The river most mentioned in early Vedic literature is:

Answer: (a) Sindhu

The Rigveda was composed in the Sapta-Sindhu region, and the Sindhu (Indus) is the river its hymns name most often. Ganga appears only a few times in the early hymns.

• ✓ (a) Sindhu, the Indus, dominates the early Vedic geography and gave the region its name.
• ✗ (c) Sarasvati is highly praised in the Rigveda but is mentioned less often than the Sindhu.
• ✗ (d) Ganga is a later-Vedic centre of attention, not the early one.

Remember · Early Vedic world = Sapta-Sindhu; Sindhu is the most mentioned river, Sarasvati the most revered.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 9 Understanding Society: India and Beyond, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 1996, General Studies paper. UPSC did not publish an answer key for 1996: the answer shown is the generally accepted one, and the sources above explain the facts behind it. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 24 Oct 2026 (how we verify). · Report an error