Historical Geography of Ancient India c6.289

c6.289

The eastern Himalayan region extending up to Assam and Manipur roughly constituted the Haimavata division of the Jambudvīpa in respect of which Aśoka introduced the Nābhakas and Nābhapaṃtis in his R.E. XIII.¹⁶ The Elder Majjhima was sent to the Himalaya to propagate Buddhism.¹⁷ He converted the hordes of Yakkhas living in this mountain. The people mostly used to worship the violent and most powerful Yakkhas. They were given to understand the doctrine of the Buddha as explained by the five Elders.¹⁸ The Paulastya rākṣasas are connected with the Himalaya mountain.¹⁹ According to the Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa,²⁰ the Rākṣasas were found on the top of the Kailāsa. The Himalayan region (Himavanta-padesa) of the Jambudvīpa (continent of India) extended northwards, according to the Pali accounts, as far as the south side of the Mt. Sumeru (Pali Sineru). Haimavata division of India is indicated by the Kālsī set of Rock Edicts, the Asokan monoliths at Nigliva, Lumbinī, and those in the district of Champaran. The Himalayan region (Haimavata-padesa) has been identified by some with Tibet, by Fergusson with Nepal, and by Rhys Davids with the Central Himalayas. According to ancient geographers the name Himavata was applied to the entire mountain range stretching from Sulaiman along the west of the Punjab and the whole of the northern boundary of India up to the Assam and Arakan hill ranges in the east. The two ancient Indian tribes, viz., the Śākyas and the Koliyas, were transported by the Buddha to the Himalayan and the Buddha pointed out to them the various mountains in the Himalayan region.¹ The Kailāsa mountain formed a part of the Himalayan mountain,² but the Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa takes it to be a separate mountain. The Kailāsa was a mountain with high peaks. It was of pure white colour (Mahābodhiv. 13, 26, 45 and 79). From the monastery on this mountain the elder Suriyagutta came to Ceylon with 96,000 monks (Thūpav. 73). On the top of the Kailāsa mountain which is the Kangrinpoche of the Tibetans, situated about 25 miles to the north of the Mānasasarovara, stood Sudhammapura (Sīsanavaṃsa, p. 38).