The Geography of the Puranas c8.13

c8.13

The Gaṅgā is a celestial river which has been very picturesquely compared in the Purāṇas to the Milky Way. The first part of the statement, therefore, refers to the ‘Starry River’ in the heavens (i.e., the Milky Way) which one sees revolving round the North Pole in the Northern Hemisphere, as though it were attached to the Pole by an invisible bond. The ‘abode’ of this celestial river (in the literal sense) on the earth is the extensive, snow-bound and glacier-mantled high plateau of the Pāmīr (the Meru) on which that river, i.e. the Gaṅgā ‘descends’ from the sky, obviously in the form of snow. The ‘Gaṅgā’ thus remains suspended on this mountainous region above the snow-line or, in Purāṇic language, rests on the head or in the tresses of gods and deities. Not only does the ‘heavenly river’ rest on the plateau of Meru but also on the high ridges and ranges which surround and radiate from the Meru or the Pāmīr region. Thus the ‘river’ runs several times ‘round Meru’, according to the Purāṇas, before it descends further down by melting or as a glacier. It should be noted that at this stage, i.e. before melting, the Gaṅgā rests or remains suspended on the high mountain peaks and ridges and does not flow into valleys or plains. When the glaciers melt and their water accumulates in the lakes at the foot of the mountain and issue from there as rivers, the Gaṅgā assumes the form of water channels—i.e., rivers in the real sense. The Purāṇas mention four main lakes and four main rivers which originate as such and flow to the four cardinal points of Jambū Dwīpa.