess Sarasvati was originally a personification of river. The Nadistuti hymn in the Rigveda mentions the Sarasvati between the Yamuna in the east and the Sutlej in the west, later Vedic texts like the Tandya and Jaiminiya Brahmanas, as well as the Mahabharata, mention that the Sarasvati dried up in a desert. The Sarasvati is also considered by Hindus to exist in a form, in which it formed a confluence with the sacred rivers Ganges and Yamuna. The name Sarasvati was also given to a formation in the Milky Way, since the late 19th-century, scholars have conjectured that the Vedic Saraswati river is the Ghaggar-Hakra River system, which flows through northwestern India and Eastern Pakistan. Satellite images have pointed to a significant river once following the course of the present day Ghaggar River. Another theory suggests that the Helmand River of southern Afghanistan corresponds to the Sarasvati River. This suggests that the Yamuna itself, or a channel of the Yamuna, sarasvatī is the devi feminine of an adjective sarasvant-, derived from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sáras-vat-ī, meaning ‘marshy, full of pools’, or ‘she with many lakes’. The other term -vatī is the Sanskrit grammatical feminine possessor suffix, Sanskrit sáras means ‘pool, pond or lake’, the feminine sarasī́ means ‘stagnant pool, swamp’. In the Manusmriti, Brahmavarta is portrayed as the centre of Vedic culture. The Bharatiya Janata Party Government had therefore ordered archaeologists to search for the river, the Sarasvati River is mentioned in all but the fourth book of the Rigveda. The most important hymns related to Sarasvati are RV6.61, RV7.95, even though we are not worthy, please grant us distinction Other verses of praise include RV6.61. 8-13, RV7.96 and RV10.17. In some hymns, the Indus river seems to be more important than the Sarasavati, in RV8.26.18, the white flowing Sindhu with golden wheels is the most conveying or attractive of the rivers. RV7.95.2. and other verses speak of the Sarasvati pouring milk and ghee. Rivers are often likened to cows in the Rigveda, for example in RV3.33.1, strong attention has been given to the Sarasvati River in the Rigveda along with several suktas dedicated to it. As such it seems there are a number of Sarasvatis with the earliest Sarasvati not identifiable with the Hakra, the Sarasvati River is perceived to be a great river with perennial water. The Hakra and Ghaggar cannot be compared to it, the earliest Sararvati is said to be similar to the Helmand in Afghanistan which is called the Harakhwati in the Āvestā. The phrase sárasvatī saptáthī síndhumātā of RV7.36.6 has been rendered as Sarasvati the Seventh, while this takes a tatpurusha interpretation of síndhumātā, the word is actually a bahuvrihi
26.
Mahabharata
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The Mahābhārata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Rāmāyaṇa. The Mahābhārata is a narrative of the Kurukṣetra War and the fates of the Kaurava. It also contains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four goals of life or puruṣārtha, traditionally, the authorship of the Mahābhārata is attributed to Vyāsa. There have been attempts to unravel its historical growth and compositional layers. The oldest preserved parts of the text are thought to be not much older than around 400 BCE, the text probably reached its final form by the early Gupta period. The title may be translated as the tale of the Bhārata dynasty. According to the Mahābhārata itself, the tale is extended from a version of 24,000 verses called simply Bhārata. The Mahābhārata is the longest known epic poem and has described as the longest poem ever written. Its longest version consists of over 100,000 śloka or over 200,000 individual verse lines, and long prose passages. About 1.8 million words in total, the Mahābhārata is roughly ten times the length of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined, or about four times the length of the Rāmāyaṇa. W. J. Johnson has compared the importance of the Mahābhārata in the context of civilization to that of the Bible, the works of Shakespeare. The epic is traditionally ascribed to the sage Vyāsa, who is also a character in the epic. Vyāsa described it as being itihāsa and he also describes the Guru-shishya parampara, which traces all great teachers and their students of the Vedic times. The first section of the Mahābhārata states that it was Gaṇeśa who wrote down the text to Vyasas dictation, the epic employs the story within a story structure, otherwise known as frametales, popular in many Indian religious and non-religious works. It is recited by the sage Vaiśampāyana, a disciple of Vyāsa, the text has been described by some early 20th-century western Indologists as unstructured and chaotic. Hermann Oldenberg supposed that the poem must once have carried an immense tragic force. Moritz Winternitz considered that only unpoetical theologists and clumsy scribes could have lumped the parts of disparate origin into an unordered whole, Research on the Mahābhārata has put an enormous effort into recognizing and dating layers within the text. Some elements of the present Mahābhārata can be traced back to Vedic times, the background to the Mahābhārata suggests the origin of the epic occurs after the very early Vedic period and before the first Indian empire was to rise in the third century B. C
27.
Krishna
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Krishna is a major Hindu deity. He is one of the most widely revered and popular Indian divinities, worshipped as the incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. Krishnas birthday is celebrated every year by Hindus on Janmashtami according to the lunisolar Hindu calendar, Krishna is also known by numerous names, such as Govinda, Mukunda, Madhusudhana, Vasudeva and Makhan chor in affection. The anecdotes and narratives of Krishnas life are generally titled as Krishna Leela and he is a central character in the Bhagavata Purana, the Bhagavad Gita, and is mentioned in many Hindu philosophical, theological and mythological texts. They portray him in various perspectives, a god-child, a prankster, a lover, a divine hero. The synonyms of Krishna have been traced to 1st millennium BCE literature, worship of Krishna as Svayam Bhagavan, sometimes referred to as Krishnaism, arose in the Middle Ages in the context of the Bhakti movement. Krishna-related literature has inspired performance arts such as Bharatnatyam, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Odissi. Since the 1960s, the worship of Krishna has also spread to the Western world, the name originates from the Sanskrit word Kṛṣṇa, which is primarily an adjective meaning black, dark or dark blue. The waning moon is called Krishna Paksha, relating to the adjective meaning darkening, the name is also interpreted sometimes as all attractive. As a name of Vishnu, Krishna is listed as the 57th name in the Vishnu Sahasranama, based on his name, Krishna is often depicted in idols as black or blue-skinned. Krishna is also known by other names, epithets and titles. Among the most common names are Mohan enchanter, Govinda meaning chief herdsman, Gopala, some of the distinct names may be regionally important—for instance, Jagannatha, a popular incarnation of Puri, Odisha in eastern India. Krishna is represented in the Indian traditions in many ways, with common features. His iconography typically depicts him as black or dark reflecting his name, however ancient and medieval reliefs and stone-based arts depict him in the natural color of the material he is made from, both in India and in southeast Asia. In some texts, his skin is described as the color of Jambul. Krishna is often depicted wearing a peacock feather wreathe or crown, in this form, he usually stands with one leg bent in front of the other in the Tribhanga posture. He is sometimes accompanied by cows or a calf, symbolism for the divine herdsman Govinda, alternatively, he is shown as an amorous man with the gopis, often making music or playing pranks. In other icons, he is a part of the scene on the battlefield of the epic Mahabharata
28.
Kabul River
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It is the main river in eastern Afghanistan and is separated from the watershed of the Helmand by the Unai Pass. The major tributaries of the Kabul River are the Logar, Panjshir, Kunar, Alingar, Bara, the Kabul River is little more than a trickle for most of the year, but swells in summer due to melting snows in the Hindu Kush Range. The Kunar meets the Kabul near Jalalabad, in spite of the Kunar carrying more water than the Kabul, the river continues as the Kabul River after this confluence, mainly for the political and historical significance of the name. The Kabul River is impounded by several dams, the Naghlu, Surobi, and Darunta dams are located in Kabul and Nangarhar provinces of Afghanistan. The Warsak Dam is in Pakistan, approximately 20 km northwest of the city of Peshawar, in Arrians The Campaigns of Alexander, the River Kabul is referred to as Κωφήν Kōphēn, the accusative of Κωφής Kōphēs. The word Kubhā which is the ancient name of the river is both a Sanskrit and Avestan word, many of the rivers of Pakistan and Afghanistan are mentioned in the Rig Veda. The Sanskrit word later changed to Kābul, al-Biruni also called it the River of Ghorwand. The Kabul River later gave its name to the region and to the settlement of Kabul, list of rivers of Afghanistan Rigvedic rivers Swat River Kabul River
29.
Kurram River
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Kurram River is located in Paktia and Khost provinces of Afghanistan and Kurram Agency, North Waziristan Agency and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It drains the southern flanks of the Spin Ghar mountain range and is a right tributary of the Indus River. Kurram River is also mentioned in the Rig Veda under the name of Krumu, Kurram River rises 20 km southeast of Gardez in Spin Ghar mountains, Paktia Province in eastern Afghanistan. The route crossed the Peiwar Kotal Pass 3,439 m high, just over 20 km west of Parachinar, the Kurram River joins the Indus River near Isa Khel after a course of more than 320 km. Kurram River has great hydropower potential which could be harnessed for cheap electric power generation
30.
Sarayu
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The Sarayu is a river that flows through the Indian states of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. This river is of ancient significance, finding mentions in the Vedas, the Sarayu forms at the confluence of the Karnali and Mahakali in Bahraich District. The Mahakali or Sharda forms the Indian-Nepalese border, Ayodhya is situated on the banks of river Sarayu. Some mapmakers consider the Sarayu to be just a section of the lower Ghaghara River, on Ram Navami, the festival that celebrates the birthday of Bhagwan Rama, thousands of people take a dip in the Sarayu River at Ayodhya. The name is the derivative of the Sanskrit root सर् sar to flow, as a masculine stem, saráyu- means air, wind. The Sarayu forms at the confluence of the Karnali and Mahakali in Bahraich District at 27°40′27″N 81°16′39″E and it flows into the Ganges at 25°44′36″N 84°40′01″E. The river is mentioned three times in the Rigveda, the banks of the Sarayu are the location of the slaying of two Aryas at the hands of Indra in RV4.30.18. It is listed together with western tributaries to the Indus, Rasā, Anitabha, Kubha, Krumu, in this verse, Purisini appears as its epithet. At this stage of the earlier Rigveda, it apparently was a river west of the Indus system that corresponds to Iranian Harayu and it is invoked together with Sindhu and Sarasvati in the late hymn RV10.64. Later on, according to Ramayana 1.5.6, the Sarayu flowed beside the ancient city of Ayodhya and it was a tributary of the Gogra. His brothers Bharata and Shatrughna also joined him, as did many devoted followers, the Sarayu is also the river upon whose banks King Rama was born. According to a sub-story within the Ramayana, the banks of the River Sarayu is also the place where King Dashratha accidentally killed Shravan Kumar and it is also called the only river flowing beneath the earth. In ancient times Aciravati was one of the tributaries of the Sarayu, while the Sarayu river plays an important role in RigVeda and Atharva Veda along with Ramayana. Ayodhya, capital of King Rama is mentioned on the banks of Sarayu river, Sarayu river is mentioned in great details in Ramayana. Ayodhya still exists on the banks of river Sarayu in Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is a tributary of the Ganges which meets two other rivers at the confluence in Uttar Pradesh. Sarayu is also the name of the river flows by the fictional town of Malgudi created by the Indian writer R. K. Narayan. Sarayu is the given to the personification of the Holy Spirit in The Shack created by American Novelist William P. Young. Saranyu Ramayana Hindu mythology The Ramayana, by Ramesh Menon The Geography of the Rigveda
31.
Gilgit River
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Gilgit River is a tributary of the Indus River, and flows past the town of Gilgit. It is located in the Northern Areas of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, the Gilgit river starts from Shandur lake. The Gilgit River is also referred to as the Ghizar River, Shandur is a place where an annual polo game is played between teams representing Chitral and Gilgit. Shandur is the route to Chitral from Gilgit in the Hindukush mountain range and has a height of about 12,000 ft
32.
Swat River
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The Swat River is a perennial river in the northern region of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. The river commences in Swat Kohistan region of Kalam with the confluence of two main tributaries Ushu and Gabral and runs downstream in a gorge up to Baghdheri. The name is derived from an old Sanskrit term, Suvastu and it is mentioned in Rig Veda 8.19.37 as the Suvastu river. With the passage of time, it was shortened to Swat by the people, in the extreme south of the valley, the river enters to a narrow gorge and joins the Panjkora River, at Qalangi, and finally empties into Kabul River, near Charsadda. It is diverted near Batkhela for irrigation and power generation purposes, the Upper Swat Canal flows under Malakand through Benton Tunnel. Below Dargai, the canal is divided into two branches, supplying Charsadda and Swabi & Mardan. The water also used for hydropower generation at Jabban and Dargai Power Stations, Swat River plays an important role in the economy of the valley. It irrigates large areas of Swat District, Malakand District and lower Peshawar Valley, the river serves as a habitat for diverse species of birds & contributes to the fishing industry of the region. The aesthetic scenery of river attracts thousands of tourists all over Pakistan during the summer season. River Swat has an untapped hydropower potential which could be harnessed for green power generation. Among them, the site near Munda Headworks has an installed generation capacity of 740 MW. while others are Asrit Kedam HPP, Gabral HPP. There are several micro hydro-electric power projects on canals from the Swat River which generate electricity for local usage, rigvedic rivers Swat, Pakistan Book, Hidden Treasures of Swat, ISBN 978-969-23042-0-7 Swat Valley website
33.
Panjkora River
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The Panjkora River is a river in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northwestern Pakistan. The rivers headwaters are high in the glaciers of Hindu Kush Mountains and it flows south through the Upper Dir District and the Lower Dir District. Its confluence with the Swat River is in the Malakand District near Chakdara, the Swat River is a tributary of the Kabul River, part of the Indus River basin. The Panjkora Valley contains important sites of the Gandhara grave culture, timergara,40 kilometres from Chakdara, is the site of excavated ancient graves, dating from 1500 to 600 BC. On the west side of the Panjkora River is the site of Balambat. The site has been occupied continuously since 1500 BC, houses dating from 500 BC have been discovered here. Fire altars were discovered, evidence of Yajna, a ritual practice which is part of Hinduism. The Gandhara grave culture is the earliest phase of Indo-Aryan migrations into the Indian subcontinent and it was part of the Early Vedic culture. The Talash Valley,13 kilometres from Chakdara, has many Buddhist sites, Buddhist stupas and monasteries, which have not been excavated, are on both sides of the road towards Dir. At the west end of the valley is the Kat Kala Pass, olaf Caroe identified this place with Massaga which was captured by Alexander the Great in 327BC. There are also crumbling remains of a massive Parthian fort of the 8th to 10th centuries, the Panjkora River is the natural habitat of trout and other freshwater fish sought by anglers. The most common species are Rainbow trout and Brown trout, rivers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Map of Gandhara archeological sites, Huntington Collection, Ohio State University
34.
Kunar River
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The Kunar River, also called the Chitral River or the Kama River, is about 480 km long, located in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, and eastern Afghanistan. The river system is fed by melting glaciers and snow of the Hindu Kush mountains and it is also part of the Indus watershed basin. The river rises in the far north glaciated Hindu Kush mountains of Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, downstream as far as Mastuj it is known as the Mastuj River from there to its confluence with the Lotkoh River just north of the important regional centre of Chitral. It is then called the Chitral River, before flowing south into the upper Kunar Valley of Afghanistan. At the confluence in Asadabad, historically Chaga Sarai, it meets with Pech River, the combined rivers then flow eastwards into Pakistan again, roughly following the Grand Trunk Road through the Khyber Pass, and joining the Indus River at the city of Attock. At about six miles from Jellalabad, we quitted the valley of the Cabul river, I have not seen so fine a valley as this anywhere. The Kama is a rapid stream, with about a mile of rich soil on either side. The villages are large and well peopled, - Major - General Augustus Abbott, mid 19th century The river has great untapped hydropower potential which could be harnessed for cheap hydro electricity generation. Currently, under construction Golen Gol power project is located on this river
35.
Haryana
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Haryana is one of the 29 states in India, situated in North India. It was carved out of the state of East Punjab on 1 November 1966 on a linguistic basis. It stands 21st in terms of its area, which is spread about 44,212 km2, as of 2011 census of India, the state is eighteenth largest by population with 25,353,081 inhabitants. The city of Chandigarh is its capital while the NCR city of Faridabad is the most populous city of the state, Haryana is one of the most economically developed regions in South Asia, and its agricultural and manufacturing industries have experienced sustained growth since the 1970s. Since 2000, the state has emerged as the largest recipient of investment per capita in India and it is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south. The river Yamuna defines its border with Uttar Pradesh. Haryana surrounds the countrys capital Delhi on three sides, forming the northern, western and southern borders of Delhi, consequently, a large area of south Haryana is included in the National Capital Region for purposes of planning for development. The name Haryana is found in the works of the 12th-century AD Apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar, the name Haryana has been derived from the Sanskrit words Hari and ayana, meaning the Abode of God. However, scholars such as Muni Lal, Murli Chand Sharma, HA Phadke and Sukhdev Singh Chib believe that the name comes from a compound of the words Hari and Aranya. Vedic state of Brahmavarta is claimed to be located in a new research in south Haryana, manusmriti, a flood time document composed by Manu and Bhrigu is now dated 10,000 years old. Rakhigarhi village in the Hisar district is home to the largest and one of the oldest ancient Indus Valley Civilization sites, evidence of paved roads, a drainage system, a large-scale rainwater collection storage system, terracotta brick and statue production, and skilled metal working have been uncovered. According to archeologists, Rakhigarhi may be the origin of Harappan civilisation, the area that is now Haryana has been ruled by major empires of India. Panipat is known for three seminal battles in the history of India, in the First Battle of Panipat, Babur defeated the Lodis. In the Second Battle of Panipat, Akbar defeated the local Haryanvi Hindu Emperor of Delhi, hemu, had earlier won 22 battles across India from Punjab to Bengal defeating Mughals and Afghans. Hemu had defeated Akbars forces twice at Agra and Battle of Delhi in 1556 to become last Hindu Emperor of India with formal Coronation at Purana Quila in Delhi on 7th Oct.1556, in the Third Battle of Panipat, the Afghan king Ahmad Shah Abdali defeated the Marathas. Haryana state was formed on 1 November 1966, the commission delivered its report on 31 May 1966 whereby the then-districts of Hisar, Mahendragarh, Gurgaon, Rohtak and Karnal were to be a part of the new state of Haryana. Further, the tehsils of Jind and Narwana in the Sangrur district—along with Naraingarh, Ambala, the commission recommended that the tehsil of Kharad, which includes Chandigarh, the state capital of Punjab, should be a part of Haryana. However, only a portion of Kharad was given to Haryana
36.
Ghaggar-Hakra River
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The Ghaggar-Hakra River is an intermittent, endorheic river in India and Pakistan that flows only during the monsoon season. The river is known as Ghaggar before the Ottu barrage and as the Hakra downstream of the barrage. The basin is classified in two parts, Khadir and Bangar, the area that is not flooded in rainy season is called Bangar. Nineteenth and early 20th century scholars, but also more recent authors, have suggested that the Ghaggar-Hakra might be the remains of the mythological Sarasvati of the Rig Veda. Recent geophysical research does not support this idea and it shows that the Ghaggar-Hakra system was not sourced by the glaciers and snows of the Himalayas, but rather by a system of perennial monsoon-fed rivers. Late Holocene aridification subsequently reduced the Ghaggar-Hakra to the river it is today. The Ghaggar is an intermittent river in India, flowing during the monsoon rains, dammed at Ottu barrage near Sirsa, Ghaggar feeds two irrigation canals that extend into Rajasthan. The main tributaries of the Ghaggar are the Kaushalya river, Markanda, Sarsuti, Tangri, the present-day Sarsuti river originates in a submontane region in the Ambala district and joins the Ghaggar near Shatrana in Punjab. A dried out channel of the Sutlej known as the Naiwal channel joins it near Sadulgarh, finally, near Suratgarh, the Ghaggar is joined by the dried up Chautang river. The Hakra is the channel of a river near Fort Abbas City in Pakistan that is the continuation of the Ghaggar River in India. Several times, but not continuously, it carried the water of the Sutlej, many settlements of the Indus Valley Civilisation have been found along and inside the river beds of the Ghaggar and Hakra rivers. Hakra or Hakro Darya streamed through Sindh and its sign can be found in Sindh areas such as Khairpur, Nawabshah, along the course of the Ghaggar-Hakra river are many archaeological sites of the Indus Valley Civilization, but not further south than the middle of Bahawalpur district. It has been assumed that the Sarasvati ended there in a series of terminal lakes, however, satellite images contradict this, they do not show subterranean water in reservoirs in the dunes between the Indus and the end of the Hakra west of Fort Derawar/Marot. The terrain of this river contains pebbles of quartzite and metamorphic rocks, the Sutlej moved westward and became a tributary of the Indus River while the Yamuna moved eastward and became a tributary of the Ganges. The Sutlej shifted its channel northwards repeatedly, and was captured by the Indus system. The water loss due to these movements caused the Sarasvati river to dry up in the Thar Desert. The date should therefore be pushed back to c 3800 BC. R. Mughal, summing up the evidence, concludes that the Bronze Age Ghaggar-Hakra sometimes carried more, the latter point agrees with a recent isotope study. Painted Grey Ware sites have found in the river bed and not on the banks of the Ghaggar-Hakra river
37.
Arghandab River
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Arghandab is a river in Afghanistan, about 400 km in length. It rises in the Hazarajat country north-west of Ghazni, and flows south-west falls into the Helmand 30 km below Girishk. It is doubtful whether the ancient Arachotus is to be identified with the Arghandab or with its chief confluent the Tarnak, the Tarnak, which flows south of Kandahar, is much shorter and less copious. The Tarnak is dammed for irrigation at intervals, and in the hot season almost dries up, there is a good deal of cultivation along the river, but few villages. The Kabul-Kandahar Highway passes this way, and the people live off the road to avoid the onerous duties of hospitality, in 2008 a project was initiated to rehabilitate the Dahla Dam and associated irrigation system
38.
Helmand River
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The Helmand River is the longest river in Afghanistan and the primary watershed for the endorheic Sistan Basin. The name comes from Avestan Haētumant, literally dammed, having a dam, which referred to the Helmand River, the name was borrowed into Greek and Latin as a compound with Eastern Iranian *raha, river. Helmand Province is named after the river, the Helmand River stretches for 1,150 km. It rises in the Hindu Kush mountains, about 80 km west of Kabul, passing north of the Unai Pass, in the proximities of Hazarajat, in Behsud, flows west to Daykundi. It crosses south-west through the desert of Dashti Margo, to the Seistan marshes, the river remains relatively salt-free for much of its length, unlike most rivers with no outlet to the sea. This river, managed by the Helmand and Arghandab Valley Authority is used extensively for irrigation and its waters are essential for farmers in Afghanistan, but it feeds into Lake Hamun and is also important to farmers in Irans southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province. A number of dams have created artificial reservoirs on some of the Afghanistans rivers including the Kajakai on the Helmand River. The chief tributary of the Helmand river is the Arghandab River which also has a major dam north of Kandahar, the boundaries of the province of Helmand were once known as kingdom of Sakastan. The Helmand valley region is mentioned by name in the Avesta as the Aryan land of Haetumant, but owing to the preponderance of Hindus and Buddhists, the Helmand and Kabul regions were also known as White India in those days. The Hindu Zunbils were also located here, some Vedic scholars also believe the Helmand valley corresponds to the Sarasvati area mentioned in the Rig Veda as the homeland for the Indo-Aryan migrations into India, ca.1500 BC. Six major discoveries by Italian Archaeologist in Swat District of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan regarding the river have been discussed in the book The History of Communication, list of rivers of Afghanistan Kajaki Dam Various authors. Vogelsang, W. Early historical Arachosia in South-east Afghanistan, Meeting-place between East and West, from Wetland to Wasteland, The Destruction of the Hamoun Oasis
