Sarasvatī — Nāhan connection

A river which flowed from mountains to oceans

Sarasvatī in 7th maṇḍala

rv07.095.01

प्र क्षोद॑सा॒ धाय॑सा सस्र ए॒षा सर॑स्वती ध॒रुण॒माय॑सी॒ पूः। प्र॒बाब॑धाना र॒थ्ये॑व याति॒ विश्वा॑ अ॒पो म॑हि॒ना सिन्धु॑र॒न्याः॥

THIS stream Sarasvatī with fostering current comes forth, our sure defence, our fort of iron. As on a car, the flood flows on, surpassing in majesty and might all other waters. — RV07.095.01

एका॑चेत॒त्सर॑स्वती न॒दीनां॒ शुचि॑र्य॒ती गि॒रिभ्य॒ आ स॑मु॒द्रात्। रा॒यश्चेत॑न्ती॒ भुव॑नस्य॒ भूरे॑र्घृ॒तं पयो॑ दुदुहे॒ नाहु॑षाय॥

Pure in her course from mountains to the ocean, alone of streams Sarasvatī hath listened. Thinking of wealth and the great world of creatures, she poured for Nāhuṣa(Nāhan ridge?)her milk and fatness. — RV07.095.02

No doubt why Saraswati was also called Giri in shabdakalpadrum.

About River Giri

River Giri is famous as “Giri Ganga” these days. This is an important river which feeds the River Yamuna . It flows through the district of Sirmaur and further merges with the Yamuna River. At this point, it divides the Sirmaur district into two equal parts which are Cis-Giri and Trans-Giri region and then they join Yamuna upstream of Paonta below Mokkampur. Giri is one of the important tributaries of the Yamuna River.

The major tributaries of the River Giri are Ashani which meets Giri close to Chail and Jalal which joins it at Dadhau. The Palar and Nait stream meets the river on its left bank.

Identifying Nāhan as Nāhuṣa

The water of Giri River is channeled through the Nāhan ridge to Girinagar powerhouse and is released with gushing force into the river of Bata.

We know that Yamuna used to feed Saraswati. Now we understand that since Yamuna was fed by River Giri thus her name was synonymously used for Saraswati since ultimately Giri was feeding Saraswati.

Rgveda mentions the waters from the hills, and the Athar-
vaveda refers to the snowy mountains ( Av. xix. 37, 8).

Note that गिरि mfn. coming from the mountains (RV. vi , 66 , 11) ( River Giri?) is mentioned in Rgveda itself. Also note that shabdaratnavali mentions girā as a name of Saraswati.

सारदा ९ गिरा १० गिरांदेवी ११ गीर्द्देवी १२ ईश्वरी १३ वाचा १४ वचसा- मीशा १५ वाग्देवी १६ वर्णमातृका १७ । इति शब्दरत्नावली ॥

Did I identify three things

1. Giri, which feeds Yamuna, fed Saraswati in the past.
2. Thus Nāhan — Nāhuṣa is brought with milk and fatness; Identified the rigde with snow.
3. The above two would mean that Yamuna had not yet left Saraswati in seventh maṇḍala of Rgveda.

Yeah! This was just a tit-bit note to self. I earlier identified River Varaṇa/Vāraṇa, a tributary of Saraswati, of MBH with Bhirrana IVC archeological site.