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Suv[ra]stu (Swat); while they appear to have had a legendary remembrance of the Ras[=a], Avestan Ra[.n]ha (Rangha), supposed by some to be identical with the Araxes or Yaxartes, but probably (see below) only a vague 'stream,' the old name travelling with them on their wanderings; for one would err if he regarded similarity or even identity of appellation as a proof of real identity. [10] West of the Indus the Kurum and Gomal appear to be known also. Many rivers are mentioned of which the names are given, but their location is not established. It is from the district west of the Indus that the most famous Sanskrit grammarian comes, and long after the Vedas an Indic people are known in the Kandahar district, while Kashmeer was a late home of culture. The Sarasvati river, the name of which is transferred at least once in historical times, may have been originally one with the Arghand[=a]b (on which is Kandahar), for the Persian name of this river (s becomes h) is Harahvati (Arachotos, Arachosia), and it is possible that it was really this river, and not the Indus which was first lauded as the Sarasvat[=i). In that case there would be a perfect parallel to what has probably happened in the case of the Ras[ra], the name—in both cases meaning only the stream' (like Rhine, Arno, etc.)—being transferred to a new river. But since the Iranian Harahvati fixes the first river of this name, there is here a stronger proof of Indo-Iranian community than is furnished by other examples.[11]
These facts or suggestive parallels of names are of exceeding importance. They indicate between the Vedic Aryans and the Iranians a connection much closer than usually has been assumed. The bearings of such a connection on the religious ideas of the two peoples are self-evident, and will often have to be touched upon in the course of this history. It is of less importance, from the present point of view, to say how the Aryans entered India, but since this question is also connected with that of the religious environment of the first Hindu poets, it will be well to state that, although, as some scholars maintain, and as we believe, the Hindus may have come with the Iranians through the open pass of Herat (Haraiva, Haroyu), it is possible that they parted from the latter south of the Hindukush[12] (descending through the Kohistan passes from the north), and that the two peoples thence diverged south-east and south-west respectively. Neither assumption would prevent the country lying between the Harahvati