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XII. GEOGRAPHICAL DATA
(A) MOUNTAINS
In the Dvyāśryakāvya, Hemacandra has referred to eight mountains (I. 195) which are explained as 1. Vindhya 2. Pārijāta 3. Saktimat 4. Ṛkṣaparvata 5. Mahendra 6. Sahya 7. Malaya and 8. Himavat. Heights and limits of these mountains are not given in the poem. Hemacandra has not stated the accounts and descriptions of these mountains. Various purāņas speak of mountains and the emergent rivers1.
According to Brahma Purāṇa2,
Sahya mountain is situated on the South of the Vindhyas. Ptolemy calls it as Adeisothro3. Pargiter identifies this mountain with western Ghats. Himavat is an synonym of the Himalayas (XVI. 39). Malaya has Krauñca and Kruñca as its synonyms5.
Other names of the mountains occuring in the Dvyasrayakavya are as follows:
Andha (XIII.69). Two separate Andhas have been enlisted by K.D. BajpaiR. The first is identified with Andhra and the
1. Sircar, D.C. Studies in the geography of ancient and medieval India, Pp.55 ff.
2. Brahma Purāņa, 91.2.13.
3. Mc Crindle, India by Ptolemy, p. 165.
4. Pargiter, Tr. Märkandeya Purāņa, p.285.
5. Abhidhanacintamaņi, verse, 1029.
6. Bajpai, K.D. The geographical encyclopaedia of ancient and medieval
India, P. I. Varanasi, 1967, p.22.
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