History According To Other Mythological Texts

Once upon a time, there lived a king called “Milinda”. He asked a sage called “Nagasena” about the Himalyas. The sage replied in a single verse which when translated reads: “The Himalya, the king of the mountains, five and thousand league in extent at the circumference, with its ranges or eight hundred and forty thousand peaks, the source of five hundred rivers, the dwelling place of multitudes of mighty creatures, the producer of manifold perfumes, enriched with hundreds of magical drugs, it is seen to rise aloft like a cloud in the centre of the earth.”

In fact, a text called the Sama Veda (Sam Veda) does describe the mountain ranges to be the centre of the earth. To the sage’s description may be added that these ranges are the youngest in India and one of the youngest mountain systems of the world. With many peaks yet to be christened, these mountain ranges have also given birth to many heroes who have scaled its heights.

Many other texts use very colourful adjectives to describe the mountains. Some call it, “the measuring rod of the earth”, The oldest Veda, the Rig Veda refers to the Himalyas as ‘Himavan’, a deity and asks: “To which other deity shall we offer our prayers? On account of your prowess, mountains like the Himalyas and the oceans with rivers are created and the distant quarters are designated as your mere arms.”

No wonder then that a mountain of so many aspects is viewed in Indian mythology as having a ‘divine soul’. It is called “Devatatma” in a Sanskrit poet Kalidasa’s works. That divinity is an all-pervading idea can be seen by the fact that there is a reference to a situation where a sage catches sight of the mountain ranges in Krishna’s stomach!

Krishna was the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the preserver in yet another instance, the path to heaven, it is said runs up the Himalya the hero of the Mahabharata, Yudhishtra, is said to have climbed these peaks in his progress towards heaven the one leading to the heavens is called “Swargarohini”, where Swarga means heaven “Arohini” means ascent. Chomolungma is the “Goddess mother of the earth” in Tibetan.