Mount Meru of Lord Brahma be located at Pushkar?

1. Where is Meru, the seat of Creation? The Hindu texts say that Brahma’s seat is located at Mount Meru.i The conventional location of Meru is near the Mansarovar Lake in Tibet. In this post we propose instead that the ancient Meru was located at Pushkar in Rajasthan. Tibet| Pushkar| Tibet| Pushkar| Mountain| Mean Sea Level| Ajmer| Valley Mountain| Mean Sea Level| Ajmer| Valley| Kailas Mount Meru is often identified with Mount Kailas in Tibet. It is indeed tall and majestic as described in the texts and shown at Picture 1. In comparison Pushkar is a small mountain. The elevation of Pushkar is 530 meters above Mean Sea Level, while that of Ajmer, the city to its south, is at 475 meters. Pushkar is located barely 55 meters higher than Ajmer and scarcely qualifies as a “mountain.” | Kailas: : However, the city is located in a valley surrounded by higher mountains. One accesses Pushkar from Ajmer through a pass as shown in Picture 2. Perhaps the texts refer to Pushkar as a “Mount” in reference to the mountains that surround it.

2. Four Rivers| Sita| Alaknanda| Sarvanadi Four Rivers| Sita| Alaknanda| Sarvanadi: : A distinguishing feature of Mount Meru is that four rivers flow from it. This is description is found in in detail in the Vayu Purana Chapters 42-43 hence we have relied on this Purana in this post. We understand these descriptions are consistent with those in other texts. The Vayu Purana does not give the name of the river emerging from the north. However, it says that Sita emerges from the east, Alaknanda to the south and Sarvanadi to the west (42:1-24). We find that 4 rivers indeed emerge from Tibet: Indus to the north, Yarlung or Brahmaputra to the east, Ganga to the south and Sutlej to the west as shown in Pic 3.

3. Similarly we find that four rivers emerge from the foothills of the Pushkar Mountains: Nahar to the north, Dai to the east, Sagarmati to the south and Saraswati to the west. We give a line drawing of these four rivers traced from Survey of India map I Picture 4. Thus both the proposed locations match with this description of Mount Meru. North| Uttar Kuru| Nort North| Uttar Kuru| Northern Sea Now we consider other details of the four rivers given in the Vayu Purana. The Purana says that the river emerging from the north of Meru waters the land of Uttar Kuru and falls into the Northern Sea (42:41-81). hern Sea: : The Indus River emerges from the north of Tibet. However, is does not fall into a Northern Sea. On the contrary, it falls into the southern or the Arabian Sea. Also there is no land of Uttar Kuru known north of Tibet. The Nahar River at Pushkar, on the other hand, flows to the north and falls into the Sambhar Salt Lake which could be the Northern Sea mentioned in the Purana. The Nahar does not flow to the Land of Kuru or Kurukshetra but flows in that direction. Perhaps the writ of the Kuru Dynasty ran until the Sambhar Salt Lake hence the Purana says the northern river waters the Land of Uttar Kuru.

4. East East| Yarlung| | Yarlung| Brahmaputra The Vayu Purana says that the river emerging to the east is known as Sita River. It falls into the eastern sea (42:1-24). The Yarlung River emerges to the east of Tibet and falls into the Bay of Bengal through the Brahmaputra. The Dai River emerges to the east of Pushkar and falls into the same Bay of Bengal through the Banas, Chambal, Yamuna and Ganga Rivers. Both the locations match with the description of this river. Brahmaputra| Dai| Banas| Chambal| Yamuna| Ganga | Dai| Banas| Chambal| Yamuna| Ganga: : South| West| Alaknanda| Sarvanadi| South| West| Alaknanda| Sarvanadi| Gandhamadan: It is told that the Alaknanda and Sarvanadi Rivers emerge from the south and west of Meru and both flow to the Gandhamadan Mountains (42:35-35; 41- 81). In Tibet, the Ganga emerges from the South and the Sutlej from the West. However, they flow towards the east and west. They do not flow near a same mountain which could be the Gandhamadan. In Pushkar, the Sagarmati emerges from the South and the Saraswati from the West. They both join together at Govindgarh and together flow near the Aravalli Mountains which could be the ancient Gandhamadan as shown in Picture 5. Thus the flow of both rivers near a particular mountain matches with Pushkar and not with Tibet. Gandhamadan:

5. The Vayu Purana then says that the Alaknanda falls into the Southern Sea (42:25-35) and the Sarvanadi falls into the Western Sea (42:41-81). The Ganga emerging to the south of Tibet falls into the Bay of Bengal. Both the Brahmaputra and the Ganga fall into the Bay of Bengal. This sea could be mentioned as Eastern Sea in reference to the Sita and as Southern Sea in reference to the Ganga. The Sutlej falls into the Arabian Sea which could be mentioned as the Western Sea. The geography of Tibet matches with the description of the three seas in the Purana. At Pushkar, the Rann of Kutch could be mentioned as Southern Sea in reference to Sagarmati and as Western Sea in reference to Saraswati. Thus the description of the southern and western seas in the Vayu Purana matches both Tibet and Pushkar. Fruits| Trees Fruits| Trees| Mango| Jambu| Kadamba| Banyan | Mango| Jambu| Kadamba| Banyan: : The Bhagwata Purana says that mango, jambu, kadamba and banyan trees grow at Meru.ii The climate of Tibet is not suitable for these trees; while the climate of Pushkar is suitable. Archaeology| Bridget and Raymond Allchin| Rise of Civilization| 3500 BCE| Bronze Age| Archaeology| Bridget and Raymond Allchin| Rise of Civilization| 3500 BCE| Bronze Age| Budha Pushkar Budha Pushkar: : Brahma undertook creation at Mount Meru. The Rig Veda was composed around 3500 BCE and creation took place before this time. Thus we should find archaeological evidence of habitation at the proposed location of Meru at c. 4000 BCE. The archaeological evidence for settled habitation in Tibet is available only after 500 BCE hence it does not fulfil the requirement.iii Evidence of habitation is available continuously from the last 200,000 years from the area around Budha Pushkar Lake. Bridget and Raymond Allchin, authors of The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan, say: “Around the… Budha Pushkar there is concentration of sites with (small stone tool) industries… these are primarily living or camping sites… the importance of this unique place may extend back without a break to prehistoric times.iv This establishes that people lived in the area from prehistoric times to the Bronze Age which began at c. 3500 BCE, and includes the time of Adam at c. 4000 BCE. Names| Ajay Meru| Ajmer| Ajapal Names| Ajay Meru| Ajmer| Ajapal: : Evidence for the use of the name Meru for the mountain in Tibet is not available from the ancient texts. The same is available from Pushkar. A legend says that “Ajay Meru,” the original name of the city of Ajmer, was derived from “a goat-herd of Pushkar, who was called Ajapal…”v This legend connects Meru

6. with Pushkar as follows: Meru –> Ajay Meru –> Ajmer –> Ajapal –> goat-herd of Pushkar –> Pushkar. The legend says that Ajapal lived before the time of Mahabharata dated to c. 1500 BCE. Hence the association of the name “Meru” with Pushkar is ancient.vi Brahma Temple| Living Tradition: Brahma Temple| Living Tradition: There is no living tradition of Brahma at Tibet. In comparison, the main temple of Brahma is located at Pushkar as shown in picture 6 below. Geography| Archaeology| Names| Living Traditions Geography| Archaeology| Names| Living Traditions: : We have made a comparative assessment of the fit of Tibet and Pushkar with the descriptions of Meru given in the Vayu Purana in the Table below. We have given items that match in green colour, that match partially in yellow colour and those that do not match in red colour.

7. If we give 2, 1 and 0 points to green, yellow and red colours respectively, we arrive at a score that tells of the overall fit. We can see that Tibet gets only 4/16 points while Pushkar gets 15/16 points. On these considerations we suggest that Pushkar was the ancient Mount Meru. For more information on the theory of Common Prophets, Please like my FB Page One God One Religion, Subscribe my English channel One God One Religion, subscribe my Hindi Channel एक ईश्वर एक ईश्वर, and you may like to buy my book here. iMahabharata, Shalya Parva, Gita Press, Gorakhpur, Samvat 2067, 38:13-14. iiBhagwata Purana 5:16:12. iii Tibet was inhabited from 30,000 years before present. The earliest kingdom, however, flourished only from about 500 BCE to 625 CE (Popular Archaeology, Archaeologist explores the first civilization of ancient Tibet, Mon, Aug 10, 2015, http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/june-2013/article/archaeologist-explores-the-first- civilization-of-ancient-tibet, Retrieved March 31, 2016). I have not seen any report of an earlier civilization in Tibet.

8. iv Allchin, Bridget & Raymond, The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan, Selectbook Service Syndicate, Madras, 1983, Page 68. Allchin uses the term “microlithic” for the “small stone tools” mentioned in the quote. v The name Ajmer of the town near Pushkar was originally “Ajaymeru” meaning “the Meru made by Ajayraja,” or Ajayapala dated to 145 CE. However, another legend tells of Ajaymeru deriving its name from “a goat-herd of Pushkar, who was called Ajapal…” According to this bardic story Ajapal lived before the days of Mahabharata (Buhler, G, The Origin of the town of Ajmer and of its name, Wiener Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes, Vol 11 (1987), Department of Oriental Studies, University of Vienna, http://www.jstor.org/stable.23860911, Retrieved June 18, 2017). vi More recently, Ajmer is said to be founded by King Aja dated to CE 145 (Rajputana Gazetteer, Vol II, page 14, quoted in Buhler, The Origin…).