The Geography of the Puranas c7.s1.25

c7.s1.25

Although the major topographical features of North India as given in the Rāmāyaṇa are fairly accurately described, those which pertain to peninsular India are rather confused. It is stated that Rāma went into the Daṇḍaka forest and reached the Mahendra Mountain 'opposite Laṅkā', but the Mahendra Mountain is far away from the present Ceylon. The only possible explanation of these discrepancies appears to be that Vālmīki considered peninsular India to be bounded by the Vindhyas in the North, Sahya and Malaya (known as Western Ghats today) in the West and the Mahendra and Vindhyan ranges were supposed to be so interconnected that they could be considered as one range enclosing the Deccan Plateau on the North and East.