Nīla Parvata
Nīla Parvata, “the blue mountain”
Nīla has other meanings too: see all meanings of Nīla.
Nīla is one of the great mountains of Jambūdvīpa, north of Meru. The Bhavishya Purāṇa counts it among the six varsha-parvatas and among the seven kula-parvatas, and gives it, with Nishadha, the greatest extent of the mountains around Meru: one lakh yojanas. The Brahma Purāṇa also names it among the three varsha mountains north of Meru, and makes it the northern end of the great ranges that stretch from Nīla to Nishadha, with Meru between them like the pericarp of a lotus.
The varsha-parvatas
Sumantu Muni tells King Śatānīka in the Brahma Parva that the six varsha-parvatas are Himavat, Hemakūṭa, Nishadha, Nīla, Śveta and Śṛṅgavat, with the great silver mountain Mahārajata in their middle, and above them the cities of the devas.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 126
North of Meru
Sūta tells the munis in the Madhyama Parva that in the middle of Jambūdvīpa stands Mahāmeru, of the lustre of gold, eighty-four thousand yojanas high. South of Meru are the mountains Himavān, Himakūṭa and Nishadha; north of it are the varsha mountains Nīla, Śveta and Śṛṅgī. The two in the middle, Nishadha and Nīla, are of one lakh yojanas; the next are ten thousand yojanas less each, so that Hemakūṭa and Śveta extend ninety thousand yojanas, and Himavān and Śṛṅgī eighty thousand. All of them are printed as two thousand yojanas long and as much wide.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 1, Chapter 4
The kula-parvatas
Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Yudhishṭhira in the Uttara Parva that the seven kula-parvatas of Jambūdvīpa are Himavān, Hemakūṭa, Nishadha, Meru, Nīla, Śveta and Śṛṅgavān. Jambūdvīpa measures one lakh yojanas and has nine varshas.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 2
Per Brahma Purāṇa
The teller describes the bhuvana-kośa, the arrangement of the earth, to the munis. In the middle of Jambūdvīpa stands the golden mountain Meru, like the pericarp in the middle of the lotus that is the earth. South of Meru are the varsha mountains Himavān, Hemakūṭa and Nishadha; north of it are Nīla, Śveta and Śṛṅgī. The two in the middle measure a lakh of yojanas, and the others ninety thousand yojanas. They are two thousand yojanas high and as many wide. North of Meru lies the varsha Ramyaka, made of gold, and the Uttara Kuru lands are there.
Nīla is the northern end of the great ranges around Meru. Mālyavanta and Gandhamādana stretch from the Nīla mountain to the Nishadha mountain, and Meru stands in the middle between them like the pericarp within a lotus flower. The two maryādā (boundary) mountains Jaṭhara and Devakūṭa extend north and south from Nīla to Nishadha. Gandhamādana and Kailāsa extend from Nīla to Nishadha, eighty yojanas long, and enter the ocean. Nishadha and Pāriyātra, two more maryādā mountains, also extend from Nīla to Nishadha, on the western side of Meru. Two by two, the maryādā mountains stand on Meru’s four sides. The valleys within these mountains are the bhauma-svargas, svarga lands on the earth, with cities, forests and the temples of Lakshmī, Vishṇu, Agni, Sūrya, Indra and the other devatās, the dwelling of those firm in dharma.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 18
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 126; Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 1, Chapter 4; Uttara Parva, Chapter 2
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 18