The Three Rivers of Malaya Mountain in Rāmāyaṇa
The rivers — Krishna, Kaveri and Tambraparni, give you southern course of Rama, south of Vindhya via Malaya Mountain and not via Lepakshi or Orissan Mahendragiri.
Lets read some of the Shlokas from Rāmāyaṇa and contemplate on the geography mentioned.
sahasra śirasam viṃdhyam nānā druma latā āyutam |
narmadām ca nadīm ramyām mahoraga niṣevitām || 4–41–8
tato godāvarīm ramyām kṛṣṇāveṇīm mahānadīm |
varadām ca mahābhāgām mahoraga niṣevitām |“Search the thousand crested Vindhya mountains abounding with numerous tress and climbers, then the delightful Narmada river coursing a little southerly to that range, which is adored by great snakes, along with wonderful River Godavari, as well as River Krishnaveni and Maha Nadi, and then the greatly auspicious River Varada which is an adoration to great snakes. And the territories of Mekhala, Utkala, the cities of Dashaarna, kingdoms of Abravanti, Avanti, and Vidarbha, also thus the charming kingdom of Maheehaka, are to be searched thoroughly. [4–41–10]
ayomukhaḥ ca gaṃtavyaḥ parvato dhātu maṇḍitaḥ |
vicitra śikharaḥ śrīmān citra puṣpita kānanaḥ || 4–41–13
sucaṃdana vanoddeśo mārgitavyo mahāgiriḥ |“You shall go to the prosperous Mt. Malaya* which is crowded with iron-ore mines as its vast mouths, and with amazing crests and motley flowered forests. Search shall be carried out on that great mountain in the places that are with the copses of sandalwood trees. [4–41–13, 14a]
(I identify this river Varada as lower tribunary of River Krishna — Bhadra/Tungabhadra, although left to Krishna a river Varada flows through Shimoga, Uttara Kannada and Haveri districts)
After the crossing of tribunary of Krishna the army will be crossing Kaveri
tataḥ tām āpagām divyām prasanna salilāśayān || 4–41–14
tatra drakṣyatha kāverīm vihṛtām apsaro gaṇaiḥ |“From there you shall go and see the divine River Kaaveri there, a receptacle of limpid waters, to where throngs of apsara-s will be making pleasure-trips. [4–41–14b, 15a]
tasya āsīnam nagasya agre malayasya mahojasam || 4–41–15
drakṣyatha āditya saṃkāśam agastyam ṛṣi sattamam |“You shall see the eminent sage Agastya, whose resplendence is akin to that of the Sun, and who will be sitting on the top of that highly resplendent Mt. Malaya. [4–41–15b, 16a]
tataḥ tena abhyanujñātāḥ prasannena mahātmanā || 4–41–16
tāmraparṇīm grāha juṣṭām tariṣyatha mahānadīm |“And when that great-souled Agastya complaisantly permits you, then you shall leave that mountain and cross over the great River Taamraparni, a highly cherished river of crocodiles. [4–41–16b, 17a]
sā candana vanaiḥ citraiḥ pracchannā dvīpa vāriṇī || 4–41–17
kāntā iva yuvatī kāntam samudram avagāhate |“She whose water is overlapped with amazing copses of sandalwood trees and islands that River Taamrapani will be drifting for a rendezvous with her much yearned lover, namely the ocean, as with a young woman who will be coursing to have a rendezvous with her yearned lover. [4–41–17b, 18a]
The flow of the river Tambraparni is being ascertained from its mouth till ocean. The scenario is from Malaya mountain.
And who is this Agastya?
Its Star Agastya. I bring up this discusstion because the army is not suppose to across river Vaigai in this procession towards southern tip to Mahendragiri (so I don’t know how Lepakshi will come into picture which is far eastern in Andhrapradesh).
Tambraparni which originates from Agastyamalai range is also the place of Mahendragiri from where the vānaras are suppose to slide down towards southern shore. There is very much a possibility that Agastyeeshvaram and near by area got submerged which was the earlier Rameshwaram.
It is very much plausible that ethnographic memory of Rama setu shifted with the shift of name Lanka. Not only name Lanka but the bunch of bandit and kings at Ramnad called themselves Setupatis as well. Nalasetu was thus lost to new Ramsetu.
It is very unlikely that any land (Shrilankans, who are obsessed with Rāmāyaṇa places rephrasing), who doesn’t forget Ramsetu, will forget their Mountains like Trikuta mentioned in Lanka in the northern portion.
त्रिकूटशृङ्गाग्रतले विचित्रे |
प्रतिष्ठितो वानरराजसिम्हः |
प्रदीप्तलाङ्गूलकृतार्चिमाली |
व्यराजतादित्य इवांशुमाली || ५-५४-४४Standing there on the “wonderful flat summit” of Mount Trikuta, Hanuma the foremost leader of the monkeys, having a garland of flames formed by his blazing tail, shone like the sun having a garland of rays.
Trikuta also known as सुमनकूट (AS, p.975): सिंहल के प्राचीन इतिहास ग्रंथ महावंश— read here.
If we are bound to read Simhala’s history to find out about Trikuta mountain then definitely we are searching Trikuta in a wrong Island, i.e., Simhala dvipa. Lets see the memory of Simhala dvipa below.
ŚB 5.19.29–30
श्रीशुक उवाच
जम्बूद्वीपस्य च राजन्नुपद्वीपानष्टौ हैक उपदिशन्ति सगरात्मजैरश्वान्वेषण इमां महीं परितो निखनद्भिरुपकल्पितान् ॥ २९ ॥ तद्यथा स्वर्णप्रस्थश्चन्द्रशुक्ल आवर्तनो रमणको मन्दरहरिण: पाञ्चजन्य: सिंहलो लङ्केति ॥ ३० ॥śrī-śuka uvāca
jambūdvīpasya ca rājann upadvīpān aṣṭau haika upadiśanti sagarātmajair aśvānveṣaṇa imāṁ mahīṁ parito nikhanadbhir upakalpitān; tad yathā svarṇaprasthaś candraśukla āvartano ramaṇako mandarahariṇaḥ pāñcajanyaḥ siṁhalo laṅketi.Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: My dear King, in the opinion of some learned scholars, eight smaller islands surround Jambūdvīpa. When the sons of Mahārāja Sagara were searching all over the world for their lost horse, they dug up the earth, and in this way eight adjoining islands came into existence. The names of these islands are Svarṇaprastha, Candraśukla, Āvartana, Ramaṇaka, Mandara-hariṇa, Pāñcajanya, Siṁhala and Laṅkā.
Thus we see that the three rivers that are mentioned to be crossed by vānara party does show the evidence that they were on the western ghat — Agastyamalai range and in no case they would have gone to Lepakshi. As and when the naratives shifted towards Shrilanka as Lanka, new narratives started getting added towards eastern shores.
How? Hanuman flies back to Mahendragiri. Read Sunderkāṇḍa
tataḥ tasya gireḥ śṛnge mahāindrasya mahābalāḥ |
hanumat pramukhāḥ prītim harayo jagmuḥ uttamām || 5–58–1Thereafter, the mighty monkeys, headed by Hanuma and others, experienced a great joy on that summit of Mount Mahendra.
Why Malaya mountain is now called Agastyamalai?
Well, because when Agastya became a pole star it was still visible on this bioshphere. Beyond that, north of Thiruvanathapuram i.e., from Chidambaram — Udagmandalam, Agastya — Canopus was not visible during Rāmāyaṇa times. The good visiblity came from Mahendragiri, which the vānara party hatched, to reach true south (Kurukshetra-ujjain-lanka longitude) — Lanka.
Anyways, we all should read Rāmāyaṇa instead of mocking each other. Hope this solves the two Mahendragiri problem too, i.e., one of Orrissa and another of Southern Malaya range.
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Footnote
*Malaya — These mountains are believed to have formed the southernmost part (southwards starting from the Mangalore region) of the Western Ghats, modern day Kerala, while the Northern part of the same was called the Sahya Mountains. The peaks of these Malaya mountains were said to be higher than those of the Sahya Mounta. Sangam Literature calls these mountains Pothigai.
