________________
SAR
181
SAR
The Ghaggar or Gaggar is believed to have been the ancient Sarasvati though it is not known how it has lost that name (JRAS., 1893, p. 51); see Påvani. The Mahabharata also says that after disappearing, the river appears again at three places, namely at Chamasod. bheda. Sirodbheda and Nagodbheda (Vana Parva, ch. 82). The Sarasvati is described in the Rig Veda as a flowing river: Manu and the Mahabharata speak about its disappearance in the sand at Binasana-tirtha near Sirsa (JRAS., 1893, p. 51). In the Vedic period the Sarasvati was a very large river and it flowed into the sea (Max Müller's Rig Veda Samhita, p. 46 commentary). The Rig Veda does not even hint about its subterranean course in the Triveni at Allahabad. The Kurukshetra Sarasvati is called the Prachi or Eastern Sarasvati (Padma P., Uttara Kh, ch. 67). The name, however, is specially applied to the Pushkara Sarasvati, that is the Sarasvati which with the Looni issues out of the Pushkara Lake (Padma P., Srishti Kh., ch. 18). It falls into the Gulf of Kutch. 2. A river near Somnath in Guzerat now called Raunakshi (see Prabhasa). It is a small river which rising in Mount Abu runs westward towards the Runn of Kutch from the celebrated shrine of Kotesvara Mahadeva in the marble hills of Arasoor (Forbes, Rasmála). It is called Prabhasa Sarasvati, and is supposed to be identical with the Prachi-Sarasvati (Skanda P., Prabhâsa Kh., Prabh&sa-mahat., chs. 35. 36). On the bank of this river below an aspen tree near Somnath, Kțishņa breathed his last. 3. Arachosia or Eastern Afghanistan (the district of Kandahar), Sarasvati being written as Harakhaiti in the Zendavesta. It is mentioned as Harauvatish in the Behistun Inscription (Rawlinson's Herodotus, II, p. 591). It was also called Saukuta, of which the capital is plausibly identified with Ghazni. Dr. Bhandarkar doubtfully derives the name of Arachosia from that of the mountain Rikshoda mentioned by Panini's commentators (Ind. Ant., I. 22). 4. The river Helmand in Afghanistan, the Avestan name of which is also Harakhaiti. Hence the three Sarasvatis of the Atharva Veda are the Helmand, the Indus anciently called Sarasvati and the Sarasvati of Kurukshetra (Ragozin's Vedic India). 5. The Arghanday in Arachosia according to Hillebrandt (Macdonnell and Keith's Vedic Index of Names and Subjects, Vol. II, p. 437). 6. A tributary of the Alakananda
(Gaiga) in Garwal (Agni P., ch. 109, v. 17). Sarasvati-Dagara-Perhaps Sirsa on the Sarasvati in Kurukshetra, Panjab (Mbh., Mausala,
ch. 7). Saravana--1. The birth place of Gośâla Maikhaliputta near Sravasti. He was the head (or founder) of the Ajsvakas (Hoernle's Uvdsagadasdo, Intro., p. xiv; Appendix, pp.
1, 4). 2. Retakunda the birthplace of Karttika, near Kedaranatha temple in Garwal. Saravati-1. Wilford identifies Saravati with the river Banga nga which passes through
the district of Budaon in Rohilkhand (Asiatic Researches, Vol. XIV, p. 409; Padma P., Svarga (Adi), ch. 3). 2. Fyzabad in Oudh (R. L. Mitra's Lalitavistara, p. 9), but Saravati appears to be the corruption of Sråvasti (modern Sahet-Mahet) on the Repti (Comp. Ramayana, Uttara, ch. 121 with the Raghuvamsa, canto XV, v. 97). 3. The river Rapti on which SrAvasti is situated (Raghuvamia, canto XV). It is the Solomatis of Arrian (McCrindle's Indika of Arrian, p. 186). 4. The Divyavadana (Cowell's ed. I. ch. 1) places Saravati, both the town and the river, to the south-east of Pundravarddhana. The river Saravati was the boundary between the countries called Prachya and Udichya the former being on its south-eastern side and the latter on its north-western side
(Amarakosha, Bhūmi-varga). Sarayu-The Ghagra or Gogra in Oudh. The town of Ayodhya is situated on this river.
(Ramdyana, Bala K., ch. 24). See Kim-arama and dogs. It is evidently the Sarabhas
