History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c74.23.3

v5.c74.23.3

33 1 the two great rivers Vipāś (modern Beas) and Śutudrī are described as issuing from the lap of mountains. Here the word 'Parvata' is used in its ordinary sense. The Atharvaveda¹²⁵⁸ speaks of a salve (āñjana) from Traikakuda peaks of the Himālaya mountain 'May that salve which comes off the Himālaya from Traikakuda (peaks) destroy all wizards and all witches'. The Hira. Gṛ. I. 3 11.5 (S. B. E. vol. 30 p. 168) also refers to this salve. Gaut., Baud Dh S. and Vas. Dh. S. have the same sūtra ¹²⁵⁹ stating that the '*deśas* (localities) that are holy and hence destroyers of sin are all mountains, all rivers, holy lakes, places of pilgrimage, the dwellings of sages (ṛṣis), cowpens and temples of the gods' The Vāyupurāṇa ¹²⁶⁰ and Kūrma state that all parts of the Himālaya are holy, the Ganges is holy everywhere, all rivers falling into the sea and all seas are holy. The Padmapurāṇa (Bhūmikhaṇḍa 39. 46-47) says that all rivers, whether flowing through a village or a forest, are holy and that where no name of a tīrtha on rivers is known it should be called Viṣṇutīrtha. Kālidāsa speaks of the Himālaya as *devatātmā* (as vivified by the presence of gods) in the Kumārasambhava (I. 1). The Bhāgavata V. 19.16 names 27 holy mountains while the Brahmāṇḍa (II. 16. 20-23) names thirty.