The Geography of the Puranas c8.224

c8.224

The Madhumān is the Baba Tagh range between the Kafirnigan and the Surkhan Darya. Mukut is definitely the Baisun Tau mountains which were named 'Turban-wearing' by a Khorezm traveller when, from the Karshi steppe, he first saw their snow-topped ridges, with Hazrat Sultan Peak (16,377 feet) rising above them like a grey-haired patriarch. Kṛṣṇa is equivalent to the Kara Tagh (Black) mountain of medieval geographers which is the northern continuation of the Baba Tagh range joining eventually the Hissar range. It marks the boundary between the modern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The name Karatagh, a town which lies on the Surkhan Darya reminds us of the old name of the nearby ridge in which this river rises. Śveta mountain corresponds to the snow-peaked ridge overlooking Ziddy in which the easternmost tributary of the Surkhan rises. Sahasra Sekhara is the mighty, rugged and extensive Hissar range which runs as a complex mass of innumerable peaks from Kugitang Tau to the ancient Karataghin or the Garm region of upper Vakhsh-ab.