Mānasottara
Mānasottara · mānasa-uttara
Mānasottara is the great mountain of Pushkara-dvīpa, the last and outermost of the seven dvīpas of the earth. It is the only varsha mountain (varsha-parvata) of that dvīpa. It stands in the middle of the dvīpa in the shape of a ring, fifty thousand yojanas high and as many wide, and divides Pushkara-dvīpa into two ring-shaped varshas. The Brahma Purāṇa tells of it where Lomaharshaṇa describes to the munis the dvīpas beyond Jambūdvīpa.
The ring mountain
Pushkara-dvīpa surrounds the ocean of milk and is twice the measure of Śāka-dvīpa. In it are the two sons of Savana, Mahāvīta and Dhātaki, and there are two varshas named after them.
There is only one varsha mountain here, Mānasottara. It stands in the middle of the dvīpa like a ring, fifty thousand yojanas high and as many wide. It seems to divide the round of Pushkara-dvīpa in two at the middle, and because of it the dvīpa is divided into two varshas. Both varshas are ring-shaped, and the great mountain stands between them. The Mahāvīta khaṇḍa lies outside Mānasottara, and the Dhātakī khaṇḍa lies inside it.
The two varshas around it
The people of Pushkara-dvīpa live ten thousand years. They are free of rāga (attachment), dvesha (hatred) and śoka (grief), and they are healthy. Among them there is no low and high, no killer and no one killed. They do not know envy or jealousy, and fear, anger, fault and greed are absent. Devas and daityas live there.
In these two varshas there is no trade, no rivers, no other mountains and no islands. All the people wear one dress and have a form like the devas. There is no distinction there of varṇa, āśrama, ācāra and dharma; the three Vedas, vārtā (farming and trade), daṇḍanīti (polity) and service do not exist there at all. The two varshas are svarga on earth, and time there, without old age or disease, gives every happiness. All the dwellers of Pushkara-dvīpa eat at all times food of six tastes that comes of itself.
In these two khaṇḍas the great nyagrodha (banyan) tree is the abode of Brahmā, and Brahmā is worshipped there by the suras and asuras. Pushkara-dvīpa is surrounded by the ocean of sweet water, whose measure equals the dvīpa.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 20
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 20