move in a circle, paying tribute to the «pristine mountain», here is the «ascended Golden Ladle Road», here «the Great Ancestor strengthened the North Star».
According to the Mahabharata, all the great rivers of the earth flow from the Meru Mountains, only one of them flows to the south, to the South Sea, and others – to the north to the Milky.
On the tops of these mountains dense forests rustle, birds sing, different animals live.
There are many «crystal clear lakes» inhabited by «white swans and all sorts of other waterfowl»: gray geese, ducks, geese, gulls, dives and mallards. On the surface of the water bloom blue, gold and red lotuses, lilies and water lilies.
Northern lotuses, lilies and water lilies
From the rocky cliffs «numerous keys and streams are swiftly overthrown. Ores of various metals adorn the great mountain, in some places black as antimony, in some places golden, yellowish, cinnabar red. Moreover, it is repeatedly emphasized that the slopes of the mountains seem striped: «as if rubbing, spread with a finger, veins of ores – gold, red, white – were visible».
Sukhona
Dvina
As a characteristic feature of Meru forests and meadows, the Mahabharata singers also note an abundance of bees, «intoxicated with honey» and flowers, «golden, blood-red, or like the flame of a forest fire.»
Meadows of the North
Northern Dawn
Of exceptional interest is that part of the text of Mahabharata, which tells that the hero Arjuna went to the «Northern Mountains», where he saw the Supreme deity – Trekoy Haru. And at that time «all sides of the sky lit up with colors.»
According to B.L. Smirnov: «The picture described here is very similar to the picture of a total solar eclipse or a picture of the twilight of the far north.
In addition, he notes that the sage Narada, describing the region where the sacred northern mountains of the Aryans are located, i.e. Patalu and «Colorful World (Suvarna)» says that here the Sun rises in half a year and illuminates this world. Such a remark can only apply to a polar country; it can only be made by someone who knows these countries. In the course of the description, it is mentioned that in the world of Suvarn the flowing waters take «beautiful forms».
The very name of Suvarn brings to mind the richest multicolored northern dawns.
To say that water, falling, takes beautiful forms, it is possible only about frozen water».
And, finally, it is on the spurs of Meru, located near the Milk Sea, that the epic places the monastery of the righteous and divine sages – Rishis, creators of the Veda hymns, the location of the great gods: Kubera (Couver) – the god of wealth, Ganges – whose source is on these mountains, and Rudra-Hara himself, called «wearing light braids», «flax-haired» and «reed-haired», «fair-bearded» and «light-bearded of all creatures the Ancestor», «the blue-haired Great Man, the first-born», «lotus-blue-yed Lord».
Pomor
The sacred mountains that separate the north and the White Sea from all other lands, called Meru ridges in the ancient Indian tradition, in the Avesta are the Khara Mountains with their main peak – Mount Hukayrya. And just as in the Indian descriptions over Meru, over High Hara sparkle seven stars of the Big Dipper and the Polar Star, placed in the center of the universe. From here, from the golden peaks of the High Hara, all earthly rivers begin, and the greatest of them – the clean river Ardvi, flowing into the sea of Vourukash or Vorukash, which means «having convenient bays.» On the top of the world’s mountain, Azest is the abode of the gods of Haronman, and here begins the «eternal unlimited land of light.»
The light of «royal Hvarno» shines over the sea of Vourukash, «involved in the present and future Aryan countries.»
Ancient Greek authors also wrote about the great northern mountains, who believed that these mountains, which they called the Riphean Mountains, occupied the entire north of Europe and were the northern border of Great Scythia. So they were depicted on one of the first maps of the earth – a map of the 6th century BC
Hecatea of Miletus. Herodotus wrote about the distant Northern Mountains stretching from west to east.
Doubting the incredible, fantastic size of the Riphean Mountains, Aristotle nevertheless believed in their existence, he was convinced that the earth rises to the north, since the sun is lower there than in the south, and all the largest rivers of Europe flow down from these mountains, except the Istra Danube. This belief was reinforced by the very logical conclusion that rivers always flow down from the mountains and never flow up into the mountains.
Behind the Riphean Mountains, in the north of Europe, the ancient Greek and Roman geographers placed the Great North or Scythian Ocean.
For a long time, the question of where these mountains are located has not been resolved. E.A. Grantovsky and G.M. Bongard-Levin summarizing and analyzing the materials of the Avesta, Rigveda, Mahabharata, messages of Herodotus, Pomponius Mela, Pliny, Ptolemy, medieval Arab travelers Ibn Fadlan, Ibn Battuta and others, came to the conclusion that the geographical characteristics repeated in all sources without exception are real and make it possible to associate the Riphean mountains, the Haru and Meru specifically with the Ural mountains, since only the Urals, according to the named researchers, corresponds to almost all those specific features, which were considered necessary attributes of the sacred northern mountains: high altitude, natural wealth, proximity to the northern seas, etc.
Here we should single out the following groups of information concerning the Riphean Mountains, Hara and Meru, identical among medieval Arab travelers, among ancient authors, in the Scythian, Old Indian and ancient Iranian mythical traditions, to which G. M. Bongard-Levin and E. A. Grantovsky pay attention:
1. The Riphean Mountains, Hara and Meru stretch from west to east, separating the north from the south.
2. In the north, beyond the Riphean mountains, Hara and Meru is the Arctic, or the Kronian, or the Dead, or the Milky Ocean, or the vast sea of Vourukash, where the rivers flowing from these mountains to the north flow into.
3. The Riphean Mountains, Hara and Meru are a watershed, as they divide the rivers into currents to the south and currents to the north.
4. From the top of the Hara, Meru and Riphean mountains originate: a) the Ganges, b) the sacred Raha, c) the river Rusiya, d) all the great rivers of Scythia, except for Istr-Danube.
5. In these northern regions you can always see high above the head the Polar Star and the constellation Ursa Major.
6. Here half a day lasts half a day and night; in winter a cold northeast wind blows, bringing a lot of snow.
7. Mountains covered with forests abound with