people.

Some scholars believe that this people had already heard of the two
oceans. This point again is doubtful in the extreme. No descriptions
imply a knowledge of ocean, and the word for ocean means merely a
'confluence' of waters, or in general a great oceanic body of water
like the air. As the Indus is too wide to be seen across, the name may
apply in most cases to this river. An allusion to 'eastern and western
floods,'[17] which is held by some to be conclusive evidence for a
knowledge of the two seas, is taken by others to apply to the
air-oceans. The expression may apply simply to rivers, for it is said
that the Vip[=a]ç and Çutudr[=i] empty into the 'ocean', i.e., the
Indus or the Çutudr[=i]'s continuation.[18] One late verse alone
speaks of the Sarasvat[=i] pouring into the ocean, and this would
indicate the Arabian Sea.[19] Whether the Bay of Bengal was known,
even by hearsay and in the latest time of this period, remains
uncertain. As a body the Aryans of the Rig Veda were certainly not
acquainted with either ocean. Some straggling adventurers probably
pushed down the Indus, but Zimmer doubtless is correct in asserting
that the popular emigration did not extend further south than the
junction of the Indus and the Pa[=n]canada (the united five
rivers).[20] The extreme south-eastern geographical limit of the Rig
Vedic people may be reckoned (not, however, in Oldenberg's opinion,
with any great certainty) as being in Northern Beh[=a]r (M[=a]gadha).
The great desert, Marusthala, formed an impassable southern obstacle
for the first immigrants.[21]

On the other hand, the two oceans are well known to the Atharva Veda,
while the geographical (and hence chronological) difference between
the Rik and the Atharvan is furthermore illustrated by the following