Historical Geography of Ancient India c7.351

c7.351

Mahendrācala.—The Yoginītantra (2. 4. 128ff.) has a reference to the Mahendra mountain. The Gautamī plates of Gaṅga Indravarman mention it. It probably refers to the hills of this name in the Ganjam district (E.I., XXIV, Pt. IV, October, 1937, p. 181). The Mahendra range of mountains extended from Ganjam as far south as the Pāṇḍya country to the whole of the Eastern Ghat range. The Mahendrādri or the Mahendra mountain was situated between the Gaṅgāsāgarasaṅgama and the Sapta-Godāvarī. A portion of the Eastern Ghats near Ganjam is still called the Mahendra hill. Pargiter thinks that the name should be limited to the hills between the Mahānadī, Godāvarī and Veṅ Gaṅgā, and may perhaps comprise the portion of the Eastern Ghats north of the Godāvarī. (Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa, p. 305 note). According to Bāṇa’s Harṣacarita (Ch. VII) the Mahendra mountain joins the Malayaparvata. The Raghuvaṃśa (IV. 39, 43; VI. 54) places it in Kaliṅga. The name is principally applied to the range of hills separating Ganjam from the valley of the Mahānadī. Kālidāsa styles the king of Kaliṅga as the Lord of the Mahendra (Raghuvaṃśa, IV. 43; VI. 54).