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

are two mountain ranges, running north and south, and connecting the two chains
of Nishadha and Nīla. Gandhamādana and Kailāsa extend, east and west, eighty
Yojanas in breadth, from sea to sea. Nishadha and Pāriyātra are the limitative
mountains on the west, stretching, like those on the east, between the Nīla and
Nishadha ranges: and the mountains Triçringa and Jārudhi are the northern limits
of Meru, extending, east and west, between the two seas. Thus I have repeated
to you the mountains described by great sages as the boundary mountains, situated
in pairs, on each of the four sides of Meru.»

In the Bhāgavata and Vāyu Purāṇa Wilson finds the eight mountains enumer-
ated in a similar way. The Bhāgavata places the mountains Kailāsa and Kara-
vīra south of Meru. Wilson does not believe in the possibility of verifying the
position of these different creations of ancient legendary geography of the Hindus,
but he thinks the scheme was suggested by imperfect acquaintance with the actual
character of the country. Therefore, quoting Humboldt and Ritter he indicates an
identity with the Altai, Mustag or Tian-shan, Kwen-lun and Himalaya. And here
again we have good reason to doubt whether the ancient sages of India could
possess even the faintest idea of the existence of such systems as Altai and Tian-
shan, and even Kwen-lun. The very natives of these mountains can even nowadays
not be said to have a clear conception of the great orographical systems. The
authors of the Purāṇas have constructed a very regular and symmetrical orography
bordering the Meru. Humboldt has constructed a geometrical system of ranges in
Central Asia. How could ever these constructions agree with each other! The
existence of ranges was known, but how they were situated in relation to each
other was unknown. Even so late as in Humboldt's days very little was known of
the orography between Kwen-lun and Himalaya. To satisfy the demands of the
Purāṇa texts the western Himalaya and the Kailas are sufficient; the rest accom-
plishing the symmetry round Meru is fiction.

The Vāyu Purāṇa says there are six mountains in Jambudvīpa, »which lengthen
to the eastern side, have excellent summits, are all related to each other, and have
the sea both to the east and west». They are named as follows, namely, Hemas-
haya(?), Himavant, Hemakūta, Hemavant, Hairanya (which last is) possessed of a
splendour equal to the rays of the midday sun and Nishadha. ¹

Of all these the mount Sumeru, which is made of gold . . . is the best.
The Vāyu Purāṇa tells us of four Sarovaras or lakes, »which resound with the
noise of large birds; their water is clear, propitious, healthy . . . The lakes are adorned