Rigvedic rivers

The Rigveda refers to a number of rivers located in the northwestern Indian subcontinent, from Gandhara to Kurukshetra. They are located in present-day India, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Rigvedic geography
The Rigveda mentions the sapta-sindhavaḥ (, seven rivers), along with other rivers:

Identification of Rigvedic hydronyms has engaged multiple historians; it is the single most important way of establishing the geography and chronology of the early Vedic period. Rivers with certain identifications stretch from eastern Afghanistan to the western Gangetic plain, clustering in the Punjab. The region's name comes from پنج, panj, 'five' and آب, āb, 'water' thus "five waters", a Persian calque of the Indo-Aryan Pancha-nada meaning "five rivers". Many have cognates in Avestan.

The same names were often imposed on different rivers as the Vedic culture migrated eastward from around Afghanistan (where they stayed for a considerable time) to the subcontinent via Punjab.

List of rivers
Multiple hydronyms are located in the Rigvedic corpus; they are slotted according to rough geographical locations, following the scheme of Michael Witzel. Alongside, opinions of scholars about modern correlates are provided:

Indus:

 Síndhu – Identified with Indus. The central lifeline of RV.

Northwestern Rivers:

    Tr̥ṣṭā́mā – Blažek identifies with Gilgit. Witzel notes it to be unidentified.
    Susártu – Unidentified.
    Ánitabhā – Unidentified.
    Rasā́ – Described once to be on the upper Indus; at other times a mythical entity.
Mehatnū – A tributary of Gomatī́. Unidentifiable.
    Śvetyā́ – Unidentified.
    Kúbhā – Identified with Kabul river.
    Krúmu – Identified with Kurrum.
    Suvā́stu – Identified with Swat.
Gomatī́ – Identified with Gomal.
Saráyu / Harōiiu – Blažek identifies with Sarju. Witzel identifies with Hari.
    Kuṣávā – Probably Kunar.
Yavyā́vatī – Noted to be a branch of Gomatī́. Witzel as well as Blažek identifies with Zhob River. Dähnhardt comments it to be synonymous to Yamúnā or flowing very close to it but Witzel had rejected a similar take by Talgeri.

Eastern tributaries: 
    Suṣómā – Identified with Soan.
    Arjikiya – Blažek identifies with Haro. Witzel speculates it to be Poonch or Tawi.
 Rivers of Punjab:
    Vitástā – Identified with Jhelum.
    Asiknī́ – Identified with Chenab.
    Paruṣṇī – Probably Ravi.
    Vípāś/Vípāśi/Vípāśā – Identified with Beas.
    Śutudrī́ – Identified with Sutlej.
    Marúdvr̥dhā – Identified with Mahuvardhavan.

Haryana: 
    Sarasvati
    Āpayā́ and Āpayā́ – Streams/rivers of Sarasvati basin.
Dr̥ṣádvatī

Eastern Rivers:
    Áśmanvatī – Identified with Assan.
 Yamúnā – Identified with Yamuna.
 Aṃśumátī – Probably an epithet for Yamúnā.
 Gáṅgā – Identified with Ganges.

See also

 
Ap (water)
Aryan migration
Nadistuti sukta
Old European hydronymy
Out of India theory
Rigvedic deities
River goddess
Samudra
Zhetysu – 7 rivers of Central Asia

References

Further reading
General
 Blažek, Václav. "Hydronymia R̥gvedica". In: Linguistica Brunensia. 2016, vol. 64, iss. 2, pp. 7–54. ; .
 Gherardo Gnoli, De Zoroastre à Mani. Quatre leçons au Collège de France (Travaux de l’Institut d’Études Iraniennes de l’Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle 11), Paris (1985)

 
Rivers
History of India
Rivers of Sindh
Hydronymy
Rivers of Pakistan