The Geography of the Puranas c10.17

c10.17

The mountains and rivers (not all) which have been identified and tabulated below have shown on the accompanying physiographic maps of Bhārata. The maps thus bring out the location of the seven ranges of Bhārata mentioned in the Purāṇas besides Himavat. Of these, the Sahya, the Malaya and the Mahendra Giri present no difficulty. The Pāripātra is the ring of ranges north of the Narmadā which nearly encircle the catchment areas of the Chambal and the Betwā. It corresponds with the Aravallis and the Western Vindhyas. Riksa-parvat represents the modern Vindhyas from the source of the Sonar to the eastern limit of the ranges which mark the cathment area of the Riven Son. The Vindhya proper of the Purāṇas included the Satpuras (south of the Narmadā), the Mahadeo Hills, the Hazaribagh Range and Rajmahal Hills and their spurs which fan out towards the Gaṅgā. It is to be noted that the three ranges Rikṣa, Vindhya and Sukhtimat (which is discussed in the following paragraphs) meet in the Mandla Knot. In this knot three corresponding E-W ranges, the Southern Maikal, the Northern Maikal and the Central ridge can be easily noticed on a modern contour map of this region (see Fig. 13).