The Geography of the Puranas c8.197

c8.197

All these features point at once to the basin of Lake Balkhash, Alai Kul, Sassik Kul and other lakes which lie between the Ula Tau-Tarbagati watershed and the Śṛṅgavān range.¹⁷ The city mentioned in (iii) above is most probably Alma-Ata ('father of apples') which was formerly known as Verny. The pointed reference to the mixed population of this region is substantiated by the population pattern found there even today. Here we find a mixture of the Russians, the Chinese, the Mongols, the Kirghiz, the Kimluks, the Samoyeds, the Uzbeks, the Uigurs, the Dungans and others. It was the northernmost corridor through which passed the Scythian swarms in successive waves of migration across the steppes, the conquering armies of Mongol invaders and the destructive hordes led by the Turks of Central Asia.