The Memory of Disappearance of River Dṛśadvatī

In which regions did the rivers mentioned in the Rig Veda were fed from rainwater?

एका॑चेत॒त्सर॑स्वती न॒दीनां॒ शुचि॑र्य॒ती गि॒रिभ्य॒ आ स॑मु॒द्रात् । —

Sarasvatī, chief and pure of rivers, flowing from the mountains to the ocean. — Rig Veda 7.95.4

The timing of the Rig Veda has been a point of contention among researchers. The prevailing consensus among 99% of scholars suggests that the Rig Veda likely dates back to a period ranging from approximately 1900 BCE to a maximum of 3102 BCE.

1. Why 1900 BCE, that I have never understood. It is probably due to the mature Harappan phase with metallurgy. But why there is an emphasization on 3102 BC, may be because this is the timeframe, we have been fed, with the Kaliyuga beginning by western Academia, specially Burgess, the translator and commentator of Suryasiddhanta.
2. Thus, it is assumed that Mahabharata also must have happened in the vicinity of 3102 BC and for that matter Rg veda continued till these times due to the presence of MBH king Devapi — Sāṃtanu in Rg veda. No one goes beyond this time frame as they compare these information with the AIT and OIT for this time frame with the reference to the word Arya present in Rg veda and accordingly they tend to go towards the studies of genetics to resolve them, finally saying that there was no invasion in India. Apparently they miss the big picture of what Rg veda, Ramayana and MBH is trying to say. Daśarājña war does say that there was a type of invasion by our own expelled people, expelled to which location is not identified via Rgvedic studies. Casualties were very low since the population then was very less and thus would not reflect much via genetics in the history. It was not that catastophic similar to MBH war where the population proportion Male vs Female dropped to 1:16 during 5000–6000 BCE. Some have argued that even African population had the similar dip, for that matter I would say even those tribes participated, had to participate, since the trade of IVC was in full fledge with the (north and middle) Africans as well from beyond Sumerian lands. Some of the names of the tribes present in MBH are so obscure are thus lost into antiquity as to who they were, probably may belong to African tribes.
3. They forget to create the holistic picture of Rg veda, w.r.t geology, river morphology, geo-tectonic conditions of Himalayas, vegetation taxa present during those times, study of geographical names, onomastic studies of river and geographical land names ( for example Nābhā, Pṛthvi, Ilāyāspada, etc. ) and their association with the people of different dynastic tribes, and especially with the wars.

Today, I note down a very short note that why I believe Rg veda stopped during or before LGM times.

According to Giosan, the Chautang is a rain-fed river, and the Yamuna changed its course towards east some 50,000 to 10,000 years ago, and didn’t pour any water into it for the last 10,000 years. Hansi Branch of Western Yamuna Canal is palaeochannel of this river. Dṛśadvatī river itself was a tributary of the Ghaggar-Hakra River.

We have a memory of Dṛśadvatī disappearing from a place called Triplakṣa.

benefit in these holy centres viz — Sarasvatī, Vinaśana, Plakṣaprasravaṇa, Vyāsatīrtha on the Dṛṣadvatī, Triplakṣa. — Chapter 13, The Brahmanda Purana

Triplakṣa (त्रिप्लक्ष): — [=tri-plakṣa] [from tri] m. [plural] ‘the 3 fig-trees’, a place near the Yamunā where the Dṛṣad-vatī disappears, [Tāṇḍya-brāhmaṇa xxv, 13; Śāṅkhāyana-śrauta-sūtra xiii] — Lexicon

Vedic index of Names and Subject

So, what can we deduce from this? The Brāhmaṇas are considered extensions of the Rig Veda, while the Sūtras further delineate the precise timings of rituals. These texts diligently documented everything perceived for ritualistic purposes, including the locations where rivers vanished and reappeared as sacred Tīrthas. Purāṇās chronicle events spanning from the Rig Veda to the Brāhmaṇas and Shrauta periods. It’s often said that to truly grasp the Rig Veda, one must correlate events across the Brāhmaṇas, Purāṇās, and similar texts.

They did record that Dṛṣadvatī disappears at Triplakṣa, a lost site today. Can we conclude in any way that the Rivers of Rg veda were rain fed? For me it is impossible to think. What do you think?