he Sarasvati River (IAST: Sárasvatī-nadī́) is a deified mythological river first mentioned in the Rigveda[1] and later in Vedic and post-Vedic texts. It played an important role in the Vedic religion, appearing in all but the fourth book of the Rigveda.
As a physical river, in the oldest texts of the Rigveda it is described as a “great and holy river in north-western India,”[2] but in the middle and late Rigvedic books it is described as a small river ending in “a terminal lake (samudra).”[3][b] As the goddess Sarasvati, the other referent for the term “Sarasvati” which developed into an independent identity in post-Vedic times,[4] the river is also described as a powerful river and mighty flood.[5] The Sarasvati is also considered by Hindus to exist in a metaphysical form, in which it formed a confluence with the sacred rivers Ganges and Yamuna, at the Triveni Sangam.[6] According to Michael Witzel, superimposed on the Vedic Sarasvati river is the “heavenly river”: the Milky Way, which is seen as “a road to immortality and heavenly after-life.”[7]