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182
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
MAY, 1921
and debouch into the plains below taking a south or south-eastern course. These Mahanadis are the following TT, TAAT, 59a, , and he is perhaps the same as acy, and he is now an unimportant stream in North Bihar which mee the Gandak near its confluence with the Ganges. fr is the same as the modern Rapti. It is the great peculiarity with most of the Himalayan rivers that they have their sources on the other side of the range and cut their way through the mountain wall until they reach the plains.src was presumably one of the lakes to the north of the fea , and, possibly, it is the same as is now known as ATHATAT. There is no other lake in the Trans-Himalaya which is more sacred to the Indians than the Aranetrar, and even now, notwithstanding the severe climatic conditions, and the risks and hardships of the journey, pilgrimage to this15 famous lake is kept up. Any one visiting the lake during the rains will see groups of devout pilgrims going round it and bathing in its limpid waters. The araeredar16 is claimed as sacred even by the Buddhists, and pilgrims froin China and Tibet come to it annually for acquiring religious merit. In the Jatakas, the following lines occur : Vol. V, 392 (21), Fausboll.
सदा सक्कस्स आसा, सद्धा, सिरि, हिरीसि चतस्सी धितारी होन्ति, ता बहुविश्वगन्धमालमादाय उदककिलनत्थाय अनीतत्तवहम् गन्स्वा तत्थ किलित्वा मनोसिलातले निसिदिसु ।
[At that time, par (Hope), TN (Reverence), fert (Beauty) and feft (Modesty) were the four daughters of Sakka (Indra). They adorned themselves profusely with fragrant celestial flowers and went to tlre w a 4 for sporting in its waters and, after finishing their pastime, sat on the areal (red-arsenic rock).]
bara literally means staan = not-heated or pleasantly cool. This lake, in accordance with the tradition in the sullas, was in Uttara-Kuru, as we find it frequently mentioned that Buddha and Bodhisattvas used to beg alms in Uttara-Kuru, bring them to the shores of the wära , take their meals there and pass the day on the rocky uplands of red-arsenic. In the Aitareya Brâhmaņa, the Uttara-Kurus and Uttara-Madras are mentioned as living on the other side of the Himalaya (379-164HR), to the north of the Kuru-Pafchâlas, the Madhyadega of those days. I think it would be safe to hold that at the time of the Aitareva Brahmana, the Uttara-kurus had migrated further down from Hari-Varsha18 and were occupying Kimpurushavarsha, or the country immediately to the north of the Himalayas. Mansarowar is situated immediately to the north of the Himalaya mountains. This region appears to be the same as the Kimpurusha Varsha of the Purâņas, and the Uttara-Kuru of Buddhist tradition. The famous Anotatta-daha must, therefore, be identified with the Mansarowar lake.
16 FIT (Fausboll), Vol. III, p. 461.
16 Sven Hedin thus reflects on the subject:How can Manasarowar and Kailas be the objects of divine honours from two religions so different as Hinduism and Lamaiem, unless it is that their overpowering beauty has appealed to and deeply impressed the human mind, and that they seemed to belong rather to heaven than to earth? Even the first view from the hills on the shore caused us to burst into tears of joy at the wonderful magnificent land and its surpassing beauty. The oval lake somewhat narrower in the south than the north, and with a diameter of about 154 miles, lies like an enormous turquoise embedded between two of the finest and the most famous mountain giants of the world, the Kailas in the north and Gurla Mandatta in the south, and between huge ranges, above which the two mountains uplift their crowns of bright white eternal snow'- Trans-Himalaya, Vol. II, p. 111.
17 Sven Hedin speaks of a cinnabar-red 'hill lying, on the north side of a slightly indented bay of the western shore.-Trans-Himalaya, Vol. II, p. 123.
19 Mah 1bharata, Sabhaparva.
