Part 8b - Oceans, rivers and lakes (found in the Śrīkaṇṭhacarita)

Oceans:

Again, there is the mention of the following oceans e.g. the eastern ocean^[1], the western ocean^[2] and the ocean of milk^[3]. The ocean of milk i.e. Kṣīrasamudra is said to be the dwelling place of Lord Viṣṇu.^[4]

Rivers:

Maṅkhaka cites the rivers viz. Gaṅgā, Yamunā and Tāmraparṇī. Besides, he mentions the river Vitastā also.

1. Gaṅgā

Maṅkhaka, refers to Gaṅgā^[5] in his poem. The river Ganges is said to be the river of the gods (Nirjarataraṅgavatī).^[6] The confluence of the Gaṅgā and Yamunā i.e. Prayāga also has been referred to here.^[7]

There are references to some bridges^[8] also. The Gaṅgā, one of the holy rivers of India, is otherwise known as Bhīṣmasu, Bhāgīrathī, Jāhnavī, Jahnukanyā, Jahnutanayā etc. The Ṛgveda^[9] mentions Gaṅgā, along with six other rivers. Again, Gaṅgā is said to be the daughter of Himālaya. Afterwards, in consequence of a curse from Brahmā, she became the first wife of king Śāntanu. There she gave birth to Devabrata, celebrated as Bhīṣma, by which she began to be called as Bhīṣmasu i.e. mother of Bhīṣma. Again, according to another account, she came down to this world of the mortals, to purify the ashes of sixty thousand sons of king Sagara, by the propitiation made by Bhagīratha, which begot the name Bhāgīrathī. Moreover, while coming down to the earth, the celestial Gaṅgā inundated the sacrificial site of Jahnu, variously called as a king or a sage, who out of wrath, drank up the whole water of the river. Eventually, through the pacification by the gods, sages and mostly by Bhagīratha, Jahnu released her flows through his ears, thereby she got the appellations Jāhnavī, Jahnukanyā, Jahnutanayā etc. The Hemacandrakoṣa^[10] asserts that Jāhnavī is another name for Gaṅgā. The Amarakoṣa^[11] also testifes the name Jahnutanayā, whereas the Raghuvaṃśa^[12] employs the term Jahnukanyā. Again, the Mahābhārata^[13] mentions Gaṅgā as devanada. Kālidāsa along with calling Jahnukanyā, also uses the words trimārgagā^[14], trisrotasa^[15] etc. to denote Gaṅgā.^[16]

There is the river Bhāgīrathī, in the state of West Bengal situated in north-eastern India, forming the western boundary of the Ganges Brahmaputra delta. A tributary of the Gaṅgā leaves that river just north-east of Jangipur, flows south and joins the Jalangi at Navadvīpa, to form the Hugli river after a total course of 120 miles (192 km). The Bhāgīrathī is formed as the original bed of the Ganges.

2. Yamunā

Maṅkhaka cites the name of Yamunā^[17] in his Śrīkaṇṭhacarita. Yamunā is a sacred river of northern India. She is personified as the daughter of sun, hence, also known as Ravisutā, Tapanasutā etc. which means the daughter of sun. Again, she is known as Kālindī also. There is the mention of Yamunā in the Ṛgveda^[18], the Kūrmapurāṇa^[19], the Śatapathabrāhmaṇa^[20], Bālarāmāyaṇa^[21] etc. The Rāmāyaṇa however, mentions the Kālindī and Yamunā separately. According to the Kūrmapurāṇa, the source of both Gaṅgā and Yamunā is same and therefore the person, who forsakes his life on this river, attains salvation^[22].

3. Tāmraparṇī

Maṅkhaka mentions Tāmraparṇī^[23] in his mahākāvya. The Tāmraparṇī is a river of south India. It rises from the Malaya mountain and it is famous for its pearls.^[24] The Matsyapurāṇa., too states that Malaya mountain is the source of this river.^[25] The Tāmraparṇī can be identified to the present Tāmbaravāri, which rises in the eastern declivity of the western ghats, running through the district of Tinnevelly.^[26] It may be mentioned here that there are references of Tāmraparṇī river in other treatises also. As for example, Kālidāsa, in his Raghuvaṃśa mentions that this river flows down through the kingdom of the Pāṇḍyas.^[27] Rājaśekhara, also narrates the river Tāmraparṇī, in his Bālarāmāyaṇa^[28], in a lucid manner.

4. Vitastā

The river Vitastā is referred by Maṅkhaka in vitastayā yatra luṭhattaṭadruma^[29] ……Stein, in his translation to the Rājataraṅgiṇī, vol. II, writes about this river.^[30]

There is the reference of the conjunction of the river Sindhu (Samudra) and Vitastā (Kāntā). This is mentioned as wandering site for Lord Śiva.^[31] About the confluence of the Vitastā and its largest tributary, the Sindhu, Steiṇ comments, in his translation to the Rājataraṅgiṇī^[32]. Maṅkhaka observes that the appearance of the confluence of Sindhu and Vitastā, which are the receptacle of the fondness of the ocean, unites as it were, the forest of the creepers of religious merit with new water basins in the form of compact whirlpools.^[33]

Lakes

The following lakes are also referred, in the Śrīkaṇṭhacarita. As for example, the Mānasa^[34] and the Mahāpadma.^[35]

1. Mānasa

The Mānasa is a sacred lake on the mountain Kailāsa. It is said to be the native place of the swans^[36], which are described as migrating to its shores every year at the commencement of the breeding season of the monsoons.^[37] The Kailāsa mountain (altitude 22,028 ft.) is situated due north from the centre of the Mānasa lake (altitude 14,900 ft., area 133 sq. miles). It is 16 and 32 miles respectively from the north and south edge of the lake.^[38]

2. Mahāpadma

The lake Mahāpadma^[39] is said to be situated in Kashmir. Regarding the Mahāpadma Lake various information are found in the translation of Rājataraṅgiṇī, vol. I and vol. II, by Stein, such as, about origin of its name, location and the legend associated with it. The ancient name of the lake was Mahāpadmasaras. It was derived from the snake Mahāpadma, who resided in the lake as its tutelary deity. This lake plays a very important role in the hydrographical system of Kashmir. It acts as a huge flood reservoir for greatest part of drainage of Kashmir. The Nīlamatapurāṇa relates at length, how the lake became the habitation of the Mahāpadmanāga. The Mahāpadma is sometimes connected and identified with the Kālīyanāga, who, according to Purāṇic legend was vanquished by Lord Kṛṣṇa. The foot of Kṛṣṇa, when touching the snake’s head, had made padma i.e. lotuses appear on it, thereby, he got the name Mahāpadma. Jonarāja expresses same view on it.^[40]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Ibid., XII. 56

[2]:

Ibid., X. 6

[3]:

Ibid., XIII. 42

[4]:

Ibid., III. 12

[5]:

Ibid., XI. 48; XII. 95

[6]:

Jonarāja comments -nirjarā devāsteṣāṃ taraṅgavatī gaṅgā …../ Ibid., XI. 48, page 156

[7]:

Ibid., XI. 48; XII. 95

[8]:

Ibid., II. 43

[9]:

imaṃ me gaṅge yamune sarasvati śutudri stomaṃ sacatā paruṣṇyā/
asiknyā marudvṛdhe vitastayārjī-kīye śṛṇuhyā suṣomayā// Ṛgveda., X. 75. 5

[10]:

gaṅgā tripathagā bhāgīrathī tridaśadīrghikā trisrotā jāhnavī mandākinī bhiṣmakumārasūḥ/
Ancient Geography of India., IV. 147, page 47

[11]:

gaṅgā viṣṇupadī jahnutanayā suranimnagā bhāgīrathī tripathagā bhīṣmasūrapi/
Amarakoṣa, I. 10-31

[12]:

…..jalanidhimanunurūpaṃ jahnukanyāvatīrṇā/ Raghuvaṃśa, VI. 85

tīrthe toyavyatikarabhave jahnukanyā saryvo……/ Ibid., VIII. 95

[13]:

irāvatī vitastā ca sindhurdevanadastathā/ Mahābhārata, Sabhā, IX. 19

[14]:

asaumahendradvi padānagandhis trimārgagā vīcivimardasītaḥ/ Raghuvaṃśa, XIII. 20

[15]:

pravartayāmāsa kilānusūyā/
trisrotasaṃ tryambakamauli mālāṃ// Ibid., XIII. 51

[16]:

paśyanavadyāṅgi vibhāti gaṅgā/
bhinnapravāhā yamunātaraṅgaiḥ// Ibid., XIII. 5

[17]:

Ibid., IX. I; XI. 48

[18]:

sapta me sapta śākina ekamekāśatā daduḥ yamunāyāmadhi/
śrutamyudrādhogavyaṃ mṛje ni rādho aśvaṃ mṛje// Ṛgveda., V. 52. 17

[19]:

tapanasya sutā devi triṣu lokeṣu viśrutā/
Kūrmapurāṇa, I. 37. 1

[20]:

bharato dauḥṣantiryamunāmanu gaṅgāyāṃ/
vṛttaghnebadhanato pañca pañcāśata huyāniti//
Śatapathabrāhmaṇa., XIII. 54. 11

[21]:

seyaṃ subhru puraḥ kalindatanayā gīrvāṇasindhoḥ sakhi vāsaḥkāliyapannagasya yamunā dṛggocaru vartate/
vandasvāryamaṇimimāṃ duhitaraṃ vaivasvatasyānujāṃ yasyāḥsvarṇa parīkṣaṇakṣamaḍrṣattāpi svasā sodarī//
     Bālarāmāyaṇa., X. V. 85

[22]:

yenaiva nihsṛta gaṅgā tenaiva yamunā gatā/
prāṇāṃtyajati yastatra sayāti paramāṃ gatiṃ// Kūrmapurāṇa, I. 37. 2-3

[23]:

Ibid., VI. 73

[24]:

Jani, A. N., A Critical Study of Naiṣadhacarita, page 186, (source: references on Geographical Data, footnote, Śrīkaṇṭhacarita., Bhatt, B. N.)

[25]:

kṛtamālā tāmraparṇī puṣpajā cotpalāvatī malayaprasūtā nadyaḥ sarvāḥ śītalajāḥ śubhāḥ/
Matsyapurāṇa., 113-30

[26]:

Apte, V. S., ‘Student’s Sanskrit-English Dictionary’., page 662

[27]:

diśi mandāyate tejo dakṣiṇasyāṃ raverapi tasyāmeva raghoḥ pāṇḍyāḥ pratāpaṃ na viṣehire/
tāmraparṇīsametasya muktāsāraṃ mahodadheḥ te nipatya dadustasmai yaśaḥ svamiva sañcitaṃ//
Raghuvaṃśa, IV. 49, 50

[28]:

ratanaprasuriti samastataraṅgiṇīṣu vārāṃ nidherbhagavataḥ subhagaṃ kalatraṃ/
asminniranturanitambinī tāmraparṇī cakṣuḥpathaṃ vrajatu mauktikakāmadhenuḥ//
Bālarāmāyaṇa., X. 56

[29]:

vitastayā yatra luṭhattaṭadrumaprasūnasauhārdabhṛto’lisaṃpadaḥ/
puraskriyante haṭhamajjanotsavabhramatsurastrīkabarīsanābhayaḥ//
Śrīkaṇṭhacarita., III. 7

[30]:

‘the great river which is the recipient of the whole drainage of the country is now known to Kāśmīrs by the name of Vyath…An ancient legend related at length in the Nīlamatapurāṇa (Nīlamatapurāṇa), represents the Vitastā, as a manifestation of Śiva’s consort Pārvatī.’

Stein, M. A., Rājataraṅgiṇī, vol. II, page 411-412

[31]:

sa saṃgamo yatra samudrakāntayorvihāravīthī dhruvamindulakṣmaṇaḥ/
nirantarāvartaśatairvyanakti yaḥ khurāgramudrā iva tatkakudmataḥ// Śrīkaṇṭhacarita., III. 20

[32]:

Stein writes that, these two rivers ‘meet at present opposite to the large village of Shāḍipūr, 74 ͦ 34' long. 34 ͦ 11' lat. and about nine miles in a direct line to the North West of Śrīnagara. That this has been the point of junction since at least the fourteenth century, is proved beyond all doubt by the name of the place itself……… we can safely conclude that the confluence of the two rivers was also in Kalhaṇa’s time at the same point where we see at present.’

Stein, M.A., Rājataraṅgiṇī, vol. II, page 329, under note 1. 57

[33]:

payonidhipremabhuvormahāsaridvitastayoryatra cakāsti saṃgamaḥ/
vanaṃ ghanāvartanibhena yojayannavālavālairiva dharmagarmutāṃ// Śrīkaṇṭhacarita., III. 24

[34]:

Ibid., IV. 23, 26, 52; V. 19; IX 8, 47; XI. 38; XVI. 30; XXV. 15

[35]:

Ibid., III. 9

[36]:

Ibid., IX. 37; XI. 38

[37]:

Apte, V.S., ‘Student’s Sanskrit-English Dictionary’., page 435

[38]:

De, Sushil Kumar, Meghadūta, page 37

[39]:

vyanakti yatrodakatarṣukairvṛtaṃ ghanairmahāpadmaphaṇīśvaraḥ saraḥ/
mukundapādāhatidohadonmiṣacchiraḥsarojātithibhṛṅgabhaṅgibhiḥ//
Śrīkaṇṭhacarita., III. 9

[40]:

kāliyanāgasya hi viṣṇucaraṇanyāsena padmotpattau tallāñchanatvānmahāpadma iti prasiddhiḥ/
Ibid., III. 9, page 32