The Geography of the Puranas c8.18

c8.18

The Purāṇas realised the extent of Meru and its extensive snow cover, hence they gave it great importance, as is evidenced in their detailed account of Meru, but they also visualised the extension of the snow-cap towards the south along the high Himālayan ranges, hence their Gaṅgā (i.e., the Snowy Gaṅgā) sprawled far to the south and southeast of Meru on the summits of the Himālayan and Trans-Himālayan ranges. They, therefore, consider that all rivers which originate in the snows of the Himālayas, are the manifestation of the Holy Gaṅgā. It is no wonder that the various ‘Gaṅgās’, Indian and extra-Indian, for instance, the Mahā-Gaṅgā (Hwangho), Gaṅgā (Ganges), Kṛṣṇagaṅgā, Viṣṇugaṅgā, Kāligaṅgā, Gaurigaṅgā, Dhauligaṅgā, etc., have been so named because they all derive their waters from the common source—i.e., the Snowy Gaṅgā of the Purāṇas. The Vāyu Purāṇa (as well as other Purāṇas), very clearly refer to this phase of the sacred river when they say: