The Geography of the Puranas c8.153

c8.153

The first point and the most important one which emerges from (d) above is that the author is attempting to describe two rivers and not one which flow towards the north from the Meru (Pāmīr) region. One of these, which is the main river and of which a description is given in para 1 of (d) above, flows towards the north, then towards the west to fall into the Western Sea which is obviously the Aral Sea in this case. (It is to be borne in mind that the Aral and the Caspian Sea formed one sea and were separated in the not very distant past). The other river which, according to the Purāṇas (see para 2 of statement (d) above), branched off the main river in Supārśva country, took an entirely northerly course and flowing through Uttarakuru fell into the Northern Sea (the Arctic Ocean). The conclusion is inescapable that one of these rivers is the Syr Darya which falls into the Aral Sea and the other is the River Irtysh which rises from the Tarbetagai and falls into the Arctic Ocean.