Nishadha (Mountain)

Nishadha

Nishadha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Nishadha.

Nishadha is one of the great varsha mountains of Jambūdvīpa, the mountains that divide the dvīpa into its varshas (lands). With the Himavān and the Hemakūṭa it lies south of Meru. The Brahma Purāṇa also names Nishadha among the kesara (filament) mountains of Meru on its southern side and among the maryādā (boundary) mountains, and it is the southern limit of the ranges that stretch “from the Nīla to the Nishadha”.

Among the varsha mountains

The munis ask the teller to describe the form of the earth’s sphere and the arrangement of the bhuvana-kośa (the shape of the world). He tells them of the seven dvīpas and seven oceans, with Jambūdvīpa in their midst and the golden mountain Meru in the middle of Jambūdvīpa, 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 the Nīla, the Śveta and the Śṛṅgī. The two in the middle measure a lakh (100,000) yojanas; the others ninety thousand yojanas. They are two thousand yojanas high and as many wide. South of Meru lie the varshas Bhārata, Kimpurusha and Hari, each nine thousand yojanas wide.

A kesara mountain and a maryādā mountain

Around Meru stand its kesara mountains, like the filaments of the lotus. On the south they are Trikūṭa, Śiśira, Pataṅga, Rucaka, Nishadha and others.

The Mālyavanta and the Gandhamādana stretch from the Nīla mountain to the Nishadha mountain, and Meru stands between them like the pericarp within a lotus flower. The maryādā mountains Jaṭhara and Devakūṭa extend north and south from the Nīla to the Nishadha, and the Gandhamādana and the Kailāsa extend east and west from the Nīla to the Nishadha and enter the ocean. Nishadha and Pāriyātra are two maryādā mountains; both extend from the Nīla to the Nishadha and stand on the western side of Meru. Two by two, the teller says, the maryādā mountains stand on Meru’s four sides as its jaṭhara (womb) parts.

The valleys of the mountains

Within these mountains are lovely valleys, frequented by siddhas and cāraṇas, with cities, forests and the finest temples of Lakshmī, Vishṇu, Agni, Sūrya, Indra and the other devatās. Gandharvas, yakshas, rākshasas, daityas and dānavas play there day and night. These are the bhauma-svargas, the svarga lands on the earth, the dwelling of those firm in dharma; those of pāpa cannot reach them in any number of births.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 18

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 18