The Geography of the Puranas c8.205

c8.205

The region, too, can be easily located on a large-scale map of Southern Siberia, The cul-de-sac in which the River Yenisei rises and which is known as the Tuva region practically answers to all the features mentioned above. It is surrounded by the Sayan ranges on all sides, except the north. Through this northern ‘gate’ where the town of Krasnovarsk is situated, the River Yenisei, after collecting the drainage of the basin, rushes out towards the north. The River Candaravarittā is, therefore, the Yenisei river itself which, coming out of this ‘dwīpa’ or region, flows along the eastern margin of Kuru land to the Arctic Ocean. In this ‘moon-shaped’ basin which we can conveniently call Candra Dwīpa (by its Purānic name) there is a conspicuous peak (about 24,000 feet high), about 100 miles southeast of Minusinsk, a town of the Yenisie. This is the Kumudprabhā of the Purāṇics which towers in the centre of Candradwīpa. The whole region is fairly well-watered and forested and is sparsely populated.