The Geography of the Puranas c7.s5.96

c7.s5.96

The Gandhamādana and the Mālyavān are ranges the location of which is highly controversial. In fact, there is a confusion in the Purāṇas about all the ranges which immediately surrounded or flank Meru. The Viṣṇu Purāṇa says, 'Meru, then is confined between the mountains Nīla and Niṣadha (on the north and south) and between Mālyavān and Gandhamādana (on the west and east)'. The Gandhamādana is also mentioned in other Purāṇas as one of the southern buttresses of Meru (Matsya), as one of the filament mountains on the west, as a range of boundary mountain on the south, and as a Varṣa mountain of Ketumāla (Vāyu). The position of the Mālyavān is also changed in accordance with the position of the Gandhamādana. The Bhāgavata gives different names to the different parts of Gandhamādana, for instance, the buttress is called Merumandāra, the filament mountain, the Haṃsa, while the term Gandhamādana is restricted to the eastern range.