Place · sacred river · Pakistan
Asiknī / Chenab
Also known as Chenab, Asikni, Chandrabhaga, Acesines, Iskamati
Asiknī, the dark one, formed where the Chandra and the Bhāga meet at Tandi in Lahaul and called Chandrabhāgā for that reason. It is the largest of the five by volume, and it is the river the others end in: the Jhelum joins it at Trimmu and the Ravi below that, and the combined stream meets the Sutlej at Panjnad to enter the Indus.
- Periods
- Indus Valley Urbanisation, Vedic Age, Second Urbanisation, Classical and Puranic Age, Regional Flourishing, Islamic Age and Bhakti Traditions, Early Modern Age, British Colonial Age, Republic and Living Practice
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Mixed / layered — The physical place or feature is identifiable; its sacred origin or association belongs to a textual or living tradition.
- Location
- 32.300, 73.800 (approximate)
Worth knowing
The Greeks called it the Acesines, and Alexander’s fleet was nearly wrecked in the rapids where it meets the Jhelum. In Punjabi romance it is the river of Sohni, who swam it nightly on a baked clay pot until someone exchanged the pot for an unbaked one.
Connections (3)
- River flowVitastā / Jhelum
The Jhelum comes out of the Pir Panjal, crosses the plain past Mangla and meets the Chenab at Trimmu in Jhang district. Alexander’s fleet was nearly wrecked in the rapids at this junction on its way down to the Indus. From Trimmu the two run as one, so the Vitastā reaches the sea under another river’s name — which is true of four of the five.
- River flowParushnī / Irāvatī / Ravi
The Ravi joins the Chenab below Ahmadpur Sial, having run past Harappa and Lahore and given up most of its water to canals on the way. It is the smallest contribution of the three that reach the Chenab, and since the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty allotted the Ravi to India, what crosses the border to make that confluence is a fraction of what the Rigveda knew.
- River flowSindhu / Indus
The Chenab, carrying the Jhelum and the Ravi with it, meets the Sutlej at Panjnad — the five waters — and the combined river joins the Indus at Mithankot. Everything the Punjab collects arrives in the Indus at that one point, which is why the province is named for five rivers and the country for the one they end in.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Chenab River” and “Rigvedic rivers”.
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