The Geography of the Puranas c8.190

c8.190

The last region described in (e) above is the region which lies north of the Śṛṅgavān-Jarudhi System, i.e., the Uttara Kuru. According to the Purāṇas this land is watered by the Northern River (see (d) above) including, of course, its tributaries. Uttara Kuru, therefore, includes the basin of the River Irtysh, the Ob, the Ishim and the Tobol, in other words 'The Western Siberian Region', according to modern regional classification. In addition to the basin of the River Irtysh and its tributaries, the Western Siberian Region (or Uttara Kuru of the Purāṇas) includes a region of inland drainage which occupies its southern margin and the mountainous massif of the Sayan and the Altai. The Purāṇic description of all these sub-regions in statement (e) is explicit and fairly accurate as regards relief and drainage. In fact this is a major contribution of the Purāṇas to the knowledge of these lands which were either unknown or imperfectly known till the 16th century A.D.