Old and New River Names

[N. Ganesan]

Dear Dr. Joshi,

On the old name of Sarasvati
http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-shl/WA.EXE?A2=ind9911&L=indology&P=R1237
http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-shl/WA.EXE?A2=ind9912&L=indology&P=R13666

With kind regards,
N. Ganesan

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  Old and New River Names

Does anybody have any comment on the older name "VaishambhalyA" for
the river "SarasvtI" discussed by Prof Witzel (p.11-Substrate
languages in Old Indo-Aryan)? Could this name be an epithet
describing some atrribute of the river or could it be the name of
some segment of the river? Giving two or more names to the same river
to focus attention on some historical events occurred in the vicinity
is not uncommon in the ancient history of the sub-continent.Two
rivers from Central Asia flowing northwest towards Aral Sea are
Jaxartes or Iaxartes (modern Syr Darya of north) and Oxus (modern Amu
Darya of south).Are there ancient Aryan (or Sanskrit) names to these
rivers also? It is suggested that Haroyu, Harahvati, GangA and
YamunA(p.94 and p.131 of Vedic People by Dr.Kochhar)were the ancient
names of rivers from Afghanistan and they were transferred
subsequently by Aryans to the rivers of the North India.Sometimes ago
in Indology postings it was suggested that the river names "AverI"and
"GodAvarI" of the South India could be ancient Dravidian names.What
is the story about the river names "NarmadA" and "Tapti"from the
Middle India?Are these names also transferred to Indian rivers from
the Afghan river names by Aryans moving south? If yes, what are
the present names of these rivers in Afghanistan? The ancient
name(500 BCE) of one of the rivers from north of Chennai was
"TAmraparNI". Is this an Aryan or Dravidian name? Thanks.
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