1886.] of the Punjab and its Bivers. 34il 



they were again compelled to migrate, and, on reacliing the Punjab, 

 tried to revive the seven rivers of their original home ; unfoi'tunately, 

 however, there were only six large rivers, but the Saraswati being a 

 stream that lost itself in the lake or tank of Kurukshetra reminded 

 them in a manner of the Saraswati they had left behind them, the 

 name was transferred to it, and thus the seventh river was found. In 

 favour of this hypothesis may be mentioned the fact that, in the Zend, 

 the Helmund is called the Haraquaiti, a word identical with the Sans- 

 krit Saraswati, according to the recognised rules of transliteration, but 

 there is little else that can be produced in favour of this highly ingenious 

 but far-fetched hypothesis. It implies an almost incredible degree of 

 childishness in the ancient Aryans to suppose that they would confuse 

 together a petty streamlet and a large, navigable river simply for the 

 reason that the one ended in a large lake, while the other flowed into a 

 tank or jhiL 



§ 2. Rejecting the ingenious explanation of Mr. Thomas, there is no 

 alternative but a considerable change in tie hydrography of the region. 

 We may at once dismiss all suggestions of any possible change in the 

 number or position of the large rivers within the limits of the Himalayan 

 region ; and, as all the rivers of the Punjab are accounted for, we need 

 only consider whether the Jumna, or a portion of its waters, flowing in 

 a channel different from the present one, may not have been the Saras- 

 wati of the Vedas. 



The configuration of the ground west of the high bank of the 

 Jumna is that of a very broad and gently sloping cone ; this is clearly 

 shewn by the general directions of the minor watercourses west of the 

 Jumna, which, as a glance at a sufficiently large scale map will shew, 

 radiate from the point where the Jumna leaves the hills. This feature 

 can only have been produced by the Jumna itself, like the Sutlej, though 

 now flowing in a depression below the general level of the plains on 

 either side, having once flowed over their surface. The Jumna must, 

 consequently, during the period which geologists call recent, have 

 flowed sometimes into the Ganges and sometimes through the Punjab ; 

 but it is not possible for geology pure and simple to give the exact date 

 at which the Jumna last changed its course. 



Two of these now minor drainage channels, the present Sarsuti and 

 the Chitang, are continuous with the Sotar, and die out after approaching 

 within a few miles of the old high bank of the Jumna ; and it is not 

 impossible that one or the other may mark approximately the course of 

 the Jumna, or Saraswati, of the Vedic period. 



In this connection, a coincidence may be mentioned which is per- 



