Vindhya Parvata

Vindhya is the great mountain range of central India. It lies between the northern plains and the Deccan plateau. The Purāṇas treat Vindhya as a living being: a parvata (mountain) with a mind and a will, with pride, and with the power to do tapas and to be devoted.

The Koṭi Rudra Saṃhitā of the Śiva Purāṇa tells how Vindhya worshipped a pārthiva liṅga (a liṅga made of earth) for six months on the bank of the Narmadā. He wanted to rise above Mount Meru after the devarṣi (seer of the devas) Nārada told him of Meru’s high place. His tapas led Bhagavān Śiva to appear as Oṃkāreśvara Jyotirliṅga on the island of Māndhātā in the Narmadā.

The Vindhya mountains

The Vindhya range runs across central India, roughly east to west. It separates the Indo-Gangetic plain in the north from the Deccan plateau in the south. In the ancient Purāṇic map of the land, crossing the Vindhyas was a big step, from northern Āryāvarta to the south.

Vindhya is the mountain who gave his name to the range. In the Purāṇas, mountains are not only features of the land. They are divine beings with awareness and will, able to act, to do tapas, to feel pride and to grow in spirit. (Śiva Purāṇa, Koṭi Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 18)

Nārada’s words and the tapas

Nārada visited Vindhya and spoke of the glory of Meru, the mountain of the devas, the axis of the world and the highest of all mountains. Vindhya felt that his own place was lower. He decided to rise above Meru through tapas.

Vindhya went to the river Narmadā, which flows through the Vindhya range itself. There he did intense pārthiva liṅga worship for six months. Every day he made huge numbers of liṅgas and worshipped them with full devotion. (Śiva Purāṇa, Koṭi Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 18)

Śiva’s answer

Parameśvara Śiva was pleased with Vindhya’s long pārthiva worship and appeared before him. Bhagavān Śiva showed himself in a liṅga, and that liṅga became two. One, Oṃkāreśvara, is for the devas and the world. The other, Parameśvara, is for Vindhya in particular. The place became Oṃkāreśvara Jyotirliṅga on the Narmadā. (Śiva Purāṇa, Koṭi Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 18)

Vindhya and Agastya

Other Purāṇic accounts tell a second story about Vindhya. Vindhya grew so tall that he blocked the path of the sun, the moon and the planets. The ṛṣi Agastya, who crossed the Vindhyas and brought Vedic culture to South India, asked Vindhya to bow down in respect for a senior ṛṣi. Agastya asked him to stay bowed until he came back from the south. Agastya never came back from the south. Vindhya has stayed bowed ever since and no longer blocks the sky.

Sources

• Śiva Purāṇa, Koṭi Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 18