Dantaloka

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

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Dantaloka (दंतालोक) is the name of a mountain mentioned by Xuanzang and identified with Urasha or Hazara region in the North-Eastern part of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

Variants

• Dantaloka (दंतालोक) (AS, p.422)
• Dantalok (दंतालोक) (AS, p.422)
• Montes Daedali (of Justin)

Visited by Xuanzang in 630 AD

Alexander Cunningham writes about Varusha or Palodheri: Hwen Thsang next visited a town called Po-lu-sha, which, I think, may be identified with Palo-dheri, or

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[p.52]: the village of Pali, which is situated on a dheri, or "mound of ruins," the remains of some early town. To the north-east of the town, at 20 li, or 3⅓ miles, rose the hill of Dantaloka, with a cave, in which Prince Sudāna and his wife had taken refuge. The position of Palodheri, which is the Valley of General Court, agrees with Hwen Thsang's distance of about 40 miles from Pushkalavati ; and this identification is supported by the existence of the great cave of Kashmiri-Ghar, in the hill to the east-north-east, and within 3 or 4 miles of Palodheri. Mount Dantalok I take to be the Montes Daedali of Justin, as in the spoken dialects the nasal of the word danta is assimilated with the following letter, which thus becomes doubled, as in the well-known datton, a " tooth-brush," or twig used for cleaning the teeth.

दंतालोक

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर ने लेख किया है ...दंतालोक (AS, p.422) बेस्सन्तर-जातक की कथा में उल्लिखित एक पर्वत का नाम है। इसी पर्वत पर वैश्वन्तर ने अपने बच्चों को एक निर्दयी ब्राह्मण को दान में दे दिया था। युवानच्वांग के अनुसार इस कथा की घटना स्थली 'उरशा' (ज़िला हज़ारा, पाकिस्तान) में थी। दंतालोक इस प्रकार पश्चिमी कश्मीर का कोई पर्वत हो सकता है।