The Geography of the Puranas c9.14

c9.14

The lake Arunoda is the Kara Kul which lies on the north-eastern corner of the Pāmīrs (Meru) near the source of Kizil-Su. The Kizil-Su (Sitā) crosses the Sarikol range, (i.e., the Mandara mountain of the Purāṇas). It then ‘falls’ on the Kashghar range (Sitānta). As the Kizil enters the basin and reaches the town of Kashghar it receives two tributaries from the north and two from the south. The northern ones rise in the two offshoots of the Tien Shan Mt., i.e., the Sumuṅja and Kumuṅja, the latter being fairly extensive and running parallel to the main Tien Shan range up to the river Akṣu. The two right bank tributaries of the Kizil which meet it from the south rise in the Kungur and the Mustagh Ata—the Vaikāṅga and Malyavān of the Purāṇas respectively. As the river flows past the Kashghar town it is known as the Kashghar river which a few hundred miles down below receives the other important affluent of the Tarim, i.e. the Yārkand River, which rises behind the Mustagh range. This range is therefore the Māniśaila of the Purāṇas. The combined waters of the Taushkan Darya and Kim Arik rivers flow across Akṣu. The former rises north of the Tien Shan in the Vṛṣabha mountain mentioned in the Purāṇas in connection with the Northern River. The latter rises near the Khan Tengri (Mahā Nīla) peak of the Tien Shan range. Below its confluence with the Akṣu the Tarim practically receives no waters from the north or south except through minor intermittent streams, the Kanche Darya and he Quruq Darya which come down the Quruq or Kuruk Tagh (‘Desert Range’) or the Jathara of the Purāṇics.