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SOUTH-WESTERN TIBET IN INDIAN ANTIQUITY.

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and Pavani going east, the Chakshu, Sitä, and Sindhu to the west, and the Ganges to the south.

The hydrography of the Vishnu Puräna begins : The Çatadru, Chandrabha,ga, and other rivers, flow from the foot of Himalaya, etc. . . .» 2 Wilson tells us that

the other Puranas enumerate many other rivers beyond those of the Vishnu. Çatadru is the hundred-channelled», the Zaradrus of Ptolemy, the Hesidrus of Pliny, or Satlej. The Chandrabhagä, Sandabalis, or Acesines, is the Chinab. Thus even the Satlej is regarded as coming from the foot of the Himalaya, not from beyond the mountains. This is the same view as that of Ptolemy who makes all the rivers start from the southern side of the Himalaya.

According to Wilson the popular notion concerning the origin of the Ganges is that Çiva or Mahadeva receives the river on his head, though this is referred to the descent of the Alakananda, or Ganges of India, not to the celestial Ganges. In the Vishnu Puräna we read : 3 »From that third region of the atmosphere, or seat of Vishnu, proceeds the stream that washes away all sin, the river Ganga, embrowned with the unguents of the nymphs of heaven, who have sported in her waters. Having her source in the nail of the great toe of Vishnu's left foot, Dhruva receives her and sustains her day and night devoutly on his head; and thence the seven Rishis practise the exercises of austerity in her waters, wreathing their braided locks with her waves. The orb of the moon, encompassed by her accumulated current, derives augmented lustre from her contact. Falling from on high , as she issues from the moon, she alights on the summit of Meru, and thence flows to the four quarters of the earth, for its purification. The Sita, Alakananda, Chakshu, and Bhadra are four branches of but one river, divided according to the regions towards which it proceeds. The branch that is known as the Alakananda was born affectionately by Mahadeva, upon his head, for more than a hundred years, and was the river which raised to heaven the sinful sons of Sagara, by washing their ashes. This sacred stream, heard of, desired, seen, touched, bathed in, or hymned, day by day, sanctifies all beings; and those who, even at a distance of a hundred leagues, exclaim 'Gang a, Ganga', attone for the sins committed during three previous lives. The place whence this river proceeds, for the purification of the three worlds, is the third division of the celestial regions, the seat of Vishnu.» To which Wilson adds : »The situation of the source of the Ganges of heaven identifies it with the milky way.»

I Dowson, op. cit. p. 281. In the Våyu Puräna the story of Bh.girathi runs thus: »the river

. ran into seven courses, three towards the east, namely Nalini, Hladini, and Pavani, three towards the west to wit, Sitä, Chakshu, and Sindhu», the seventh, Bhågirathi, ran to the south. These seven rivers are said to have sprung from the Vindu lake, situated at the foot of a mountain to the north of K.ilåsa. They flow through the Himavant, inundate several countries, and go to the place, whence Indra rains, that is to the ocean. Sitä follows the Sindhu to the western ocean. Chakshu falls into

the ocean. Sindhu flows through Darada, Kaçmira, Gandh.ra, etc. The course of the three eastern rivers cannot be followed.

2 Op. cit. p. 175.

3 Op. cit. p. 228.

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