Maināka Parvata

Maināka is a divine mountain known in the Purāṇas and the itihāsa. He is the son of Himavān (the Himālaya) and the brother of Pārvatī. The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa knows him best from the Sundara Kāṇḍa, where he rose out of the ocean to give Hanumān a place to rest during his great leap to Laṅkā. The Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, also names him among the great mountains of the sacred northern lands that the Pāṇḍavas passed on their tīrtha-yātrā (pilgrimage).

The mountain with wings

Maināka was one of the mountains that once had wings and could fly. Indra cut off the wings of all the mountains with his vajra, to protect the earth from the harm their flying caused. Maināka alone was saved. His father Himavān hid him in the ocean.

Later he rose from the ocean to give rest to Hanumān on the leap to Laṅkā. This was Maināka’s own part of service in the Rāmāyaṇa.

In the Mahābhārata

In the passages on tīrtha-yātrā in the Vana Parva, Maināka appears as part of the sacred geography of the northern Himālaya.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva
• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Sundara Kāṇḍa