But in point of fact 'seven' quite as often means many, as it does an exact number, and this, the older use, may well be applied here.

It is quite impossible to identify the seven, and it is probable that no Vedic poet ever imagined them to be a group of this precise number.

It would be far easier to select a group of seven conspicuous rivers, if anywhere, on the west of the Indus.

A very natural group from the Iranian side would be the Her[=i]r[=u]d, Hilmund, Arghand[=a]b, Kurum, Kabul, Indus, and Vitast[=a].

Against this, however, can be urged that the term 'seven rivers' may be Bactrian, older than the Vedic period; and that, in particular, the Avesta distinguishes Vaikerta, Urva, and other districts from the 'seven rivers.' It is best to remain uncertain in so doubtful a matter, bearing in mind that even Kurukshetra, the 'holy land,' is said to-day to be watered by 'seven streams,' although some say nine; apropos of which fact Cunningham remarks, giving modern examples, that "the Hindus invariably assign seven branches to all their rivers."[16] Within the Punj[=a]b, the Vedic Aryans, now at last really 'Hindus,' having extended themselves to the Cutudri (Catadru, Sutlej), a formidable barrier, and eventually having crossed even this, the last tributary's of the Indus, descended to the jumna (Yamun[=a]), over the little stream called 'the Rocky' (Drishadvat[=i]) and the lesser Sarasvat[=i], southeast from Lahore and near Delhi, in the region Kurukshetra, afterwards famed as the seat of the great epic war, and always regarded as holy in the highest degree.
Not till the time of the Atharva Veda do the Aryans appear as far east as Benares (V[=a]r[=a]nas[=i], on the 'Varan[=a]vat[=i]'), though the Sarayu is mentioned in the Rik.