Ṛksha (Mountain)
Ṛksha, “the bear”
Ṛksha, also called Ṛkshavanta, is a mountain of Bhārata-varsha, one of its seven kula-parvatas (chief mountain ranges). The Brahma Purāṇa tells that the Tāpī, the Payoshṇī, the Nirvindhyā and the Kāverī rise at its foot. King Jyāmagha conquered the Ṛkshavanta mountain as he wandered along the Narmadā, and Śrī Kṛshṇa searched it again and again when he went in search of the Syamantaka gem.
Among the kula-parvatas of Bhārata
The teller describes Jambūdvīpa to the munis. North of the ocean and south of the Himālaya lies Bhārata-varsha, nine thousand yojanas wide, the karma-bhūmi (land of action), from which alone beings attain svarga and moksha. In it are the seven kula-parvatas: Mahendra, Malaya, Sahya, Śuktimant, Ṛksha, Vindhya and Pāriyātra.
Each mountain gives birth to rivers. From the outlying hills of the Himavān flow the Śatadru and the Candrabhāgā; the Narmadā and the Surasā go forth from the Vindhya; and the Tāpī, the Payoshṇī, the Nirvindhyā, the Kāverī and others are born at the foot of the Ṛksha mountain. The Godāvarī, Bhīmarathī and Kṛshṇaveṇī rise at the foot of the Sahya, the Kṛtamālā and Tāmraparṇī from the Malaya, and others from the Mahendra and the Śuktimat. Their tributaries are in thousands, and all the peoples of Bhārata drink their waters.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 19
Jyāmagha conquers the Ṛkshavanta
King Jyāmagha, sent away by Rukmeshu and Pṛthurukma, lived for a time in an āśrama. Well instructed by brāhmaṇas, he set out alone with his bow, his banner and a chariot for another land. Wandering alone on the bank of the Narmadā, he conquered Mekala, Mṛttikāvatī and the mountain Ṛkshavanta, and lived in the city of Śuktimatī. There his wife Śaibyā, a pativratā, in her old age bore him a son, Vidarbha.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 15
Śrī Kṛshṇa’s search for the Syamantaka
When Prasena went hunting wearing the Syamantaka gem, a lion killed him, and the king of bears killed the lion and carried the gem into his cave. The Vṛshṇi-Andhakas suspected Śrī Kṛshṇa, and he vowed to bring back the gem and clear himself of the false charge. He learned from trusted people where Prasena had hunted, found his footprints and followed them. He searched the mountain Ṛkshavanta and the Vindhya, again and again, until at last he found Prasena fallen with his horse, and near him the lion slain by a bear. Following the bear’s tracks he came to the cave of Jāmbavant, fought him hand to hand for twenty-one days, received his daughter Jāmbavatī and brought the gem back to the assembly of the Sātvatas.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 16
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 15–16, 19