Where is Meru, the seat of Creation?

Brahma undertook creation at Mount Meru which could be located at Pushkar. The Vayu Purana and Bhagwat Purana say that four rivers emerge from Mount Meru. We find such a situation at Pushkar. We also get supporting evidence from archaeology, similarity of names and living traditions.

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| 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.”

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:
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| 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).
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| Yarlung| Brahmaputra| Dai| Banas| Chambal| Yamuna| Ganga:
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.
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.

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| 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|
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:
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:
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:
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.
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i
Mahabharata, Shalya Parva, Gita Press, Gorakhpur, Samvat 2067, 38:13-14.
ii
Bhagwata 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…).