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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

THE GANGES OF HEAVEN. - LAKE MA NASA.   I3

In the Ramayana the following piece of Himalayan hydrography is also to be found, in connection with the tale about the lord of monkeys, the successful Sugriva, who said to a leader of herds and lord of apes, named Vinata . . . )there, in mountain fastnesses, and forests and rivers, do thou search Videha's daughter, Sitä, as well as the abode of Rävana. And while on the search around for Räma's beloved wife, Sitä, ... thou shouldst search the beautiful Bhagirathi, and the Sarayu, and Käugiki, the Kälindi, and the charming Yamunä, and the mighty hill bordering thereon; and the Sarasvati, and the Sindhu, and the Çonä with water resembling ruby.»

Finally I quote the following passage about the Manasarovar, which for us is. the most interesting in the whole Rämäyana:2 »And Bibhishana obtained for his wife the righteous (damsel) named Saramä — daughter unto the high-souled çailûsha — sovereign of the Gandharvas. (Saramä) was born on the shores of the lake, Manasa. And while the lake, Mänasa, was swollen with water on the arrival of the rains, her mother, hearing her cries, affectionately said, — Saromävardhata — 'O lake, do not swell', and from this circumstance, her name became Saramä.» As the Rämäyana is the oldest of the Sanscrit epic poems, supposed to have been composed about 500 years B.C., and even if it received its present form one or two hundred years later, the quoted passage must indeed be said to be the first place where not only the sacred lake has been mentioned but also the fact of its swelling or the rise of its surface on arrival of the rains. Nay, it would require some 23 centuries before European geographers and explorers became aware of this most characteristic fact of the periodical fluctuations of the lake, which in later ages gave rise to so many mistakes and misunderstandings, and which I will try to explain, so far as possible, in subsequent chapters.

Through Sir JOHN STRACHEY E. T. ATKINSON is able to give a paraphrase of a portion of the Skånda Puråna, known as the Meznasa-kha z Ia.3 »It occurs in the usual form of a dialogue between Rita, a pupil of Vyasa, and Janamejaya, the son of Parikshit, the Pändava ruler of Hastinapur, and professes to relate what was formerly communicated by Vyasa to Vasishtha. In form and often in verbiage it follows the model of the older Puränas and minutely describes the country from the lake Månasarowar in . Tibet to Nanda Devi . . . The work itself is very popular and is deeply interesting as showing the form in which the actual living belief of the people is exhibited.» 4

I Ramayana, op. cit., Vol. IV, Calcutta 1891, p. 8o8.

2 Op. cit. Vol. VII, p. 1594.

3 The Himalayan Districts of the North-Western Provinces of India. Allahabad 1882. Vol. II, p. 297 et seq.

4 Supposing that the Library of the India Office should possess some translation of the Manasa-khanda either in manuscript or print, I wrote to Dr. F. W. Thomas, who, however, communicates me the following: »For the Manasa-khanda the passage which you cite from Atkinson appears to be the only authority, either English or otherwise. I have found only one reference to a Manasa-