[Footnote 206: Ur_n_âvatî, rich in wool, probably refers to the flocks of sheep for which the North-West of India was famous. See Rig-Veda I. 126, 7.]
[Footnote 207: Sîlamâvatî does not occur again in the Rig-Veda. Muir translates, "rich in plants;" Zimmer, "rich in water;" Ludwig takes it as a proper name. Sâya_n_a states that sîlamâ is a plant which is made into ropes. That the meaning of sîlamâvatî was forgotten at an early time we see by the Atharva-Veda III. 12, 2, substituting sûn_ri_tâvatî, for sîlamâvatî, as preserved in the _S_ânkhâyana G_ri_hya-sûtras, 3, 3. I think sîlamâ means straw, from whatever plant it may be taken, and this would be equally applicable to a _s_âla, a house, a sthû_n_a, a post, and to the river Indus. It may have been, as Ludwig conjectures, an old local name, and in that case it may possibly account for the name given in later times to the Suleiman range.]
[Footnote 208: Madhuv_ri_dh is likewise a word which does not occur again in the Rig-Veda. Sãya_n_a explains it by nirgu_n_di and similar plants, but it is doubtful what plant is meant. Gu_n_da is the name of a grass, madhuv_ri_dh therefore may have been a plant such as sugar-cane, that yielded a sweet juice, the Upper Indus being famous for sugar-cane; see Hiouen-thsang, II. p. 105. I take adhivaste with Roth in the sense "she dresses herself," as we might say "the river is dressed in heather." Muir translates, "she traverses a land yielding sweetness;" Zimmer, "she clothes herself in Madhuv_ri_dh;" Ludwig, "the Sîlamâvatî throws herself into the increaser of the honey-sweet dew." All this shows how little progress can be made in Vedic scholarship by merely translating either words or verses, without giving at the same time a full justification of the meaning assigned to every single word.]
[Footnote 209: See Petersburg Dictionary, s. v. virap_s_in.]
[Footnote 210: "Among the Hottentots, the Kunene, Okavango, and Orange rivers, all have the name of Garib, _i.e._ the Runner."--Dr. Theoph. Hahn, _Cape Times_, July 11, 1882.]
[Footnote 211: _Deh_li, not _Del_-high.--A. W.]
[Footnote 212: Cunningham, "Archæological Survey of India," vol. xii. p. 113.]
[Footnote 213: Pliny, Hist. Nat. vi. 20, 71: "Indus incolis Sindus appellatus."]