Dear Colleagues,
The rivers originate in the Western Himalayas or some adjacent range and
some of them flow thru Kashmir. But they flow down through
Panjab/Haryana. So one cannot be definite about the Kashmir connection
tho that is possible. Definite evidence is necessary before drawing a
firm conclusion.
There is a tendency among us to connect anything that
might lie in or be just adjacent to the regions surrounding Kashmir, to
the valley itself. But that may lead to unconscious errors.One has to
be careful.
Best wishes for all
DB
--- On Thu, 28/4/11, Walter Slaje <slaje@T-ONLINE.DE> wrote:
From: Walter Slaje <slaje@T-ONLINE.DE>
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Identification of rivers
To: INDOLOGY@liverpool.ac.uk
Date: Thursday, 28 April, 2011, 3:06 PM
Dear Jim,
ÅšatarudrÄ (occurs also in the MatsyapurÄṇa, see pw) is mentioned by Al-BÄ«rÅ«nÄ« in his enumeration of rivers having their source in the Himavat (Sachau, Vol. 1: ch. 25).
Sircar identifies it with the Åšatadru river (Geography of Ancient and Medieval India 1971: 51, n. 3).
> ÅšatarudrÄ might be a corruption of Åšatadru ( = Sutlej).
Śatadru/°drū itself seems to be the result of post-vedic folk etymology (ved. śutudrī, etc.), and the situation could have been similar with the formation
of ÅšatarudrÄ (and possibly also with ÅšrÄ«rÄtri) as deliberate attempts of giving these rivers an easily comprehensible meaning. "Corruption" in the strict sense is perhaps not applicable to such names.
Best, Walter
------------------------------
Prof. Dr. Walter Slaje
Hermann-Löns-Str. 1
D-99425 Weimar
(Germany)
www.indologie.uni-halle.de
Ego ex animi mei sententia spondeo ac polliceor
studia humanitatis impigro labore culturum et provecturum
non sordidi lucri causa nec ad vanam captandam gloriam,
sed quo magis veritas propagetur et lux eius, qua salus
humani generis continetur, clarius effulgeat.
Vindobonae, die XXI. mensis Novembris MCMLXXXIII.
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