Question

What is meant by ‘Sapt Sindhu’?

Answer 1

Hint: Punjab was called the land of the seven rivers instead of the land of five rivers.
It plays a prominent part in the hymns of the Rig Veda, and consequently in early Hindu religion. There is a wide geographical horizon in the Vedic texts, speaking of seas, rivers, mountains and deserts.

Complete answer:
In Indian mythology, Sapt Sindhu means the seven holy rivers, also referred to in Rigveda and in Zend Avesta. They are mostly located in northwestern India/ northern Pakistan in the Punjab region.

Sapta Sindhu :
The seven rivers, opposed to the Saptarishi of the Avesta, are a group of seven major rivers of unknown or fluctuating identity. How the seven rivers were planned to be enumerated is not entirely clear. In northern India/eastern Pakistan, they are also found. If the Saraswati and five major Indian rivers are included (Sutlej, Ravi, Chenab, Jhelum, Beas, the latter all Indus tributaries), one river, possibly the Kubha, is absent. Other possibilities include the Arjikiya or Sushoma; see also the list of ten rivers in the Nadistuti sukta, both east and west of the Indus. Saraswati is referred to as “she with seven sisters” implying a group of eight rivers, with the number seven being greater than the individual members.

Note:
i) The sapta-sindhu area was bounded in the east by Saraswati, in the west by the Sindhu, and Satudru, Vipasa, Asikni, Parusni and Vitasta were the five in between.
ii) Sapta-Sindhu was referred to as the Persian Hapta-Hindu, etc.
iii) The inhabitants of this area and civilization, the Sapta-Saindhavas, were called hapta-Haindavas by Persians, etc. The word is used in Zoroastrian Avesta.