Setubandha

Author(s): Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 56

INTRODUCTION
47
Setubandha has many other references to the Malaya range, represented as a coastal mountain in contact with the sea. There may be a slight poetical exaggeration in this, or perhaps the sea may bave receded somewhat in the course of the centuries. It may, however, be noted that the Lilavai of Koūbala, written about four centuries later, also refers to the caves of the Malaya as being filled with the waters of the ocean (v. 339).3
There are numerous references to the Malaya range in old Indian poetry, but Pravarasena is perhaps the only poet who speaks of the climatic conditions on the hills. He twice refers to the prevailing cloudy weather (saz-duddiņa) on the Malaya range (1.59; 6.22); and his statement is in accord with modern observations of meteorological phenomena in the hills of Kerala.
Pravarasena makes the Malaya range the northern terminus of the causeway which streches across the sea to Mount Suvela in Lankā (8.83, 85)." He locates Mount Mahendra close to the Malaya on the seashore; and speaks of the Malaya
1 Setu 5.70; 6.21; 7.41. 2 'From the main range of the Ghāts rocky spurs run out towards the west, in some
cases to within a short distance of the sea. From Quilon southwards these secondary ranges soften down into undulating slopes, intersected by glens and valleys, which grow wider as the elevation of the hills decreases..........' Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol. 24. p. 3. The southernmost hills of the Western Ghāts serve as a natural barrier between the west side of the Tinnevelly District and the State of Travancore up to
within a few miles of Cape Comorin.' Ibid., Vol. 23, p. 362. 3 Cf. Setu 7.41; Vikramānkadeva carita 4.9. 4 "The rainfall is heavy. The greatest quantity, brought by the south-west monsoon,
falls between May and August. Towards the end of October the north-east monsoon asserts itself, but the rain it brings is lighter on the low country than on the hills in the north-east, where it descends in sudden and very heavy showers.' Ibid. Vol. 24, p. 5. The Agastyamalai peak is 'often for weeks together wreathed in clouds. enjoying as it does the full benefit of both monsoons.' Gazetteer of the Tinnevelly
District, Vol. 1, p. 4. 1917. 5 Cf, nalena sukstascāsau seturmandara-samnibhaḥ / malayattu samārabdho lankāmüle
pratisthitaḥ // Rāmāyana (Lahore ed.) 5.98.22.