Sugreeva’s atlas: 3

 

                               

                                    India to Arctic

                                

You have heard many words by the name atlas know the geographical the modern post-colonial era maps but we follow a different map here. we want to explain a different map here as you all have seen in the last two blogs that Sugriva travelled all over the planet to run away from vali, and when bhagwaan ram asks him he explains him why he knows whole world how he knows the whole world.

So today we are covering Sugriva’s atlas. We have covered east and west. Today we are going to the north direction.

we have seen Uttar kuru as a reference of north of Kashmir. As Kashmir was still Part of Hastinapur’s kingdom. But north of Kashmir was also part of Hastinapur’s kingdom in Mahabharata but in Ramayana kaal Sugriva travelled there to run away from vali. so Kashmir and north of Kashmir was also a part of kuru kingdom so it should not surprise you that the kuru kingdom was also known as kuru jungalla the jungle or forest was there in Ramayan times also. IT already existed in Ramayan times. Because when bharat is coming from kekeya to Ajodhya as they are crossing they talk of kuru jungalla that we already know. But here not only kuru jungalla you will also hear Uttara kuru today also. And we will se how far away in the north it was. THE BHARAT VARSHA INFLUENCE.

So before starting remember that we are talking of a timeline which is 14,000 years ago

and talking of a specific year. We already looked that one wanara party going in the east direction other in the west and this is how far Sugriva is described in the east unto Andes and in the west up to Alps and today we are going to see the descriptions given by Sugriva 14,000 years ago. Describing the landscape starting with central india all the way to Arctic sea. Now, again just like he said it to the wanara party going in the west direction. he said Asthgiri he calls alps Asthgiri and he says okay don’t go beyond this I don’t know much about it. Its all darkness and in the south direction which we will discuss in the next blog, he does describe Antarctica as a yamapuri. He says that it’s a very extremely hostile place. Total darkness there also he is referring to Yama but he says you don’t go there, because it will be very difficult to come back. So he’s describing the place but he’s not asking wanara to go there same thing you will see today.

It is amazing that Sugriva does knew about the arctic sea but he is not asking the wanara to go all the ways to the arctic sea. And we will see hoe far he asked them to go and why he specifically asked them not to go beyond that point it’s very interesting. Because that has also relevance for the 14,000 years and what was the geographical, climatological situation in the north direction.

           

 

So, this is the direction w are going today. It’s a map of Eurasia, india at the centre.

Now, there is a specific latitude 40 that I am showing. Which is of vast significant to us. First note down its geographical location. It is very significant for us geographically as well as astronomically. As it refers to ancient Indian astronomy as it was such a perfect precise astronomy that that india had. The kind of the direction we are going or the areas that Sugriva is going to describe go along this line or slightly on the both sides of this line. So we will start from central india and go to the arctic sea that’s what Sugriva will describe. Sugriva is not asking wanara actually to go all the way to the arctic sea that’s very important point to remember. One thing I mentioning here is mount Kailash so, people know a relative location of where exactly it is. Because it is mentioned in the north direction and the way he is describing not the path wanara should take but the areas where wanara should go and search.

So first he mentions a mountain describing some landmarks he says him shailya that that is referring to Himalayan mountains. He says the mountain which is full of hima ( ice ) that’s the direction you are going then he refers to some smaller mountains these would be some specific peak. He refers to Sudarshan and devasakha mountain literally I don’t know where these peaks are but assumed in the north of Shavlik ranges according to directional description. As Sugriva describing he says the Himalaya is what you are going to encounter couple of key landmarks he mentions like this could be there to help wanara to find the passes across the Himalayas. So he mentions Sudarshan, devasakha.

And then he mentions some of the kingdom in that area not in a straight line but in the north directionally in the area northern to india because that’s the area he is describing and there he mentions

तत्र म्लेच्छान् पुलिन्दान् च शूरसेनान् तथैव च |

प्रस्थालान् भरतॉन चैव कुरूम् च सह मद्रकैः || || ४-४३-११

कांबोज यवनान् चैव शकॉन् पत्तनानि च |

अन्वीक्ष्य दरदान् चैव हिमवन्तम् विचिन्वथ || ४-४३-१२

Remember he is starting from central india that’s why the sur Sena and all that प्रस्थालान् भरतॉन चैव कुरूम् च सह मद्रकैः   remember he is referring to madra Desh and kuru and we will see which kuru he’s referring to obviously he’s referring to central india kuru. but he’s going to eventually refer to Uttara kuru. Which is right now from the broader region right from the western part of china, from Xinxiang province to Turkmenistan to all that area there. Just south of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan that’s the whole area. there is Uttara madra on the west Uttara kuru on the east in that direction. Then he mentions

 कांबोज यवनान् चैव शकॉन् पत्तनानि च |

अन्वीक्ष्य दरदान् चैव हिमवन्तम् विचिन्वथ ||   

अन्वीक्ष्य दरदान्  you can find these people  in the northern parts of modern day Pakistan. he says they are very brave warriors that they, in spite of the Pakistan is such a problematic place right now they are few who are holding onto their Santana dharma even in our times. But, really coming under pressure with the very jihadi forces there. Then it says  हिमवन्तम् विचिन्वथ so that the mountainous region that’s what you want to look through so look the map.

 

 

This is the specific region I want to show you. As I’m going to take you all the way further and then we’ll describe some individual regions. Now look at the words of the verses

उत्तराः कुरवः तत्र कृत पुण्य प्रतिश्रियाः

ततः कांचन पद्माभिः पद्मिनीभिः कृतोए

नील वैदूर्य पत्राट्या नद्यः तत्र सहस्रशः || ४-४३-३९

रक्तोत्पल वनैः च अत्र मण्डिताः च हिरण्मयैः |

उत्तराः कुरवः तत्र कृत पुण्य प्रतिश्रियाः  and he’s saying that is the region of gold and lotuses and precious gems. Now, if you remember sometimes I will give references of Mahabharata here because sometimes lot more richer descriptions is available in Mahabharata of the exploration of these lands. As after Mahabharat war now, they are going to do a rajsu or Ashvamedha yagna and Arjun goes in the north direction because the treasure is practically empty with the whole war expenses. So, he goes there and brings precious gems, metals and all. So, this is the land of precious stones नील वैदूर्य पत्राट्या नद्यः तत्र सहस्रशः that’s he referring to and beautiful forest and else. That’s the region we are talking. Again, look at where the Kashmir  is where Uttara madra sort of like going northwest Uttara kuru would sort of going north east with respect to Kashmir and of course mount Kailash to the east.

Also in a answer to a particular question by the leader of northern front Sugriva says 

 तुर्कस्यामस्यः यवनस्यः  and says about a Turks in the northern direction which is true today also as the entire central Asian population is of Turkish ethnicity. And they were called yavana because they were barbarians or uncivilized people.

Now back to Kailash parvat he says now as you go further north it says

तम् अतिक्रम्य च आकाशम् सर्वतः शत योजनम्

अपर्वत नदी वृक्षम् सर्व सत्त्व विवर्जितम् || ४-४३-1

तत त शीघम अतिक्रम्य कांतारम रोम हर्षणम।

कैलासम् पाण्डुरम्  प्राप्य ह्ष्टा यूयम् भविष्यथ॥

तम् अतिक्रम्य च आकाशम् सर्वतः शत योजनम् and sata yojana it’s sometime it just comes in the sense of after you go for a long distance you will get this. It is not always to be interpreted but in some cases sata yojana may means exactly sata or 100 yojana, but sometimes it simply means a long distance. So, he’s saying you will go through this area for a long time. Which is अपर्वत नदी वृक्षम् सर्व सत्त्व विवर्जितम् || means there are not many rivers there are not many trees anything it’s like a very bald mountains that you are going to see. This is actually a path going toward mount Kailash. The one bottom one is a picture of mount Kailash

  

but see the land surrounding it

now he says

 तत त शीघम अतिक्रम्य कांतारम रोम हर्षणम।

कैलासम् पाण्डुरम्  प्राप्य ह्ष्टा यूयम् भविष्यथ॥

as you go there as you once then you are going to see कैलासम् पाण्डुरम्  the white Kailash. That’s what he is saying and how beautifully it describes that landscape also now some of the names with the Chinese occupation the names have changed. In the top picture you can see the peak of Kailash here this is from Tibet which now we call Chinese side but it was never a Chinese but now Chinese are claiming it.

Now see the shlokas  

विशाला नलिनी या प्रभूत कमलोत्पला |

हंस कारण्डव आकीर्णा अप्सरो गण सेविता || ४-४3-२२

अवृक्षम् काम शैलम् च मानसम विहग आलयम् |

न गतिः तत्र भूतानाम् न च रक्षसाम् ।।

 विशाला नलिनी या प्रभूत कमलोत्पला |  this is the area of Manas Sarovar or Mansarovar you can see it in next line. So he’s saying the area is beautiful, there are these birds, there are Aapsaras coming to this place but he’s also saying,  अवृक्षम् काम शैलम् च मानसम विहग आलयम्  not many trees in this area ok and that is the land of Manas Sarovar. The  मानसम विहग आलयम्  that’s what he’s saying. न गतिः तत्र भूतानाम् न च रक्षसाम् ||  He says that unless you are in a very purified mind you should not try to approach this place. That’s what he’s saying it’s a very auspicious place it’s a very spiritual place. The Kailash mountain there so you shouldn’t go there with your karmic desire that is what it is saying. Now, he’s describing further landscape, now keep in mind it’s not always describing in a linear fashion but so such a beautiful description further north of Kashmir further north of Kailash mountains.

 हेम पुष्कर संछन्तम तत्र वैखानसम सरः || ४-४३-33

तरुण आदित्य संकाशैः हंसैः विचरितम् शुभैः |

 then he is talking of hem हेम पुष्कर  the mountain covered with snow and all of those. 

Now he says some thing very interesting

तम् तु देशम् अतिक्रम्य शैलोदा नाम निम्नगा |

उभयोः तीरयोः तस्याः कीचका नाम वेणवः || ४-४३-३७

He’s talking of special kind of bamboo plantations the Venava. There’s bamboo plantations. kichaka the name it is given in Ramayana times to that particular variety of bamboo is kichaka. The interesting thing is that when I saw this I surprised that bamboo plantations, so just curiosity. I try to search the bamboo plantations like where they grow. Actually I know they grow in my area but I said ok they grow up that far up north and with the picture that I’m showing you here this map.

 

 This is the world map, now see the middle portion a kind of highlighted here you know all the way across the globe approximately along and both sides of equator. That is a zone of bamboo plantations. that is the area bamboo can grow and which was that surprise to me in the sense I wasn’t sure if the bamboo was going to come up that far up north and if you go there. Actually that’s almost the border of it. If you think the bamboo plantation does grow the map shows that. Ramayana is describing it 14,000 years ago.

Now Sugriva is talking further what else you find there. He says the precious gems are found there

 नीलोत्पल वनैः चिरैः स देशः सर्वतो वृतः || 

निस्तुनाभि च मुक्ताभिः मणिभिः च महाधनैः।

all beautiful blue coloured forest but also gems.

 मुक्ताभिः मणिभिः च महाधनैः  Says that the precious things are found there and we know that this is the area where lapis lazuli ( a precious deep blue colour metamorphic rock ) found. So that’s part of Afghanistan also the north east portion of Afghanistan. Here you find lapis lazuli just like it is found in Chile( south America ). But my point is that these descriptions are so right in terms of geographical location, climatological locations,  the plantations and then the kingdoms which is very very amazing. By how they described the horses and other animals are described.

 स च सर्वः विचेतव्यः स सानु प्रस्थ भूधरः |

क्रौन्चम् गिरिम अतिक्रम्य मैनाको नाम पर्वतः || 

Now see in the second line it says क्रौन्चम् means  Saras or Cranes and I think we all all know about the cranes in north direction! yes, he is describing of Siberian cranes here.

Now he says,

तम् तु देशम् अतिक्रम्य शैलोदा नाम निम्नगा |

उभयोः तीरयोः तस्याः कीचका नाम वेणवः || 

 the bamboo plantations are on  both sides of Shailoda river are these plantations of the bamboo. So the regions are described the way they are described very very fascinating. Then he says,

महाअर्ह मणि पत्रैः च कांचन प्रभ केसरैः ।

he is saying about saffron ( keshar )plants which is grown in the northern regions of Himalayas.

तम् अतिक्रम्य शैलेन्द्रम् उत्तरः पय्साम निधिः |

तत्र सोम गिरिर नाम मध्ये हेममयो महान् ॥ 

Now, he’s describing that how far: further north. He says तम् अतिक्रम्य शैलेन्द्रम् उत्तरः पय्साम निधिः  After you cross this mountain so and so forth. Then you will you will arrive or then there is because he’s not asking wanara to go that far as there is Uttara payasama or Uttara Samudra ( northern ocean) where he says is Somagiri of north and it is covered with snow. That’s what he’s saying.

Now here is something very interesting you must read it

स तु देशो विसूर्यो अपि तस्य भाषा प्रकाशते।

सूर्य लक्ष्म्या अभिविज्ञेयः तपता इव विवस्तता।।

Now Sugriva is describing to his wanara party going in the north direction. He says in that area that you go you see the somagiri and then he says  स तु देशो विसूर्यो अपि तस्य भाषा प्रकाशते  now says as if you’ll go to the land of no Suraya ( sun ) but, he says in spite of that it shines very well.

सूर्य लक्ष्म्या अभिविज्ञेयः तपता इव विवस्तता।। 

now what is that possibly he's referring to ? Now with our modern knowledge it is not such a difficult thing to guess. But, precisely for some reason if somebody doesn’t know about the northern lights the aurora borealis.

 

 Now some of you think that what nonsense is this but that’s exactly what he’s referring to. It is a place removed from sun but it is still bright  तस्य भाषा प्रकाशते  he’s saying.

And now again he says something interesting again a good relevance to this point. He says

न कथंचन गंतव्यम् कुरूणाम् उत्तरेण वः |

अन्येषाम् अपि भूतानाम् न अनुक्रामति वै गतिः || ४-४३-५७ 

 means that i am describing you the land all the way to the arctic sea, somagiri the bright areas even when sun is not there. But, I am not asking you to go that far. He says न कथंचन गंतव्यम्  I’m not asking you to go there all the way to the Uttara beyond Uttara kuru rather he’s saying that Uttara kuru is the limit he says  अन्येषाम् अपि भूतानाम् न अनुक्रामति वै गतिः   says that only special people can go there. Basically it’s not possible for ordinary people. because it is unable to come back from there so come back.

Now, what’s such a big deal because right now people can go atleast in summer they can easily go. But we have to remember that this is the description of 14,000 years ago. So what was happening 14,000 years ago and I am going to show you the geographical lineation of that time.

 But here this glaciers covering the whole Greenland you can see the Canada the huge part of north America whole Europe these all are covering and this is an estimate here but could be more downwards which is shown in this picture.

So the last post he’s saying is Uttara kuru the Xinjiang province which is at the latitude 40. He says don’t go beyond that you will not able to come back it’s not easy to do it. He doesn’t give exactly why? But, now with the research that we know from geology and climatology. We know that ok.

Now this map is showing the point for what Sugriva is asking to not go beyond that’s what is the northern portion of the Xinjiang province of China. But the interesting thing is that if you look at what this refers to you is the region of arctic zone also beyond the temperate zone threshold and if we go beyond this is all ice caps there is nothing to eat neither anything grows there due to harsh climatic condition. That’s why Sugriva may be suggesting to not go beyond this point. As they can die due to starvation.

 

It's very interesting that not only he  just knows purely from a geographical terms but what he is describing perfectly matches with now what we know from other branches of science. What existed 14,000 years ago. So Sugriva is describing all the way to arctic sea but saying that go up to just north of latitude 40 in terms of astronomy which is the projection point of brahma rashi stars of which Sugriva explains. Don’t go beyond that.

so this was the Sugriva's description of the northern direction from india as a center in the next blog we will go in the south direction from india to antarctica or which sugriva describes as yamapuri,