The Geography of the Puranas c8.86

c8.86

The chapter, ‘Gaṅgā Avtāra Varṇana’ of the Vāyu Purāṇa, referred to above, presents miscellaneous information regarding the lakes and rivers on other mountains, i.e., the Hemakūṭa, Niṣadha, Meru, Nila and Śweta. It is significant that all these lakes are glacial lakes situated on high mountains whose snow-covered summits radiate from Meru in all directions, i.e., they have been imagined as mere offshoots of the central reservoir of ice—the ‘Snowy Gaṅgā’—on it descent on Meru. The lakes and associated rivers mentioned under this head are detailed in a tabular form below.