Nīhāra

Nīhāra

Nīhāra is a country of Bhārata-varsha, named among the countries that rest on the mountains. The Brahma Purāṇa names it in its account of the lands and peoples of Bhārata, which Brahmā (Padmaja, the lotus-born) gives to Bhṛgu and the munis.

Among the countries resting on the mountains

Brahmā tells the munis that Bhārata-varsha is the karma-bhūmi, the land where karma bears fruit; even the devas and asuras long to live there and yearn, “When shall we see holy Bhārata?” When the munis ask for the whole account of that holy land, he speaks of its nine parts and then names its countries, region by region: the middle region, the countries of the kshatriya, vaiśya and śūdra jātis, the countries of the Kirāta jātis, the north, the east, the south, the western Aparānta, the Vindhya region and the countries resting on the mountains.

Last he names the countries that rest on the mountains. In the order the Purāṇa gives them, they are Nīhāra, Tushamārga, Kuru, Tuṅgaṇa, Svasa, Karṇa, Prāvaraṇa, Ūrṇa, Dargha, Kuntaka, Citramārga, Mālavā, Kirāta and Tomara. Nīhāra stands first in the list, before Tushamārga. Then Brahmā closes with the glory of Bhārata-varsha, where the dharma of the four yugas runs its course and every good deed bears fruit.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 27

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 27