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Ancient land of ratanākara 'mine of jewels, precious metals' contact area of R̥gveda people is Akkad with rásā रसा 'river'मा 'mother, water, divinity of wealth'

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-- Defining Airyana Vaeja, metahors of R̥gveda Saramā, rásā रसा 'river'मा 'mother, water, divinity of wealth signified on Indus Script Corpora 
-- An alliteration of the expression रसा 'river'मा 'mother' is Saramā and hence, the explanation of Saramā as 'mother of beasts'.. 
-- Airyana Vaeja, Saramā 'mother of beasts' alliteration of rásā रसा mother divinity river of R̥gveda compares with Styx of Greek tradition
-- Insights provided by K.E.Eduljee are pointers to the delineation of the ancient land with which R̥gveda people had trade transactions, a region which is Akkad 
रसा rásā in R̥gveda is a reference to moisture, humidity and is name of a river. The locatin of this river is central to resolve the Aryan debate. 
This monograph presents arguments for locating this river रसा rásā as the land of Akkad occupied by Meluhha people who are experts in metalwork and who invented the Indus Script writing system ca. 3300 BCE to document the wealth-creation activities by artisans, smiths, lapidaries and seafaring merchants trading in metal and jewel (e.g. ratnin, ornaments, beads) artifacts.  rátna n. ʻ gift ʼ RV., ʻ treasure, jewel ʼ Mn. [√raṇ1]Pa. ratana -- n. ʻ jewel ʼ, Pk. rayaṇa -- , ladaṇa -- m.n., Si. ruvan -- a.ratnākara -- . ratnākara m. ʻ jewel -- mine, ocean ʼ Kāv. [rátna -- , ākara -- ]Pa. ratanākara -- m. ʻ mine of jewels or precious metals ʼ, Pk. rayanāara -- m.; -- Si. ruvanāra ʻ ocean ʼ (EGS 148) prob. ← Pa.(CDIAL 10600, 10601). The region of Akkad is close to ratnākara, 'ocean'; this is signified by the word rásā रसा 'river' which according to Nirukta is a stream supposed to flow round the earth and the atmosphere ( Niruktam. xi , 23). The flow round the earth may be a reference to the site of Nahal Mishmar on the Mediterranean ocean -- a site which has revealed breath-taking treasuref bronze metlwork artifacts dated to ca. 7th millennium BCE. Thus, rásā रसा may signify lands, rivers and oceans west of Rivers Sindhu and Sarasvati, Persian Gulf, Tigris-Euphrates rivers of Ancient Near East or Levant.
I suggest that  rásā रसा 'river' is a metaphor for rasān 'the ingredients in working metals' (Bengali). Thus, this metaphor is a reference to the region where metalwork was done from the days of the Tin-Bronze revolution of ca. 7th millennium BCE (pace Nahal Mishmar cave finds of arsenical bronze artifacts).
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रसा* यन an alchemist (Monier-Williams)  rasāyana n. ʻ elixir vitae ʼ MBh., ˚nī -- f. ʻ channel for fluids in the body ʼ Car. [Der. *rasāyati ~ rasāˊyya<-> s.v. rasati2Pk. rasāyaṇa -- n. ʻ a partic. drug ʼ; N. rasāin ʻ substance (e.g. wax or lac) put in the joint of a watervessel to prevent it leaking ʼ; A. rahan ʻ varnish ʼ; B. rasān ʻ ingredients in working metals ʼ; Or. rasāṇa ʻ substances for polishing metals ʼ.(CDIAL 10659).
रस any mineral or metallic salt; a metal or mineral in a state of fusion (cf. उप- , महा-र्°); gold; = अमृत;  रसा f. moisture , humidity RV.; N. of a river ib.; a mythical stream supposed to flow round the earth and the atmosphere ib. ( Nir. xi , 23); the lower world , hell MBh. Pur. (cf. -तल); the earth , ground , soil Ka1v. (Monier-Williams) rasā रसा 1 The lower or infernal regions, hell. -2 The earth, ground, soil; यद् ग्रावेव रसातलं पुनरसौ यातो गजग्रामणीः Bv.1.59; रसादिपञ्चीकृतभूतसंभवम् A. Rām.7.5.28; स्मरस्य युद्धरङ्गतां रसा$$र सारसारसा Nalod.2.1. -3 the tongue. -4 A vine or grapes. -5 Ved. Moisture. -Comp. -ओकस् m. an inhabitant of the lower world. -खनः a cock. -तलम् 1 N. of one of the seven (अतल, वितल, सुतल, रसा- तल, तलातल, महातल and पाताल) regions below the earth; see पाताल. -2 the lower world or hell in general; राज्यं यातु रसातलं पुनरिदं न प्राणितुं कामये Bv.2.63; or जातिर्यातु रसातलम् Bh.2.39. -3 = रसा (2). -4 the fourth astro- logical mansion. -पायिन् m. a dog. -पुष्पः a bee; rasḥ रसः [रस्-अच्] 1 Sap, juice (of trees); इक्षुरसः, कुसुमरसः &c. -2 A liquid, fluid; यष्टव्यं पशुभिर्मुख्यैरथो बीजै रसैरिति Mb.14.91.21; न्यस्ताक्षरा धातुरसेन यत्र Ku.1.7. -3 Water; सहस्रगुणमुत्स्रष्टुमादत्ते हि रसं रविः R.1.18; Bv.2.144. -4 Liquor, drink; Ms.2.177. -5 A draught, potion. -6 Taste, flavour, relish (fig. also) (considered in Vaiś. phil. as one of the 24 gunas; the rasas are six; कटु, अम्ल, मधुर, लवण, तिक्त and कषाय); परायत्तः प्रीतेः कथ- मिव रसं वेत्तु पुरुषः Mu.3.4; U.2.2. -7 A sauce, condi- ment, -8 An object of taste; मनो बबन्धान्यरसान् विलङ्ध्य सा R.3.4. -9 Taste or inclination for a thing, liking, desire; रसवर्जं रसो$प्यस्य परं दृष्ट्वा निवर्तते Bg.2.59; इष्टे वस्तुन्युपचितरसाः प्रेमराशीभवन्ति Me.114. -1 Love, affec- tion; जरसा यस्मिन्नहार्यो रसः U.1.39; प्रसरति रसो निर्वृतिघनः 6.11 'feeling of love'; रसादृते V.2.21; Ku. 3.37. -11 Pleasure, delight, happiness; चिरात्सुतस्पर्श- रसज्ञतां ययौ R.3.26. -12 Charm, interest, elegance, beauty. -13 Pathos, emotion, feeling. -14 (In poetic compositions) A sentiment; नवरसरुचिरां निर्मितिमादधती भारती कवेर्जयति; K. P.1. (The rasas are usually eight :-- शृङ्गारहास्यकरुणरौद्रवीरभयानकाः । भीभत्साद्भुतसंज्ञौ चेत्यष्टौ नाट्ये रसाः स्मृताः ॥ but sometimes शान्तरस is added; thus making the total number 9; निर्वेदस्थायिभावो$स्ति शान्तो$पि नवमो रसः K. P.4; sometimes a tenth, वात्सल्यरस, is also added. Rasas are more or less a necessary factor of every poetic composition, but, according to Viśvanātha, they constitute the very essence of poetry; वाक्यं रसात्मकं काव्यम् S. D.3.). -15 Essence, pith, best part; ब्रह्म तेजोमयं शुक्रं यस्य सर्वमिदं रसःMb.12.24.9. -16 A con- stituent fluid of the body. -17 Semen virile. -18 Mer- cury. -19 A poison, poisonous drink; as in तीक्ष्णरस- दायिनः; रसविधानकौशलैः Dk.2.8. -2 Any mineral metallic salt. -21 Juice of the sugar-cane. -22 Milk. -23 Melted butter. -24 Nectar; मयः कूपरसे$क्षिपत् Bhāg.7.1.59-6. -25 Soup, broth. -26 A symboli- cal expression for the number 'six'. -27 Green onion. -28 Myrrh. -29 Gold. -3 A metal in a state of fusion. -31 See रसातल; अनेन नूनं वेदानां कृतमाहरणं रसात् Mb.12.347.67. -32 The tongue (as the organ of taste); वाण्यां च छन्दांसि रसे जलेशम् Bhāg.8.2.27; जितं सर्वं जिते रसे 11.8.21. -33 (With Vaiṣṇavas.) Dispo- sition of the heart or mind (the five Rasas are शान्ति, दास्य, साख्य, वात्सल्य and माधुर्य). -Comp. -अग्रजम् an ointment prepared from the calx of brass. -अञ्जनम् vitriol of copper, a sort of collyrium. -अधिक a. 1 tasty. -2 abounding in pleasures, splendid; Ś.7.2 (v. l.). (-कः) borax. -अन्तरम् 1 a different taste. -2 different feelings or sentiments. -अभिनिवेशः intentness of affection. -अम्लः 1 a kind of sorrel. -2 sour sauce. -अयनम् 1 an elixir of life (elixir vitæ), any medicine supposed to prolong life and prevent old age; निखिलरसायनमहितो गन्धेनोग्रेण लशुन इव R. G. -2 (fig.) serving as an elixir vitæ, i. e. that which gratifies or regales; आनन्दनानि हृदयैकरसायनानि Māl.6.8; मनसश्च रसायनानि U.1.37; श्रोत्र˚, कर्ण˚ &c. -3 alchemy or chemistry. -4 any medicinal compound. -5 butter-milk. -6 poison. -7 long pepper. (-नः) 1 an alchemist. -2 N. of Garuḍa. ˚श्रेष्ठः mer- cury. (-नी f.1 a channel for the fluids of the body. -2 N. of several plants :-गुडूची, काकमाची, महाकरञ्ज, गोरक्षदुग्धा and मांसच्छदा. -आत्मक a. 1 consisting of juice or sentiment. -2 elegant, beautiful. -3 having taste or flavour. -4 ambrosial; रसात्मकस्योडुपतेश्च रश्मयः Ku.5.22. -5 fluid, liquid, watery; सोमो भूत्वा रसात्मकः Bg.15.13. -आदानम् absorption of fluid, suction. -आधारः the sun. -आभासः 1 the semblance or mere appearance of a sentiment; अनौचित्यप्रवृत्तत्वे आभासो रसभावयोः S. D. -2 an improper manifestation of a sentiment. -आश्रयः a. embodying or representing sentiments. -आस्वादः 1 tasting juices of flavours. -2 perception or appreciation of poetic sentiments, a perception of poetical charm; as in काव्यामृतरसास्वादः. -आस्वादिन् m. a bee. -आह्वः tur- pentine. -इक्षुः sugar-cane. -इन्द्रः 1 mercury. -2 the philosopher's stone (the touch of which is said to turn iron into gold); ˚वेधजम्, संजातम् the gold. -उत्तमम् milk. (-मः) 1 quicksilver. -2 Phaseolus Mungo (Mar. मूग). -3 milk. -उत्पत्तिः 1 production of taste. -2 development of passion or sentiment. -3 generation of the vital fluids. -उद्भवम् 1 a pearl. -2 vermilion. -उपलम् a pearl. -ऊनम् garlic; also ऊनकः. -ओदनम् rice boiled in meat-broth. -कर्पूरम् sublimate of mer- cury. -कर्मन् n. preparation of quicksilver. -केसरम् camphor. -क्रिया the inspissation and application of fluid remedies. -गन्धः, -न्धम् gum-myrrh. -गन्धकः 1 myrrh. -2 sulphur. -गर्भम् 1 = रसाञ्जन. -2 vermilion. -गुण a. possessing the quality of taste; ज्योतिषश्च विकुर्वाणा- दापो रसगुणाः स्मृताः Ms.1.78. -ग्रह a. 1 perceiving flavours. -2 appreciating or enjoying pleasures. (-हः) the organ of taste. -घन a. full of juice. -घ्नः borax. -जः 1 sugar, molasses. -2 an insect produced by the fermentation of liquids. -जम् blood. -a. bred in fluids; Ms.11.143. -जातम् an ointment prepared from the calx of brass. -ज्ञ a. 1 one who appreciates the flavour or excellence of, one who knows the taste of; सांसारिकेषु च सुखेषु वयं रसज्ञाः U.2.22. -2 capable of discerning the beauty of things. (-ज्ञः) 1 a man of taste or feeling, a critic, an appreciative person, a poet. -2 an alchemist. -3 a physician, or one who prepares mer- curial or other chemical compounds. (-ज्ञा) the tongue; सखि मा जल्प तवायसी रसज्ञा Bv.2.59; (-रसज्ञता, त्वम् means 1 poetical skill. -2 alchemy. -3 knowledge of flavours. -4 discrimination.). -ज्ञानम् a branch of medical science. -ज्येष्ठः 1 the sweet taste. -2 the love sentiment. -तन्मात्रम् the subtle element of taste. -तेजस् n. blood. -दः 1 a physician; Mb.12.121.45. -2 a spy who administers poison; Kau. A.1.12. -द्राविन् a kind of citron. -धातु n. quicksilver. -धेनुः a cow consisting of fruit-juice. -नाथः mercury. -नायकः N. of Sacute;iva. -निवृत्तिः loss of taste. -नेत्रिका red arsenic. -पाकजः molasses. -पाचकः a cook. -प्रबन्धः any poetical com- position, particularly a drama. -फलः the cocoanut tree. -भङ्गः the interruption or cessation of a sentiment. -भवम् blood. -भस्मम् n. oxide of mercury. -भेदः a preparation of quicksilver. -मलम् impure excretions. -मातृका the tongue. -योगः juices mixed scientifically. -राजः, -लोहः 1 = रसाञ्जन. -2 quick-silver. -वादः alche- my. -विक्रयः sale of liquors. -विद्धम् artificial gold. -शास्त्रम् the science of alchemy. -शोधनः borax. (-नम्) purification of mercury. -सरोरुहम् a red lotus. -सिद्ध a. 1 accomplished in poetry, conversant with sentiments; जयन्ति ते सुकृतिनो रससिद्धाः कवीश्वराः Bh.2.24. -2 skilled in alchemy. -सिद्धिः f. skill in alchemy. -सिन्दूरम् a cinnabar made of zinc, mercury, blue vitriol and nitre. -स्थानम् vermilion.(Apte)

मा 1 The goddess of wealth, Lakṣmī; तमाखुपत्रं राजेन्द्र भज माज्ञानदायकम् Subhāṣ. -2 A mother. -3 A measure. -Comp. -षः, -पतिः, वरः epithets of Viṣṇu; हाटकनिभपीताम्बर अभयं कुरु मे मावर Nārāyaṇa.5.13. (Apte)मा f. a mother; n. water (Monier-Williams)

Alliteration is the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.
I submit that Saramā  is an alliteration of the sounds of words rasa 'river divinity' and mā  'mother'.
Both rásā रसा of R̥gveda tradition and Styx of Greek tradition are river divinities which flow around the world and around the world of the dead. 
In both Greek and Ancient India traditions, the river is divine mother. R̥gveda refers to Saramā as सरमा देव-शुनी, 'mother of beasts.' It is significant that the r̥ṣi-s of RV 10.108 Sukta are paṇayah asurāh and SaramāThis expression is translated as: Asura, divine traders, warriors and Saramā 'mother of beasts'. सरमा देव-शुनी is the mother of beasts -- the metaphor signifies wealth resources shown as tributes on the Shalamaneser III Black Obelisk (perhaps a reference to the hieroglyphs of animals such as zebu, buffalo, tiger rendered as rebus metal resources on Indus Script). पणि as cattle-stealers is a metaphor in r̥gveda signifies metalwork artisans and merchants working with treasure categories (cattle or beasts).
Four panels of animals hieroglyphs) offered as tributes from Musri to Shalamaneser III



"Aššūr-bēl-kala, inscribed aš-šur-EN-ka-la and meaning “Aššur is lord of all,”[1] was the king of Assyria 1074/3–1056 BC, the 89th to appear on the Assyrian Kinglist. He was the son of Tukultī-apil-Ešarra I, succeeded his brother Ašarēd-apil-Ekurwho had briefly preceded him, and he ruled for 18 years....nišē mātīšu ušebri, “he (Ashur-bel-kala) displayed (the animals) to the people of his land...(Shigeo Yamada (2000); RIMA 2, A.0.89.7, iv 29f. The passage reads: nise matisu usebri ‘He = Ashur-bel-kala) displayed (the animals) to the public of his land.). The Construction of the Assyrian Empire: A Historical Study of the Inscriptions of Shalmanesar III Relating to His Campaigns in the West. Brill. p. 253)...These he added to his collection of rare animals which he bred and dispatched merchants to acquire more, such as “a large female ape and a crocodile (and) a ‘river man’, beasts of the Great Sea” and the dromedaries he displayed in herds.(Tomoo Ishida (1982). Studies in the period of David and Solomon and other essays. Eisenbrauns. p. 219)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashur-bel-kala


RIMA 2, A.0.89.7, iv 29f. The passage reads: nise matisu usebri ‘He = Ashur-bel-kala) displayed (the animals) to the public of his land.

Rasa (rásā रसा) is the name of a western tributary of the Indus in the Rigveda (verse 5.53.9). The word rasa means "moisture, humidity" in Vedic Sanskrit.
In RV 9.41.6, RV 10.108 and in the Nirukta of Yaska, it is the name of a mythical stream supposed to flow round the earth and the atmosphere (compare Oceanus), also referring to the underworld in the Mahābhārata and the Purāṇa-s (compare Styx). "In Greek mythologyStyx (/ˈstɪks/Ancient GreekΣτύξ [stýks] is a deity and a river that forms the boundary between Earth and the Underworld, often called "Hades", which is also the name of its ruler. The rivers Styx, PhlegethonAcheronLethe, and Cocytus all converge at the center of the underworld on a great marsh, which sometimes is also called the Styx. According to Herodotus, the river Styx originates near Feneos.(Feneos is a village and a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece.) Styx is also a goddess with prehistoric roots in Greek mythology as a daughter of Tethys, after whom the river is named and because of whom it had miraculous powers...Styx was the name of an Oceanid nymph, one of the three thousand daughters of Tethys and Oceanus, the goddess of the River Styx. In classical myths, her husband was Pallas and she gave birth to ZelusNikeKratos, and Bia (and sometimes Eos). In these myths, Styx supported Zeus in the Titanomachy, where she was said to be the first to rush to his aid. For this reason, her name was given the honor of being a binding oath for the deities. Knowledge of whether this was the original reason for the tradition did not survive into historical records following the religious transition that led to the pantheon of the classical era.
"STYX, in Greek mythology, a river which flowed seven times round the world of the dead. In the Iliad it is the only river of the underworld; in the Odyssey it is coupled with Cocytus and Pyriphlegethon, which flow into the chief river Acheron. Hesiod says that Styx was a daughter of Ocean, and that, when Zeus summoned the gods to Olympus to help him to fight the Titans, Styx was the first to come and her children with her; hence as a reward Zeus ordained that the most solemn oath of the gods should be by her and that her children (Emulation, Victory, Power and Force) should always live with him. Again, Hesiod tells us that if any god, after pouring a libation of the water of Styx, forswore himself, he had to lie in a trance for a year without speaking or breathing, and that for nine years afterwards he was excluded from the society of the gods. In historical times the Styx was identified with a lofty waterfall near Nonacris in Arcadia. Pausanias (viii. 17, 6) describes the cliff over which the water falls as the highest he had ever seen, and indeed the fall is the highest in Greece. The ancients regarded the water as poisonous, and thought that it possessed the power of breaking or dissolving vessels of every material, with the exception of the hoof of a horse or a mule. Considering the undoubted importance attached by the ancients to an oath by the water of the Styx (cf. Herodotus vi. 74), and the supposed fatal result of breaking it, it is probable that drinking the water originally formed a necessary part of the oath, and that we have to do with the tradition of an ancient poison ordeal, common amongst barbarous peoples (for the geography and similar ceremonies see Frazer's Pausanias, iv. pp. 250-255). The people in the neighbourhood, who call it Mavo Neró (the Black Water), still think that it is unwholesome, and that no vessel will hold it.https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Styx
The corresponding term in Avestan is Ranha/Raŋhā. In the Vendidad, Ranha is mentioned just after Hapta-Həṇdu, and may possibly refer to the ocean. (Sethna, K D (1992). The problem of Aryan origins from an Indian point of view. New Delhi: Aditya Prakasana).https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ras%C4%81
One possible resolution of the Aryan debate lies in the definition and identification of the land of  Airyana Vaeja according to the Avestan text, Vendidad, read with the pointers in the ancient text of mankind, R̥gveda which predates 6th millennium BCE. 
I suggest that the region is best defined by K.E. Eduljee, in his treatise on 'Zoroastrian heritage'; his analyses, arguments and views are presented in this monograph.
A critical geographical reference relates to River Rasa. According to Eduljee, who does NOT identify the location of this river, the significant geographical pointers are: "Lake Urmia, Upper Tigris, Kurdistan, Eastern & Central Turkey;- Good land- No chiefs i.e. no protector, open to raids, lawless, severe winters".
In my view, the closest region which approximates these pointers is the land of ancient Akkad (Sumer).
Image result for sumer
Map of Sumer and Elam
Ruins of Ur
"Sumer was the southernmost region of ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq and Kuwait) which is generally considered the cradle of civilization. The name comes from Akkadian, the language of the north of Mesopotamia, and means “land of the civilized kings”. The Sumerians called themselves “the black headed people” and their land, in cuneiform script, was simply “the land” or “the land of the black headed people”and, in the biblical Book of Genesis, Sumer is known as Shinar.According to the Sumerian King List, when the gods first gave human beings the gifts necessary for cultivating society, they did so by establishing the city of Eridu in the region of Sumer. While the Sumerian city of Uruk is held to be the oldest city in the world, the ancient Mesopotamians believed that it was Eridu and that it was here that order was established and civilization began.https://www.ancient.eu/sumer/

Shrikant Talageri rightly notes: "The areas covered by the Vendidad list only touch the easternmost borders of Iran but they cover the whole of Afghanistan, the northern half of present-day Pakistan (NWFP, Punjab), and the southern parts of Central Asia to the north of Afghanistan, and, again, in the east, they enter the northwestern borders of present-day (post-1947) India.It is important to note that the presence of Iranians in this regions outside of Iran is attested earlier than their presence in the modern day Iran, the earliest evidence of which is some 9th century BC inscriptions.Out of those 16 lands of Ancient Iranians, Gnoli asserts that the region south of Hindu Kush & east of Iran is the mainland of the Iranians from the earliest portions of Avesta and any movement of people is from South to North & East to West. In short, there is no literary evidence of Iranian presence in Central Asia before their presence in Afghanistan & India."

Vendidad references to 16 regions of Airyana Vaēǰah

"The main Avestan text of geographical interest is the first chapter of the Vidēvdād. This consists of a list of sixteen districts (asah- and šōiθra-) created by Ahura Mazdā and threatened by a corresponding number of counter-creations that Angra Mainyu set up against them (paityāra-).
The list is as follows:
  1. Airyana Vaēǰah = the homeland of Zoroaster and Zoroastrianism, near the provinces of SogdianaMargianaBactria, etc., listed immediately after it. The historical location of Airyanem Vaejah is still uncertain, but according to the Harvard University scholar Michael Witzel, Airyanem Vaejah lies at the center of the sixteen lands, in the central Afghan highlands.Historians such as Walter Bruno HenningHenrik Samuel NybergWalther Hinz, and Mary Boyce believe this location is Chorasmia or northeast Iran around Aral sea and Oxus river. The fact that Airyana Vaēǰah is situated in a mountainous region explains its severe climate (Vd. 1.2.3) better than does its supposed location in Chorasmia Although the Pahlavi and Sassanid book introduced Airyanem Vaejah in around Azerbaijan and Some historians also believe the location of Airyanem Vaejah is Azerbaijan, in around Caucasus such as : James DarmesteterErnst HerzfeldEbrahim PourdavoudJohannes Hertel[7] According to Skjærvø, and Gnoli it was situated between the Helmand River and the Hindu Kush Mountains;
  2. Gava = Sogdiana;
  3. Mōuru = Margiana;
  4. Bāxδī = Pākhtī Bactria;
  5. Nisāya = a district between Margiana and Bactria,most historians believe this location is Nisa modern day south of Turkmenistan.[10] some believe Neyshabur. perhaps Maimana;[11]
  6. Harōiva = AriaHerat
  7. Vaēkərəta = Gandhāra, the area of Peshawar;
  8. Urvā = the exact location of Urva is unknown, some claim Ghazni; and darmesteter believe this is Urgench in modern day Uzbekistan also Edward Granville Browne is Tus in Khorasan Province of Iran. (Vandid, darmesteter Page 68)
  9. Xnənta = location unknown; a region defined as vəhrkānō.šayana- "the dwelling place of the Vəhrkāna," where Marquart placed the Barkánioi of Ctesias, an ethnicon analogous with that of Old Persian Varkāna, previously thought to be Hyrcania (the present Gorgān) although more likely the Khuzdar region of Balochistan;
  10. Haraxᵛaitī = Arachosia; centred on Arghandab valley in modern-day southern Afghanistan, and extended east to as far as the Indus River in modern-day PakistanSarasvati in Vedic Geography.
  11. Haētumant = the region of Helmand River roughly corresponding to the Achaemenian Drangiana (Zranka);
  12. Raγa = or Raga, previously thought to be Rey[17] from Median Ragā but more than likely comes from Raγa zaraθuštri- of Yashts 19.18 and is the Buner district and Bara River, which flows into the Indus River. ;
  13. Čaxra =locations is still uncertain, but darmesteterdehkhodaHassan Pirnia believe the location is Shahrud[19] Čarx between Ghaznī and Kabul, in the valley of Lōgar,[20] not Māzandarān, as Christensen thought;
  14. Varəna = is the district of Bannu.[21] the Varṇu of the Mahāmāyūrī, the ʿAornos of Alexander the Great, the homeland of FerΘraētaona/Frēdōn/Afrīḏūn;
  15. Hapta Həndu = Sanskrit Sapta Sindhu, the area of Punjab.
  16. Raŋhā = Rasā in Vedic geography, at times mentioned together with Kubhā (Kabul) and Krumu (Kurram), a river situated in a mountainous area, probably connected with the Indus River, not with the Jaxartes or with the Volga.(J. Markwart, Wehrot und Arang, ed. H. H. Schaeder, Leiden, 1938, pp. 133ff.)
  17. Kayanian dynasty
One of the old, thorny problems in studies on Avestan geography is represented by Airyana Vaēǰah (Pahlavi: Ērānwēz), "the area of the Aryans" and first of the sixteen districts in Vd. 1, the original name of which was airyanəm vaēǰō vaŋhuyā dāityayā, "the Aryan extension of Vaŋuhī Dāityā", where Vaŋuhī Dāityā "the good Dāityā" is the name of a river connected with the religious "law" (dāta-). The concept of Airyana Vaēǰah is not equivalent to that of airyō.šayana- in Yt. 10.13, or to the group of airyā daiŋ́hāvā "the Aryan lands" which is recurrent in the yashts; this, in fact, refers to just one of the Aryan lands, as the first chapter of the Vidēvdād clearly shows. It does not designate "the traditional homeland" or "the ancient homeland" of the Iranians. These definitions perpetuate old interpretations of the Airyana Vaēǰah as "Urheimat des Awestavolkes", "Urland" of the Indo-Iranians (F. Spiegel, Die arische Periode und ihre Zustände, Leipzig, 1887, p. 123), "Wiege aller iranischen Arier" (J. von Prášek, Geschichte der Meder und Perser bis zur makedonischen Eroberung I, Gotha, 1906, p. 29), drawing from the texts more than the contents really warrant. Airyana Vaēǰah is only the homeland of Zoroaster and of Zoroastrianism. According to Zoroastrian tradition Ērānwēz is situated at the center of the world; on the shores of its river, Weh Dāitī (Av. Vaŋuhī Dāityā), there were created the gāw ī ēw-dād (Av. gav aēvō.dāta) "uniquely created bull" and Gayōmard (Av. Gayō.marətan) "mortal life," the first man; there rises the Chagād ī Dāidīg, the "lawful Summit," the Peak of Harā, in Avestan also called hukairya "of good activity"; the Chinvat Bridge is there, and there too, Yima and Zoroaster became famous. Taken all together, these data show that Zoroastrianism superimposed the concept of Airyana Vaēǰah onto the traditional one of a center of the world where the Peak of Harā rises. The fact that Airyana Vaēǰah is situated in a mountainous region explains its severe climate (Vd. 1.2.3) better than does its supposed location in Chorasmia (Markwart, Ērānshahr, p. 155). This is not surprising if we consider the analogy between the Iranian concept of the peak of Harā with the Indian one of Mount Meru or Sumeru. The Manicheans identified Aryān-waižan with the region at the foot of Mount Sumeru that Wishtāsp reigned over, and the Khotanese texts record the identification of Mount Sumeru in Buddhist mythology with the Peak of Harā (ttaira haraysä) in the Avestan tradition. All this leads us to suppose that the concept of Airyana Vaēǰah was an invention of Zoroastrianism which gave a new guise to a traditional idea of Indo-Iranian cosmography." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avestan_geography

Gherardo Gnoli.identifies sixteen Iranian homelands mentioned in the Vendidad section of the Avesta as follows; he refers to Ranha as possibly the Vedic River Rasa: "With VarAna and RaNhA, as of course with Hapta HAndu, which comes between them in the Vd. I list, we find ourselves straight away in Indian territory, or, at any rate, in territory that, from the very earliest times, was certainly deeply permeated by Indo-Aryans or Proto-Indoaryans."

Another interpretation lists the 16 regions of Vendidad as follows: 
https://historum.com/threads/the-out-of-india-theory.49116/

  1. Airyana Vaēǰah
  2. Gava - Sogdiana
  3. Mourv - Margiana
  4. Baxoi - Bactria
  5. Nisaya - between Bactria & Margiana
  6. Haroiva - Areia, Herat
  7. Vaekarata - Kabulistan
  8. Urva - the Ghazni region
  9. Xnenta - ?
  10. Haraixvati - Arachosia
  11. Haetumant - region of Helmand corresponding to Drangiana
  12. Raya - a territory between Zamin-dAvarand Qal&#8216;at-i-Gilzay
  13. Caxra - Lugar valley
  14. Varana - Buner
  15. Hapta Handu - Punjab
  16. Ranha - according to Gnoli this is the region where probably the Vedic river Rasa flowed.


RV 10.121.4 refers to Rasa and sea as possession of Ka in the context of snow-covered mountains.

RV 10.121.4 His, through his might, are these snowcovered- mountains, and men call sea and Rasa his
possession:
His arms are these, his are these heavenly regions. What God shall we adore with our oblation?





RV 10.75 Griffith: 1. THE singer, O ye Waters in Vivasvans' place, shall tell your grandeur forth that is beyond
compare.
The Rivers have come forward triply, seven and seven. Sindhu in might surpasses all the streams
that flow.
Varuna cut the channels for thy forward course, O Sindhu, when thou rannest on to win the race.
Thou speedest over precipitous ridges of the earth, when thou art Lord and Leader of these moving
floods.
3 His roar is lifted up to heaven above the earth: he puts forth endless vigour with a flash of
light.
Like floods of rain that fall in thunder from the cloud, so Sindhu rushes on bellowing like a bull.
4 Like mothers to their calves, like milch kine with their milk, so, Sindhu, unto thee the roaring
rivers run.
Thou leadest as a warrior king thine armys' wings what time thou comest in the van of these swift
streams.
5 Favour ye this my laud, O GangaYamuna, O SutudriParusni and Sarasvati:
With AsikniVitasta, O Marudvrdha, O Arjikiya with Susoma hear my call.
6 First with Trstama thou art eager to flow forth, with Rasa, and Susartu, and with Svetya here,
With Kubha; and with these, Sindhu and Mehatnu, thou seekest in thy course Krumu and Gomati.
7 Flashing and whitelygleaming- in her mightiness, she moves along her ample volumes through the
realms,
Most active of the active, Sindhu unrestrained, like to a dappled mare, beautiful, fair to see.
8 Rich in good steeds is Sindhu, rich in cars and robes, rich in gold, noblyfashioned-, rich in
ample wealth.
Blest Silamavati and young Urnavati invest themselves with raiment rich in store of sweets.
Sindhu hath yoked her car, lightrolling-, drawn by steeds, and with that car shall she win booty
in this fight.
So have I praised its power, mighty and unrestrained, of independent glory, roaring as it runs.

RV 10.75.6  First with Trstama thou art eager to flow forth, with Rasa, and Susartu, and with Svetya here,
With Kubha; and with these, Sindhu and Mehatnu, thou seekest in thy course Krumu and Gomati.
RV 5.53.9 So let not RasaKrumu, or AnitabhaKubha, or Sindhu hold you back.
Let not the watery Sarayti obstruct your way. With us be all the bliss ye give.
10 That brilliant gathering of your cars, the company of Maruts, of the Youthful Ones,


Griffith translation RV 5.53.9 So let not RasaKrumu, or AnitabhaKubha, or Sindhu hold you back.
Let not the watery Sarayti obstruct your way. With us be all the bliss ye give.


RV 1.112.12 Wherewith ye made Rasa swell full with waterfloods-, and urged to victory the car without a
horse;
Wherewith Trisoka drove forth his recovered cows, Come hither unto us, O Asvins, with those aids.


RV 5.41.15 Duly to each one hath my laud been offered. Strong be Varutri with her powers to succour.
May the great Mother Rasa here befriend us, straighthanded-, with the princes, striving forward.

RV 9.41.6 On every side, O Soma, flow round us with thy protecting stream,
As Rasa flows around the world.

RV 10.121 Griffith: Ka. 
1. IN the beginning rose Hiranyagarbha, born Only Lord of all created beings.
He fixed and holdeth up this earth and heaven. What God shall we adore with our oblation?
2 Giver of vital breath, of power and vigour, he whose commandments all the Gods acknowledge -.
The Lord of death, whose shade is life immortal. What God shall we adore with our oblation?
3 Who by his grandeur hath become Sole Ruler of all the moving world that breathes and slumbers;
He who is Lord of men and Lord of cattle. What God shall we adore with our oblation?
4 His, through his might, are these snowcovered- mountains, and men call sea and Rasa his
possession:
His arms are these, his are these heavenly regions. What God shall we adore with our oblation?
5 By him the heavens are strong and earth is stedfast, by him lights' realm and skyvault- are
supported:
By him the regions in midair- were measured. What God shall we adore with our oblation?
6 To him, supported by his help, two armies embattled look while trembling in their spirit,
When over them the risen Sun is shining. What God shall we adore with our oblation?
7 What time the mighty waters came, containing the universal germ, producing Agni,
Thence sprang the Gods one spirit into being. What God shall we adore with our oblation?
8 He in his might surveyed the floods containing productive force and generating Worship.
He is the God of gods, and none beside him. What God shall we adore with our oblation?
Neer may he harm us who is earths' Begetter, nor he whose laws are sure, the heavens' Creator,
He who brought forth the great and lucid waters. What God shall we adore with our oblation?
10 Prajapati! thou only comprehendest all these created things, and none beside thee.
Grant us our hearts' desire when we invoke thee: may we have store of riches in possession.


Yasht references to Airyana Vaēǰah

There is further geographical interest to be found in another passage from the Avesta Yasht 10.13–14, where the whole region inhabited by the Aryans (airyō.šayana-) is described. The description begins with Mount Harā, the peak of which is reached by Mithra as he precedes the immortal sun and looked at the Aryan homeland.
Like the Mihr Yasht, the Farvardīn Yasht also contains some passages of use in the reconstruction of Avestan geography, in particular Yt. 13.125 and Yt. 13.127, where some characters are mentioned because of their venerable fravashi.it should be born in mind that the character related to the land of ApaxshīrāParshaṱ.gav, may be connected with a Sīstāni tradition and that the passage in Yt. 13.125 is dedicated to the fravashi of members of the family of Saēna, the son of Ahūm.stūṱ, who also had connections with Sīstān.
The Zamyād Yasht, dedicated to Xᵛarənah, is of very great importance for Avestan geography as it provides a surprisingly well-detailed description of the hydrography of the Helmand region, in particular of Hāmūn-e Helmand. In Yt. 19.66–77 nine rivers an[clarification needed] mentioned: XᵛāstrāHvaspāFradaθāXᵛarənahvaitīUštavaitīUrvaδāƎrəzīZurənumaitī, and Haētumant; six of these are known from the Tārīkh-e Sīstān. Other features of Sīstāni geography recur in the same yasht, like the Kąsaoya lake (Pahlavi Kayānsih) or Mount Uši.’ām (Kūh-e Khᵛāǰa), both closely bound up with Zoroastrian eschatology, so that with the help of comparisons with Pahlavi and classical sources, mainly Pliny and Ptolemy, we can conclude that the Zamyād Yasht describes Sīstān with great care and attention. In Avestan geography no other region has received such treatment. There is an echo of Sīstān’s importance in Avestan geography in the brief Pahlavi treatise Abdīh ud sahīgīh ī Sagastān.
Yet another reference to Sīstān is to be found it another passage of the great yashts, Yt. 5.108, in which Kavi Vīštāspa, prince and patron of Zoroaster, is represented in the act of making sacrifice to Arədvī Sūrā Anāhitā near Frazdānu, the Frazdān of Pahlavi literature, that is, one of the wonders of Sīstān; it can probably be identified with Gowd-e Zera.

Conclusion

If we compare the first chapter of the Vidēvdād with the passages of geographical interest that we come across mainly in the great yashts, we can conclude that the geographical area of the Avesta was marked by Margiana at the northeast, the western boundary being marked by the districts of ArachosiaDrangiana and Bannu = Varəna. The Indus River and locations along it in its central area, and the Panjab marking its eastern frontier. Sogdiana and, possibly, Chorasmia (which, however, is at the extreme limits) mark the boundary to the north, and Sīstān and Balochistan to the south.

Aryans, Aryan Religions and Zoroastrianism. Image: Farohar motif at Persepolis
[quote] Aryan Homeland & Neighbouring Lands in the Avesta
The homeland of the Aryans was called Airyana Vaeja in the Zoroastrian scriptures, the Avesta and Arya Varta in the Hindu scriptures. The collection of first Aryan nations was called Airyanam Dakhyunam. Aryan lands are called Airyo Shayanem.

The books of the Avesta as well as the Middle Persian Pahlavi texts such as the Lesser Bundahishn, tell us that Airyana Vaeja, the Aryan homeland, was where Zarathushtra's father lived (20.32) and where Zarathushtra first expounded his beliefs (32.3).

In addition to mentioning Airyana Vaeja, the Zoroastrian scriptures, the books of the Avesta, also mention neighbouring nations or lands.

These references, along with references to the terrain and weather in Airyana Vaeja, give us clues about the location of the original Aryan homeland, as well as information about the Aryan people, their neighbours, and their relationships.

Earliest Mention of the Lands - Farvardin Yasht
Lands of Zarathushtra's Ministry
A chapter of the Avesta that has the most intimate knowledge of Zarathushtra and his first followers, is the Avesta's Farvardin Yasht - chapter 10 of the book of Yashts.

The Yasht (13.143 & 144) lists the names of individuals who were the first "hearers and teachers" of Zarathushtra's teachings. The Yasht memorializes and reveres the fravashis (spiritual souls) of these first "hearers and teachers" of Zarathushtra's teachings. In addition to specific names, it also memorializes all the righteous people in the five nations as well as those "all countries". The five nations mentioned are Airyana Vaeja (called Airyanam Dakhyunam in the Yasht) as well as four neighbouring lands. These four lands neighbouring Airyana Vaeja are TuiryaSairimaSaini and Dahi. Since -nam is a usual ending for many Avestan nouns, the nations are also named as Airyanam, Tuiryanam, Dahinam, Sairimanam and Saininam.

Since the surviving texts of Zarathushtra's teachings, the hymns of the Gathas, are in one language, we can say it is reasonable to assume that the nations in which Zarathushtra spread his message were neighbours and spoke the same language and dialect as well. For his message (which reference pre-Zoroastrian beliefs) to have relevance, these peoples also likely shared the same, or variations of the same, pre-Zoroastrian religion. We may conclude this assumption by saying the five founding Zoroastrian nations likely shared the same culture and ethnicity. In terms of size, we are left with the impression that they can be compared to districts with a province today. The Gathas of Zarathushtra are placed in the Avestan book of Yasna. While their language is the same, the dialect of the other verses is different from that of the Gathas. They were either written by followers at a different point in time or in a neighbouring region that spoke a different dialect.

Other than Airyana Vaeja, none of the Farvardin Yasht's nations are mentioned in the Vendidad's list of Zoroastrian nations. The Vendidad is a book of the Zoroastrian scriptures. Even though the Vendidad list preceded the formation of Media and Persian making it over two thousand eight hundred years old, the nations are for the most part recognizable today and we may conclude that the Vendidad list is far more modern than the list of five nations of the Farvardin Yasht cited in the paragraph above. Those nations either changed their names or became parts of other nations.

Dahi, for instance find mention only once in King Xerxes' list of countries that were part of the Persian empire. But in other lists and by the accounts of Greek writers such as Strabo, it was a part of the Saka nations, two of which find regular mention as part of the Persian Empire.

Tuirya is identified with Turan which later became known as Sugd. Dahi as a name continued to exist, Dahi being one of the Saka nations. We do not as yet known the present identity of the other lands.

Bakhdhi / Balkh (Bactria), which is noted in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh (see Shahnameh page 30) and other later tradition as a land where Zarathushtra spread his message, is not mentioned in the Farvardin Yasht. However, Kava Vishtasp, Kava being a title of the Kayanian kings of Bakhdhi / Balkh, is mentioned in the Farvardin Yasht.

King Vishtasp of Bakhdi / Balkh
Among the Farvardin Yasht's list of Zarathushtra's first "hearers and teachers" is Kavoish Vishtaspahe (Kava Vishtasp) (13.99). In the Yasht, Kava Vishtasp has a special place having a verse devoted to him. The common extrapolation is that Kava Vishtasp is the Kai Gushtasp (Gushtasp is a later form of Vishtasp) mentioned in later texts which also state that King Vishtasp's / Gushtasp's capital was Bakhdhi or Bakhdi, i.e. present day Balkh in Northern Afghanistan.

Bakhdi is listed as a nation in the Vendidad but not in the Farvardin Yasht. These later texts also tell us that Zarathushtra died in Bakhdi/Balkh, killed by a Turanian.

Balkh is directly south of Samarkand over an eastern spur of the Pamir mountains. The predecessors of present day Samarkand and Balkh are among the first nations listed in another (and later) book of the Avesta - the Vendidad.

Nations listed in the Avesta
In addition to the Farvardin Yasht, two other sections of the Avesta provide us with names of nations associated with the Aryans, the Vendidad and the Meher Yasht.

The Avestan book of Vendidad starts with a list of sixteen nations (Chapter 1, 1-16), the first being Airyanem Vaejo or Airyana Vaeja.

Other than the Aryan homeland Airyanem Vaeja (Airyanam Dakhyunam in the Farvardin Yasht), the Vendidad does not mention the four other lands mentioned in the Farvardin Yasht (see above). Nor does the Farvardin Yasht mention any of the fifteen other lands mentioned in the Vendidad. Three of the five Farvardin Yasht nations are not known to us. The nations of the Vendidad can be more readily identified. The only land common to both lists is the Aryan homeland. This, the other information contained, and the language used in the texts indicate to us that the Farvardin Yasht and the Vendidad were written at very different times, the Farvardin Yasht being the older. The Vendidad itself was probably composed well before 800 BCE since it does not list Persia or Media (also see below), making the Farvardin Yasht an ancient composition.

The Meher Yasht also provides names of nations in 10.13-14. Aryan lands are called Airyo Shayanem. Three of the nations mentioned in the Meher Yasht, Mourum, Haroyum and Sughdhem i.e. Margush, Aria and Suguda, are also part of the Vendidad list. Sughdhem is associated with the word Gava in the Meher Yasht.

Depending on whether some of the words in the Meher Yasht are names of countries, one or three additional lands are mentioned in the Meher Yasht which are not part of the Vendidad list: Khairizem (associated with Kharazem i.e. Khvarizem). Khairizem has been touted by a few authors as being the original home of Zoroastrianism. This is unlikely and Kharazem likely gained this reputation because at one time before the rise of Persia, Kharazem / Khvarizem / Khairizem was the dominant nation amongst the Aryan nations - and its lands could have expanded to include ancient Airyana Vaeja. The other two possible nations in the Meher Yasht are Aishkatem and Pourutem (some authors believe these are names of nations while others believe they are words that are part of the text).

The list of nations in the Vendidad is the most complete and one that provides us with information we can use in narrowing down the location of Airyana Vaeja.

Persia not Part of the Original Listing of Vendidad Lands
The Vendidad, and indeed the entire Avesta, does not mention Persia or Media. This was because Persia and Media became nations after the Avestan canon was closed. However, The Achaemenian Persian Kings (c. 700 - 330 BCE) repeatedly proclaimed their Aryan heritage.

Sixteen Nations of the Vendidad
The list of sixteen nations in the Vendidad is as follows:
"Good Lands and Countries" of the Vendidad
Vendidad Name
Alternative Spelling
Old Persian/ Pahlavi
Greek / Western
Present Name
Features: - Good &
- Bad
Airyana Vaeja
Airan Vej (Phl.)

Iran
- Good & lawful
- River snakes,
  climate change to severe winters.
Sughdha
Turan
Suguda (OP)
Sugd, Northwest Tajikistan,
Samarkand (SE Uzbekistan)
- Good land
- fly Skaitya which kills cattle
3. Mourum
Mouru
Margu (OP)
Marv / Merv,
South Turkmenistan
- Brave, holy
- Plunder, bloodshed
Bakhdhi
Bakhtrish (OP)
Balkh,
North Afghanistan
- Uplifted banner
- Stinging ants
5. Nisaim
Nisaya
Parthava (OP)
N. Khorasan (NE Iran) & Nisa
South Turkmenistan.
Bordering Balkh and Marv
- Good land
- Disbelief (could have refused
  to accept Zoroastrianism)
Haroyu
Haraiva (OP)
Hari Rud (Herat),
Northwest Afghanistan
- Plentiful water
- Grief, poverty
7. Vaekeretem
Khnenta Vaekerata
/ Vaekereta
Kalpul (Phl.)
Sattagydia
Kabul,
Eastern Afghanistan
- Good land
- Followers of Keresaspa,
  fairies and witchcraft
8. Urvam
Urva
Uvarazmiya/Uvarazmish
Khorezm, Uzbekistan
- Rich pastures
- Pride, tyranny
Vehrkana
Varkana (OP)
Gorgan, Golestan,
North-northeast Iran
- Good land
- Sodomy with children
10. Harahvaitim
Harahvaiti
Harauvatish (OP)
Arachosia
Kandahar & Oruzan
South Central Afghanistan
- Beautiful
- Bury the dead
11. Haetumantem
Haetumant
Zraka (OP)
Drangiana
Helmand - SE Afghanistan &
Sistan - E. Iran
- Brilliant, glorious
- Wizardry & Sorcery
12. Rakham
Ragha
Raga (OP)
Ragai
Rai, Tehran & S. Alburz,
North Iran
- Three peoples
- Utter disbelief
13. Chakhrem*
Kakhra


Uncertain: Either Ghazni, SE Afghanistan or just west of Rai, N. Iran
- Brave, righteous
- Burn corpses
14. Varenem
Varena
Patashkh-vargar or Dailam (Phl.)
Western Hyrcania
W. Mazandaran, Gilan & Northern Alburz (land of Mt. Damavand) North Iran
- Home of Thraetaona (Feridoon)
  who slew Azi Dahaka (Zahak)
- Barbarian (foreign) rule
Hapta Hindu
Hindava (OP)
Indus
Northern valley of the seven Indus rivers** (Upper Indus Basin)
Gandhara (Waihind)***, Punjab and Kashmir in N. Pakistan & NW India
- Wide expanses
- Violence, rage and hot weather
Rangha
later part of Arvastani Rum (Phl.) i.e. Eastern Roman empire

Lake Urmia, Upper Tigris, Kurdistan, Eastern & Central Turkey
- Good land
- No chiefs i.e. no protector,
   open to raids, lawless,
   severe winters


*Chakhrem is used in Yasht 13.89 and means wheel (or revolving; cf. Persian charkh meaning wheel) and is used there as chakhrem urvaesayata in the context of Zarathushtra being the first member of every professional guild opposed to the daevas. Avestan Chakhrem urvaesayata is similar to the Sanskrit chakhram vartay and chakhravartin meaning 'chariot over the land' or 'ruler'. The western Mitanni were known for their expertise in chariot-building and this may or may not have relevance.

** The seven Indus Rivers, Hapta Hindu (nation #15 above), are: 1. the Indus (Veda-Sindhu), the 2. Kabul and 3. Kurram rivers joining on the west and north banks of the Indus, and the 4. Jhelum (Veda-Vitasta), 5. Chenab (Veda-Asikni), 6. Ravi (Veda-Airovati), and 7. Sutlej/Beas (Veda-Vipasa) rivers joining the Indus' east and south banks. (There is some discussion that the Saraswati River mentioned in Hindu Vedic texts was also an Indus tributary - though this is not clear.) The Hindu texts are mainly concerned with the eastern & southern tributaries while the Zoroastrian texts are concerned with the upper reaches of the Indus and all its tributaries whose valleys would have provided access to the plains - areas north and west of the Punjab (Panj-ab meaning five waters in Persian) - i.e. present-day North-West Frontier Province in Northern Pakistan, Northern Punjab and Kashmir in India and Pakistan.

*** Gandhara/Waihind. The land of the upper Indus basin was known as Gandhara or Waihind. Today, the region has Peshawar, Mardan, Mingora and Chitral as its main cities. It would have extended into all the habitable valleys of the south-eastern Hindu Kush. The Gandhara/Waihind region includes the Indus, Swat, Chitral and Kabul River valleys. It may have extended south to Takshashila (Taxila) (near present-day Islamabad) and present-day Jalalabad, Afghanistan, in the west, thus bordering Vaekerata (Kabul) to the east.

Nations of the Vendidad, Avesta
Vendidad, Avesta: Nations of the world


Pattern in the Listing of Nations
There is a pattern in the listing:

1. The first three nations listed after Airyana Vaeja are in the southern Uzbekistan, southern Turkmenistan, northern Afghanistan area. The balance of the list of nations fan out, moving west and south in steps. The last two nations are the most southeast and west of the initial group.

2. The nations border one another. The nation listed next to Airyana Vaeja is Sukhdho/Sughdha - modern day Sugd in northern Tajikistan and southern Uzbekistan.

3. The nations are all along the Aryan Trading routes - what are now called the Silk Roads (also see Tajikistan pages) - an ancient set of trading roads between the Orient, the Occident and the Indian sub-continent.

Relationship Between Airyana Vaeja and the Other Nations of the Avesta
The sixteen nations listed in the Vendidad were selected by the author or authors of the Vendidad from among the nations of the known world. The list is therefore not a list of the world's nations, but a list of nations connected with Airyana Vaeja. The Vendidad nations listed after Airyana Vaeja, are those to which Aryans migrated from Airyana Vaeja, intermingling as they did, with the peoples of those lands. While Zoroastrian-Aryans inhabited these lands, they were not necessarily the majority people in these lands.

All of the Vendidad nations would at some point come together as part of the larger Aryan, Iranian, or Persian empires.

Migration of the Aryans and Expansion of Aryan Lands
Before the era of legendary King Jamshid, see (Aryan Prehistory and Location of Aryan Homeland), the original Aryan homeland in the Avesta, Airyana Vaeja, could not have been very large. However, starting in the Jamshidi era and continuing up to the establishment of the Achaemenian Persian empire under Darius the Great, the Aryan lands did grow considerably in size.

The Zoroastrian Avesta, the Hindu Vedas and other texts tell us that the Aryans migrated out of Airyana Vaeja and that the lands associated with the Aryans increased in size for the following reasons:

1. An increase in population during the Jamshidi era.
2. Climate change to severe winters and short summers.
3. Trading with neighbouring lands and settlement of significant populations in these lands.
4. Establishment of kingdoms through settlement or conquest. A federation of these kingdoms during the Feridoon Era / Pishdadian dynasty.
5. Inter-Aryan wars. The schism between the deva and Mazda worshippers cf. reign of King Vishtasp and life of Zarathushtra
6. Establishment of the Persian empire that included the original federation of kingdoms as well as additional lands.

These points are discussed further below.

As the Aryans migrated to the lands of their neighbours, they did not displace the original inhabitants. When the Persian Aryans eventually settled the southern Iran plateau, the area was populated by the Elamites with whom the Persians integrated. An examination of the present linguistic composition of Iran reveals that other, non Indo-Iranian linguistic groups are interspersed among Persian linguistic groups.

1. Jamshidi Era Expansion. Growth of Airyana Vaeja
The Vendidad tells us that in the first part of his reign, legendary King Jamshid had doubled the extent of his lands to accommodate a population increase. (The ancient Avestan name for King Jamshid was Yima-Srira or Yima-Khshaeta, meaning Yima the radiant. He was similarly called Yama in the Hindu scriptures, the Vedas.) Depending on how one interprets the texts, the expansion could have been much larger - up to four and a half times in extent. The expansion of lands was "southwards, on the way of the sun," which could mean southward from the east to the west of Airyana Vaeja.

The Hindu Vedas state that the land procured by Yama (King Jamshid) became the homeland of the Hindus.

Gateway to the Aryan Hindu Lands
The Hindu Rig and Atharva Vedas state:
1. Worship with oblation Yama the King, son of Vivasvat,
the assembler of people,
who departed from the deep to the heights,
and explored the road for many.

2. Yama was the first who found for us the route.
This home is not to be taken from us.
Those who are now born,
(go) by their own routes
to the place whereunto our ancient forefathers emigrated.
(Atharva Veda xviii.1.49 & Rig Veda x.14.1)

...they cross by fords the mighty streams
which the virtuous offerers of sacrifice pass
(Atharva Veda xviii.4.7)

The Hindu reverence for Yama, King Jamshid, grew at the same time when he lost favour with the Mazdayasni predecessors of the Zoroastrians, who record that King Yima lost his grace, grew too proud and thought himself a god. The Vedic verses appear to state that the lands Yima acquired became part of the permanent home of the Hindus - a land that would grow to include the entire Indian subcontinent, and would become separate from the original Aryan homeland. The comment above regarding a home that "cannot be taken from us," indicates a previous vulnerability of the predecessors of the Hindus in the original Aryan Homeland at the time the Vedas were written - a vulnerability either from foreign or internal foes.

It is unlikely that the expansion during the Jamshidi era included the river plains such as the lands that make up the Punjab today. Expansion into the Indus plains would take place later in history. Hapta-Hindu, the seven Indus lands that would include the plains, is the fifteenth, and last but one, nation in the Vendidad's list of nations. The part of upper Indus occupied during the Jamshidi era would include what are today's Eastern Afghanistan, the north of Pakistan and India - the areas on both sides i.e. just north and south of the Hindu Kush and Karakoram mountains. The limited size of the expansion is further indication that the original Aryan homeland was not very large.

During the Jamshidi era, the lands just north and south of the Hindu Kush and Karakoram were united. They would later separate politically and the two mountain ranges, especially the Hindu Kush formed the primary border between the two kingdoms.

There is yet another factor that links the upper Indus, the Hapta-Hindu with the area immediately to the north and north-west i.e. the Badakshan-Pamir region: the Rig Veda is commonly thought to have been written in the Upper Indus region, and the language of the Rig Veda and the Old Avesta are so close that they are commonly thought to be dialects such as that spoken in two neighbouring provinces and that further, they emerged from a common language philologists call Proto Indo-Iranian, another name for the language of united ancient Aryans. [Also see our page on Languages.]

2. Jamshidi Era Climate Change
The Vendidad and other texts also inform us that at the outset of the Jamshedi era, the weather in the Aryan homeland, Airyana Vaeja was fair and equitable, with the spring equinox heralding the start of spring and a renewal after the winter. However, a thousand two hundred years after the start of the Jamshedi era, there was a sudden climate chill (Vendidad 2.22-25) and a drastic cooling (also see Location of the Aryan homeland) and our page Aryan Prehistory - a mini Ice Age of sorts.

This sudden cooling could have encouraged further Aryan migration to the warmer portions of the expanded Jamshidi lands

3. Aryan Trade
Trading Roads (later called Silk Roads) c. 2000 BCE
Trading Roads (later called Silk Roads) c. 2000 BCE
The Aryans started trading between themselves in the expanded Jamshedi lands as well as with their neighbours very early in their history - during the Stone Ages. Aryan trade is closely linked to Aryan migration and the sixteen Vendidad nations. A more detailed discussion can be found on our page on Aryan Trade.

Aryan Trade Routes - the Silk Roads
The Aryan trade routes would come to be known as the Silk Roads. Aryan trade extended from China in the east, to Asia Minor and Mesopotamia in the west, to the Iranian plateau and the Indus valley in the south.

Sogdian Aryan trading settlements have been found in China. Indeed, the earliest known manuscript of the Zoroastrian scriptures, the Avesta, written in Sogdian, has been found in China. (Also see our page on Tajikistan.)

The pattern of the Vendidad's list of nations we noted above, moves from the Central Asian core, progressively west and south along the Aryan Trading (Silk) Roads into present-day Turkey and Pakistan.

[After the Zoroastrians migrated to India following the Arab invasion of Iran, they revived their tradition of trading between the east and west, becoming wealthy in the process.]

Trading allowed the Aryans to become familiar with, and later settle in, the lands along the Silk Road. As the Aryans established permanent trading posts in neighbouring lands, they also established settlements that became communities.

4. Feridoon Era Federation of Kingdoms. First Aryan Empire. Transformation to Airan
According to the Poet Ferdowsi's epic, the Shahnameh, during the reign of legendary King Feridoon, the lands he ruled came to include what we know as the sixteen lands mentioned in the Vendidad. Feridoon decided to divide his sprawling empire the amongst his three sons. To his eldest son Tur, he gave the eastern lands with its capital in Turan - a nation that got its name from Tur. To his son Iraj, Feridoon gave Airan (the country that Airyana Vaeja had evolved into) and Hind (Hapta Hindu, the upper Indus lands). To his son Salm, Feridoon gave the western kingdoms. Tur, however, felt that as the eldest son he had been slighted, for the lands of Airan and Hind were the gems of the empire and the seat of its power. No sooner had Feridoon divided his kingdom between his sons, that the jealous and ambitious Tur persuaded Salm to join him in a plot to murder Iraj.

Within this legend is history. If we replace the Airan empire with the Airan people, this myth tells us that the Aryans had spread to present day Turkey in the west, the upper Indus valley in the south, to the borders of China in the east and the deserts of the north. Further, the wars between the different Aryan lands were internecine conflicts that punctuate Aryan history. By the time of Feridoon, the centre of the Aryan nation had move to Bakhdhi (Balkh or Bactria). (Also see our page on Turan.)

(Also see Legendary Kings. Pishdadian Dynasty Part II)

5. Inter Aryan Wars
The internecine wars mentioned above included wars between the Aryan religious groups, the Mazda-Asura worshippers and the deva worshippers. The religious groups, their beliefs and the wars are discussed in our page on Aryan Religions.

6. Persian empire
The Achaemenian king, Cyrus II, the Great (c. 600 to 576 - August 530 BCE), established the Persian empire and the expansion continued under the reign of Darius I, the Great (522- 486 BCE). The sixteen nations of the Vendidad made up the core of the nations that became part of the Persian empire. Indeed, it may be said that the Persians by creating the third Aryan empire, sought to unify all the Aryan lands by continuing the tradition of legendary King Feridoon who established the first Aryan empire, and the Medes who established the second Aryan empire.

The nations listed by Darius the Great, King of Persia on an inscription at Naqsh-e-Rustam as part of his Persian empire are: Pârsa (Persia), Mâda (Media), Ûvja (Elam), Parthava (Parthia), Haraiva (Aria), Bâxtrish (Bactria), Suguda (Sogdiana), Uvârazmish (Chorasmia), Zraka (Drangiana), Harauvatish (Arachosia), Thatagush (Sattagydia), Gadâra (Gandara), Hidush (Sind), Sakâ haumavargâ (Amyrgian Scythians), Sakâ tigraxaudâ (Scythians with pointed caps), Bâbirush (Babylonia), Athurâ (Assyria), Arabâya (Arabia), Mudrâya (Egypt), Armina (Armenia), Katpatuka (Cappadocia), Sparda (Sardis), Yauna (Ionia / Greece), Sakâ tyaiy paradraya (Scythians who are across the sea), Skudra (Skudra), Yaunâ takabarâ (petasos-wearing Ionians), Putâyâ (Libyans), Kûshiyâ (Ethiopians), Maciyâ (people of Maka), Karkâ (Carians). See map of the Persian Achaemenian Empire.
Cuneiform Inscription  on rock at Behistun, Iran


Darius' listing of Persian Empire nations
Cuneiform Inscription on rock at Behistun, Iran
Column 1 lines 9-17


Greater Aryana - Classical References
Classical Hellenic authors such as Strabo mention the lands of Ariana or Aryana and make a distinction between the collection of kingdoms that formed Aryana and the country or kingdom of Aria.

Strabo (2.1.31) implies that Ariana was a single national group whose members formed the different Aryan kingdoms: "Ariana is not so accurately described (as India being in the shape of a quadrilateral or rhomboid by Eratosthenes), on account of its western side being interwoven with the adjacent lands (of Persia and Media). Still it is pretty well distinguished by its three other sides, which are formed by three nearly straight lines (see following paragraph), and also by its name (Aryana, meaning land of the Aryans), which shows it to be only one nation."

In the estimation of the Hellenic authors, Aryana included the larger group of Aryan kingdoms including Aria, and was bordered by the Indus river in the east (Pomponius Mela 1.12 states that "nearest to India is Ariana, then Aria". Strabo 15.2.1 also states "Next to India is Ariana"), the sea in the south, a line from Carmania (Kerman) to the Caspian Gates in the west, and the Taurus Mountains (the chains for mountains that run west-east from Anatolia and which include the Himalayas) in the north.

The land of Aryana included Media, Persia, the deserts of Gedrosia and Carmania, that is, the provinces of Carmania, Gedrosia, Drangiana, Arachosia (Strabo 11.10.1 ), Aria, the Paropamisadae, Bactria (called the ornament of Ariana), Apollodorus of Artemita (Strabo 11.11.1) and Sogdiana where Zarathushtra is said to have preached Ahura Mazda's laws "among the Arianoi" (cf. Diodorus 1.94.2). These observations reconfirm the sixteen nations of the Vendidad as being part of the Greater Aryan nation and add to that list of nations the later more modern nations of Persia, Media, Carmania (Kerman) and Chorasmia. This Greater Ariana formed the core of the Persian Empire. Aelianus in De natura animalium 16.16, also mentions that there were "Indian Arianians" and there is some suggestion that control of Ariana fluctuated between Indian and Arian Arianians.


Map of Ariana based on Eratosthenes' data in Strabo's Geography

Map of Ariana based on Eratosthenes' data in Strabo's Geography

Strabo's Description of Greater Aryana
Strabo describes the extent of Greater Aryana, a land that stretched about 2,600 km in length from present-day Ray (near Tehran, Iran) in the west to Khotan (presently in Western China), and from the Persian Gulf to the mouth of the Indus River in the south, in his Geography as follows:

(Strabo 15.2.1. Translation by H. C. Hamilton & W. Falconer): Next to India (the Avestan Hapta-Hindu, the upper Indus and its tributaries) is Ariana, the first portion of the country subject to the Persians, lying beyond the Indus, and the first of the higher satrapies without the Taurus (Classical Hellenic writers appear to have believed that a single mountain chain, the Taurus, ran east-west through Asia). On the north it (Ariana) is bounded by the same mountains as India (extensions of the Himalayas and mountains radiating from the Pamir knot, i.e. the Taurus), on the south by the same sea, and by the same river Indus, which separates it from India. It stretches thence towards the west as far as the line drawn from the Caspian Gates (Caspiæ Pylæ ) to Carmania, whence its figure is quadrilateral. The southern side begins from the mouths of the Indus, and from Patalene, and terminates at Carmania and the mouth of the Persian Gulf, by a promontory projecting a considerable distance to the south. It then makes a bend towards the gulf in the direction of Persia.

(Strabo 15.2.1. Translation by Horace Leonard Jones): After India one comes to Ariana, the first portion of the country subject to the Persians after the Indus River and of the upper satrapies situated outside the Taurus. Ariana is bounded on the south and on the north by the same sea and the same mountains as India, as also by the same river, the Indus, which flows between itself and India; and from this river it extends towards the west as far as the line drawn from the Caspian Gates to Carmania, so that its shape is quadrilateral. Now the southern side begins at the outlets of the Indus and at Patalenê, and ends at Carmania and the mouth of the Persian Gulf, where it has a promontory that projects considerably towards the south; and then it takes a bend into the gulf in the direction of Persis.

Present-day map of the Indus River basin
Present-day map of the Indus River basin
[Our note: the River Indus in the upper section rises to the north-northeast, then turns to the east and eventually rises to the southeast with its headwaters in present day Tibet.

[Note continued: Primary Boundary Between Aryana and Hapta Hindu. It is either the river itself or the mountains, the Hindu Kush and Karakoram on the Indus' left bank, that formed the primary boundary between ancient northern India and Aryana. The name Hindi-Kush which is the Persian word for Hindu-Killer, is significant as it implies a natural barrier to the invading Hindu during any wars between the two groups. Today these mountains form the border between present day Pakistan & India on the right bank and Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Tibet on the left bank.

[Note continued: Just north of the Karakoram mountains (also called Kara Kunlun with the Baltoro Muztagh and Gujerab as sub-ranges) that like the Hindu Kush, stems from the Pamirs mountains (today mainly in Tajikistan). The region south of the Karakoram, that is between the heights of the range and the Indus River is called Gilgit-Baltistan, a part of Kashmir. A narrow region north of the Karakoram and presently a part of China, is called Tash-Korgan/Tashkurgan, an autonomous Tajik populated region. The Pamiri region includes the Kunlun mountain range that forms the eastern Tajikistan border (with China), and cities east of the range and presently in China: Tashkurgan, Khotan/Hotan, and Kashgar/Kashi. The Tajik and Pamiri inhabited areas line the region north of the Karakoram and Hindu Kush and these areas were all part of Greater Aryana.

[Note continued: The Takla Makan (Taklamakan) desert, nearly 1,000 km in width, would have formed the eastern border of Aryana. The Aryan Trade Roads (Silk Roads) shirted the desert to its north and south. The residents of Kashgar were known to have practiced Zoroastrianism and the ruins of a Zoroastrian temple can be found beside the ruins of an ancient fortress. Indeed, it is possible that residents of areas in western China that practice Islam today could have practiced Zoroastrianism in the past and that medieval Islamic control replaced areas of traditional Persian-Zoroastrian control. The original Indo-Iranian inhabitants of this area have to a large extent been displaced by Turkic peoples. The Shahnameh of Ferdowsi placed Chin (China) to the east of Airan and Turan (Sugd) beyond the desert.
 Balochistan / Baluchistan Region 1900s. Click to see a larger map
[Note continued: Strabo's western boundary for Aryana runs north-south from the Caspian Gates (just east of present-day Tehran-Rey) to Carmania (Kerman-Hormuz). Strabo therefore considers the territory of Aryana to included all of present-day Eastern Iran, Afghanistan, Western Pakistan and Tajikistan. This is a Greater Aryana as neither the lesser Aria (present-day Herat Province, Afghanistan) nor a single satrapy of this enormous size continued to exist during Strabo's or Achaemenian times. The territory described by Strabo includes most of the core Aryan Vendidad nations.]

(Strabo 15.2.1. Translation by H. C. Hamilton & W. Falconer): The Arbies, who have the same name as the river Arbis (today's Porali River, Balochistan, Pakistan), are the first inhabitants we meet with in this country (about 100 km. northwest of Karachi and 200 km west of the Indus River). They are separated by the Arbis from the next tribe, the Oritæ, and according to Nearchus, occupy a tract of sea-coast of about 1000 (200 km) stadia in length; this country also is a part of India. Next are the Oritæ, a people governed by their own laws. The voyage along the coast belonging to this people extends 1800 stadia (360 km), that along the country of the Ichthyophagi (fish-eaters - a generic name but here a Greek rendering of the ancient Persian mahi-khoran, which evolved into the modern word Makran cf. Edward Balfour, Cyclopaedia of India), who follow next, extends 7400 stadia (1500 km); that along the country of the Carmani as far as Persia, 3700 stadia. The whole number of stadia is 13,900.

(Strabo 15.2.1. Translation by Horace Leonard Jones): Ariana is inhabited first by the Arbies, whose name is like that of the River Arbis, which forms the boundary between them and the next tribe, the Oreitae; and the Arbies have a seaboard about one thousand stadia in length, as Nearchus says; but this too is a portion of India. Then one comes to the Oreitae, an autonomous tribe. The coasting voyage along the country of this tribe is one thousand eight hundred stadia in length, and the next, along that of the Ichthyophagi, seven thousand four hundred, and that along the country of the Carmanians as far as Persis, three thousand seven hundred, so that the total voyage is twelve thousand nine hundred stadia.

(Strabo 15.2.3. Translation by H. C. Hamilton & W. Falconer): Above the Ichthyophagi is situated Gedrosia (Makran), a country less exposed to the heat of the sun than India, but more so than the rest of Asia.

(Strabo 15.2.3. Translation by Horace Leonard Jones): Above the country of the Ichthyophagi is situated Gedrosia, a country less torrid than India, but more torrid than the rest of Asia.

(Strabo 15.2.8. Translation by H. C. Hamilton & W. Falconer): The position of the southern side of Ariana is thus situated, with reference to the sea-coast, the country of the Gedrosii (today's Baluchistan) and the Oritæ lying near and below it (eastern Makran coast).

(Strabo 15.2.8. Translation by Horace Leonard Jones): Such, then, on the southern side of Ariana, is about the geographical position of the seaboard and of the lands of the Gedrosii and Oreitae, which lands are situated next above the seaboard.

[Our note: While saying that the Arbis and Oreitae were the first people encountered in Ariana while leaving India, Strabo also seems to say that they are part of India and then again the Oreitae were autonomous. What we may derive is that at one point in time, Arbis and Oreitae were part of ancient Aryana. The distances: 200 km from the Indus (the Arbie, 360 km from the Oreitae coast. A further 1500 km takes us to the head of the Persian Gulf. At this point we cannot reconcile the figure of 12,900 or 13,900 stadia (2,600 km), unless the conversion to km is incorrect or the sailing between the several points undertakes various curved circuitous routes. We can think of the Arbis, Oreitae and Ichthyophagi as coastal peoples living in coastal districts pr principalities that were part of the Makran coastal region, in the provincial kingdom of Gedrosia/Balochistan, in the ancient federated kingdom or empire of Aryana.]

(Strabo 15.2.8. Translation by H. C. Hamilton & W. Falconer): Eratosthenes (276 - c. 195 BCE) speaks in the following manner and we cannot give a better description: "Ariana," he says, "is bounded on the east by the Indus, on the south by the Great Sea (i.e. Arabian Sea, then considered part of the Indian Ocean), on the north by the Paropamisus and the succeeding chain of mountains (today's Elburz in north-eastern Iran) as far as the Caspian Gates (approaching today's Tehran i.e. north-central Iran and then a part of Media), on the west by the same limits by which the territory of the Parthians is separated from Media, and Carmania (today's Kerman) from Parætacene (modern Isfahan?) and Persia.

(Strabo 15.2.8. Translation by Horace Leonard Jones): It is a large country, and even large country, and even Gedrosia reaches up into the interior as far as the Drangae, the Arachoti, and the Paropamisadae, concerning whom Eratosthenes has spoken as follows (for I am unable to give any better description). He says that Ariana is bounded on the east by the Indus River, on the south by the great sea, on the north by the Paropamisus mountain and the mountains that follow it as far as the Caspian Gates, and that its parts on the west are marked by the same boundaries by which Parthia is separated from Media and Carmania from Paraetacenê and Persis.

(Strabo 15.2.8 continued. Translation by H.C. Hamilton & W. Falconer): The breadth of the country is the length of the Indus, reckoned from the Paropamisus as far as the mouths of that river, and amounts to 12,000, or according to others to 13,000, stadia (2,400-2,600 km. This is a fairly correct estimate of the length of the Indus and indicates the length of greater Aryana). The length, beginning from the Caspian Gates, as it is laid down in Asiatic Stathmi (a listing of the caravan stations), is estimated in two different ways: from the Caspian Gates to Alexandreia (some say Herat, but there are various cities given that name) among the Arii through Parthia is one and the same road. Then a road leads in a straight line through Bactriana, and over the pass of the mountain to Ortospana (some identify as Kabul, others as Kandahar), to the meeting of the three roads from Bactria, which is among the Paropamisadæ (today's northern Afghanistan). The other branch (of the trade/caravan roads) turns off a little from Aria towards the south to Prophthasia (today's Farah in east-central Afghanistan?) in Drangiana (Sistan); then the remainder leads as far as the confines of India and of the Indus (the Indus, i.e. Hapta-Hindu in the Avesta, later India, refers to the northern reaches of the seven Indus tributaries and the area accessed via today's Khyber pass and the passes further north through the Hindu Kush and Pamirs); so that the (southern) road through the Drangæ (Drangiana - the watershed of the Helmand river, today's west-central Afghanistan and in many old maps a part of south Aria) and the Arachoti (Arachosia, just east of Drangiana, central-eastern Afghanistan today) is longer, the whole amounting to 15,300 stadia (3,000 km). But if we deduct 1300 stadia (260 km), we shall have the remainder as the length of the country in a straight line, namely, 14,000 stadia (2,800 km.*); for the length of the coast is not much less, although some persons increase this sum by adding to the 10,000 stadia Carmania (Kerman), which is reckoned at 6000 stadia (1,200 km. in length). For they seem to reckon it either together with the gulfs, or together with the Carmanian coast within the Persian Gulf. (This appears to mean that Aryana had a long coastline, the length of which was "not much less" than the length of the greater nation, and that some include Carmania (Kerman) as part of greater Aryana.

(Strabo 15.2.8 continued. Translation by Horace Leonard Jones): He says that the breadth of the country is the length of the Indus from the Paropamisus mountain to the outlets, a distance of twelve thousand stadia (though some say thirteen thousand); and that its length from the Caspian Gates, as recorded in the work entitled Asiatic Stathmi, is stated in two ways: that is, as far as Alexandreia in the country of the Arii, from the Caspian Gates through the country of the Parthians, there is one and the same road; and then, from there, one road leads in a straight line through Bactriana and over the mountain pass into Ortospana to the meeting of the three roads from Bactra, which city is in the country of the Paropamisadae; whereas the other turns off slightly from Aria towards the south to Prophthasia in Drangiana, and the remainder of it leads back to the boundaries of India and to the p143Indus; so that this road which leads through the country of the Drangae and Arachoti is longer, its entire length being fifteen thousand three hundred stadia. But if one should subtract one thousand three hundred, one would have as the remainder the length of the country in a straight line, fourteen thousand stadia; for the length of the seacoast is not much less,125 although some writers increase the total, putting down, in addition to the ten thousand stadia, Carmania with six thousand more; for they obviously reckon the length either along with the gulfs or along the part of the Carmanian seacoast that is inside the Persian Gulf.

[Our note: *2,800 km. This is a tremendous length. Even if we curve the road, the length exceeds the distance between today's Tehran, Iran and Hotan/Khotan that is part of Eastern China today. Significantly, this includes Tajikistan.]

(Strabo 15.2.8 continued. Translation by H.C. Hamilton & W. Falconer): The name also of Ariana is extended so as to include some part of Persia, Media, and the north of Bactria and Sogdiana; for these nations speak nearly the same language.

(Strabo 15.2.8 continued. Translation by Horace Leonard Jones): The name of Ariana is further extended to a part of Persia and of Media, as also to the Bactrians and Sogdians on the north; for these speak approximately the same language, with but slight variations.

[Our note: Ancient Ariana included parts of the more modern Persia and Media.]


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