Dundubhi (mountain of Plaksha Dvīpa)
Dundubhi, “the kettledrum”
Dundubhi has other meanings too: see all meanings of Dundubhi.
Dundubhi is a mountain of Plaksha-dvīpa, the dvīpa that lies next beyond Jambūdvīpa. It is the fourth of the seven varsha mountains (varsha-parvatas) of that dvīpa, named in the Brahma Purāṇa where Lomaharshaṇa describes to the munis the dvīpas beyond Jambūdvīpa. In these lovely mountains and in the varshas around them, the people live together with devas and gandharvas.
In Plaksha-dvīpa
Plaksha-dvīpa is twice the extent of Jambūdvīpa, which is one lakh yojanas. Its lord is Medhātithi, and his seven sons ruled it: Śāntamaya the eldest, Śiśira, Sukhodaya, Ānanda, Śiva, Kshemaka and Dhruva. By their names there are seven boundary (maryādā) mountains.
“Likewise there are seven more varsha mountains,” Lomaharshaṇa says. “Munis, hear their names”: Gomoda, Candra, Nārada, Dundubhi, Somaka, Sumanas and Vaibhrāja.
The lands there are pure and full of vigour. The people do not die; free of ādhi (pain of the mind) and vyādhi (illness), they are happy at all times. Seven rivers flow there to the sea: Anutaptā, Śikhā, Vipāśā, Tridivā, Kramu, Amṛtā and Sukṛtā. These rivers take away pāpa the moment one hears their names. Besides the chief rivers and mountains, there are small rivers and mountains in thousands. The people always drink from those rivers, yet the rivers neither fall nor rise.
There is no ordering of the yugas there; time always runs as in the Tretā yuga. From Plaksha-dvīpa up to Śāka-dvīpa, people live five thousand years, free of disease. Dharma there is of four kinds, by varṇa and āśrama, and the four varṇas are the Āryakas (brāhmaṇas), Kurus (kshatriyas), Vivilvas (vaiśyas) and Bhāvins (śūdras). In the middle of the dvīpa stands a plaksha tree as great as the jambū tree of Jambūdvīpa, and from it the dvīpa takes its name. There Hari, the maker of the world, the Īśvara of all, is worshipped in the form of Soma by the Āryakas and the other varṇas. Plaksha-dvīpa is surrounded by the Ikshu ocean, the ocean of sugar-cane juice, of the same measure as the dvīpa.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 20
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 20