Gandhamādana is a sacred mountain of great beauty, named for its divine fragrance (gandha means fragrance, mādana means intoxicating). In the Purāṇas it is a peak of the Himālaya, between the Himālaya and Meru. The Skanda Mahā Purāṇa also names a second Gandhamādana, in the Setu-kshetra on the southern ocean shore. The Mahābhārata places the Pāṇḍavas here during their exile.

Identity and nature

The Himālayan Gandhamādana is famous for its fragrant forests and its healing plants. Siddhas, vidyādharas and other divine beings live there. The Kedāra Khaṇḍa describes it as covered with kalpavṛkshas (wish-fulfilling trees) and filled with Gandharva women singing in divine voices. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kedāra Khaṇḍa, Chapter 24)

Nārada’s visit

Nārada came to Gandhamādana on his way to Kailāsa. Everything there looked doubled to him. Every tree, every river and every building seemed to appear twice. The Kedāra Khaṇḍa tells that this was a mark of the divine māyā present in Bhagavān Śiva’s domain. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kedāra Khaṇḍa, Chapter 24)

Bhagavān Śiva’s abhisheka at Gandhamādana

The last episode of the Kedāra Khaṇḍa takes place at Gandhamādana. Pārvatī, in her Śabarī disguise, had brought Bhagavān Śiva from his forest of meditation to the court of Himavān, and the two were reconciled after the quarrel over the dice game. Nārada came with a company of ṛshis and gave Bhagavān Śiva gentle advice. All the mountain ranges bowed together to Bhagavān Śiva.

Then Bṛhaspati, the guru of the devas, performed the royal abhisheka (coronation) of Bhagavān Śiva at Gandhamādana, giving him all the honours of the cosmos. Dundubhi drums sounded and the devas rained flowers. Bhagavān Śiva was set again in full sovereignty, and then went back to Kailāsa with Pārvatī. This abhisheka closes the dice-game episode. It is a public affirmation of Bhagavān Śiva’s lordship over all, performed by the guru of the devas themselves. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kedāra Khaṇḍa, Chapter 35)

Gandhamādana in other texts

In the Rāmāyaṇa tradition, Gandhamādana is the mountain linked with the search for the Viśalyakaraṇī herb for Lakshmaṇa. In the Mahābhārata tradition, the āśrama of Nara-Nārāyaṇa is on Gandhamādana. In the Kedāra Khaṇḍa, it lies between the human world of the Himālaya and the divine realm of Kailāsa.

The Gandhamādana of the Setu-kshetra

The Brahma Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, in the Setu Māhātmya, describes a Gandhamādana mountain as part of the Setu-kshetra of Rāmasetu on the southern ocean shore. This is a sacred mountain inside the Setu-kshetra, and it is not the Himālayan Gandhamādana. Seventeen great tīrthas lie along its slopes. They include:

Chakratīrtha
Dharma Pushkariṇī
Brahma Kuṇḍa
Jaṭātīrtha
Rāmatīrtha
Lakshmaṇatīrtha
Lakshmītīrtha
Agnitīrtha

and others. The Setu Māhātmya names this mountain again and again as the place of the Setu-kshetra tīrthas, in the words “gandhamādana parvata yandhu” (on the Gandhamādana mountain).

Brahmā himself chose this mountain for his prāyaścitta (atonement) of 80,000 years, after the Liṅgodbhava episode. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Setu Māhātmya, Chapters 1–22)

Gandhamādana and the Pāṇḍavas’ forest exile

In the Vana Parva of the Mahābhārata (Chapters 143–162), the Himālayan Gandhamādana is the scene of many events of the Pāṇḍavas’ forest exile. The Pāṇḍavas went north with Lomaśa and a company of brāhmaṇas and climbed the slopes of Gandhamādana. During the climb a violent storm scattered the company, and Draupadī fainted. At Bhīma’s call, Ghaṭotkaca carried them through the air. They were welcomed by ṛshis at the Nara-Nārāyaṇa āśrama, which is Badarikāśrama. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 143–145)

Using Gandhamādana as their base, the Pāṇḍavas saw these events:

Draupadī received a divine Saugandika lotus.
Bhīma met Hanūmān in the kadalīkhaṇḍa (the banana grove). He received the teaching of the yuga dharma and a vara (boon) of strength in battle.
Bhīma killed the rākshasa Jaṭāsura, who had come into their camp in disguise.
Bhīma killed the yaksha captain Maṇimanta on the peak. This led to Kubera’s darśana and his blessing on the Pāṇḍavas.
The Pāṇḍavas waited here for Arjuna to return from Indra’s svarga (heaven).

(Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 146–164)

Sources

Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kedāra Khaṇḍa, Chapters 24 and 35
Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Setu Māhātmya, Chapters 1–22
Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 143–162