The Geography of the Puranas c8.4

c8.4

(ii) The Purāṇas assume that a river can penetrate, through subterranean channels, mountain ranges or minor impediments, which lie athwart its course. As a corollary, the water of a lake could 'filter' through the bounding ridges and give rise to streams on opposite slopes. The Purāṇas imagine and locate subterranean channels where (a) a river falls into and ends in a lake which has no visible outlet. If a river rises on the opposite side of a range overlooking the lake, it is supposed that the course of the former river is continued across the range; (b) a river flowing through a broad valley enters a narrow gorge, and gives the impression of a decrease in its size and volume. In this case the assumption is that the river has lost some of its waters by sending a branch or branches across the adjoining ridges into the neighbouring valleys. Thus a river could flow in as many as two, three or more channels, separated by intervening ridges.