The Geography of the Puranas c7.s5.35

c7.s5.35

The Vedas do not mention Meru. It is referred to as Mahāmeru or the ‘Great Meru’ in the Taittirīya Āraṇyaka (1,7. 1,3), but there is no indication of its location and size. The Epics, the Buddhist and the Jaina scriptures and the Purāṇas contain practically identical notices regarding the size and extent of Meru and its central location in relation to the continents or major regions of the world. The Persians, the Greeks, the Chinese, the Jews and the Arabs repeat the traditional nodality of the Meru in their cosmography. Although the details and denominations vary, the central idea is practically the same as in the Purāṇas. The Bundesh and Vendidad Sada maintain that the central continent, Khonneretz Bami is surrounded in the east, south and west by a sea called Zare-Ferakh-Kand and in the north by a high mountain named Al-Burj which corresponds to the Purāṇic Meru. The Al-Burj according to Zoroastrian books not only gave birth to all the mountains of the world but it was from this mountain, that the streams which water our earth descended.¹ The Chinese too believed that the centre of the earth from south to north lay in the high and snow-covered Tsing-ling mountains (or Sumeru), from which emerged chains of high mountains and which gave rise to many rivers.² The Jews, as well, made this mountain a part of their cosmographical system. Isaiah, making use of such ideas as were generally accepted in his times, introduced Lucifer (eq. Swarbhanu in Sanskrit) boasting that he would exalt his throne above the stars of God and would sit on the mountain of the Congregation (cf. ‘Sabhā’ in Sanskrit), ‘on the side of the north’. Meru, according to Hindu tradition, is also the rendezvous of gods where the Sabhā or the assembly of gods is held on its northern side. The Mountain of God is also alluded to in the psalms, though, in some instances, it seems to imply Mount Moriah.