The Geography of the Puranas c8.221

c8.221

The next four mountains, the Vaidūrya, the Kapila, the Gandhamādana and the Piñjara pertain to the tributaries of the Oxus which join it from the south. The indicators are the names Vaidūrya and Gandhamādana. The former are the mountains of Afghan Badakhshan rom which lapiz lazuli was mined in ancient and medieval times in the upper valley of the Kokcha river above Jurm. The latter has been repeatedly mentioned in the Purāṇas as a range sometimes south and sometimes west of Meru. The location of Gandhamādana on the accompanying map would bear out the fact that both the Purāṇic statements are correct in a way. This range lies to the south of the Pāmīrs but it extends farther towards the west in a south-westerly direction. The four rivers which correspond to and drain these four mountains are, in the same order, the Kokcha, the Ishkamish the Kunduz and the Balkh-ab. Thus on modern maps the Vaidūrya mountain is equivalent to Saped Khirs (or Badakhshan range), the Kapila mountain corresponds to the Khwaja Muhammad range, the Gandhamādana to the northern parapet of the Hindūkush system and the Piñjara to the naked hills which flank the Mazar-i-Sharif province of Afghanistan in the south-east.