National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

From Mandara in this mountain-range Arjuna ascended to Indra's heaven conveyed
there by Mātali in Indra's chariot, after he had first sung this beautiful hymn to the
mountain . . .› Then follows the hymn glorifying Himavant.
According to Fausbøll Çiva is most often in the Mahābhārata called Mahādeva,
the great god. He dwells on the holy Himavant. Here on the ridge of Himavant
the mighty master always sits, shining like the fire at the end of a Yuga. In other
places he is recorded to be found on a horn of the mountain Meru, called Sāvitra,
or on Mount Mandara. ›The Himavant mountains hold the highest place amongst
all the mountains in the world, they are praised as being divine, holy and loved by
the gods and they are protected by Rākshasa's and Piçāca's. From them the ascent
is made, through the air, up to Svarga-heaven with the Nandana forest, the home
of the inhabitants of heaven, the Deva's. The high Kuvera enjoys a fourth part
of Meru's treasures and he gives a sixteenth part to mankind. South of Mount
Nīla and on the north side of Meru lies the holy northerly Kuru-land where the
Siddhas dwell . . . Among Himalaya's many great and small mountains Kuvera
chose Kailāsa (also called Hemakūṭa) and Gandhamādana as his favourite dwelling
place . . . The whitish-yellow Kailāsa is 6 Yojana's high; and a gigantic jujube
tree is found there. It is likewise covered with lovely woods, rivers, lakes and
caves. Here Kuvera was installed by Brahmā himself in dominion over all riches
and over Rākshasa's, Yaksha's and Gandharva's, and he rejoiced greatly. At the en-
trance to Kailāsa there is a golden gate . . . His (Kuvera's) river is the beautiful
Mandākinī, the first of rivers whose waters are decked with golden lotuses, that
resemble the sun. His lotus-lake, Nalinī or Jāmbūnada-saras, the golden lake is
called Alakā. It is full of divine, fragrant, golden Sāugandhikā lotuses and all sorts
of aquatic birds, surrounded by lovely woods with thick trees and climbing plants.
Its water is clear and cool, and has an ambrosial taste . . . His city is called
Alakā . . . His assembly-hall . . . is as bright as the peaks of Kailāsa, and its
white sheen eclipses even the splendour of the moon.› ¹
In the ›Mahābhārata Brahmā is described under the name of Mānasa, and is
sometimes also called Puruṣa. The Gandharvas are said to reside near the lake
Mānasa and on Mount Niṣadha. ²
Only as glimpses or mere names do the eternal mountains of Himalaya, Meru
and Kailas, and the sacred lake Manasarovar light up the interminable and very
dull stories of the Ramāyāṇa. I am giving a few examples of this kind of very
vague geography. Rāghava is said to have ›proceeded leaving on his left side the
junctions of four roads . . . and reached after all the family dwelling of the king,
with its palatial tops piercing the sky, looking beautiful, resembling a mass of clouds,
white as the celestial cars and high as the hill Kailāsa, and with sporting houses