Hemakuta

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

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Hemakuta (हेमकूट) is a mountain mentioned in Mahabharata (2-29-7) situated near Manasarovara. Some historians have called it variant of Kailasa.

Variants

• Hemakuta Parvata हेमकूट (AS, p.1027)

History

1. Kailasa (कैलाश) (No. 17, L. 6 : L. 13): Tej Ram Sharma mentions ....In L. 6 of the inscription the poet while giving an account of the city of Dasapura describes its buildings as lofty like the mountain Kailasa itself. ⁷⁷ L. 13 describes the mountain Kailasa as one of the breasts of the earth (the other being Sumeru) which was being reigned over by the Gupta king Kumaragupta. ⁷⁸

Kailasa mountain is situated about 25 miles to the north of Mana-sarovara beyond Gangri and to the east of the Niti Pass. ⁷⁹ The Mahabharata ⁸⁰ includes the Kumaun and Garhwal mountains in the Kailasa range. The mountain also known as Hemakuta, Samkaragiri and is to be identified with the Astapada mountain of the Jainas. ⁸¹ It surpasses in beauty the big Gurla or any other of the Indian Himalaya. ⁸² Traditionally it is supposed to be the habitat of Siva and Parvati. ⁸³

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77. No. 17 L.6 : कैलाश-तुङ्ग-शिखर-प्रतिमान चान्यान्याभान्ति दीर्घवलभीनि सवेदिकानि ।

78. Ibid.,L. 13: चतुस्समुद्रान्तविलोलमेखलां, सुमेरुकैलाशबृहतपयोधराम् । वनान्तवान्तसफ़ुटपुष्पहासिनीं, कुमारगुप्ते पृथिवीं प्रशासति ।।

79. Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta . 1838, p. 314.

80. Vanaparva, Ch. 144. 156.

81. Historical Geography of Ancient India by B. C. Law, p. 88 : Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval India by N. L. Dey. p. 83.

82. Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval India by N. L. Dey. p. 82 : Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta. 1848, p. 158.

83. Historical Geography of Ancient India by B. C. Law. p. 88. The Kalikapurana (Vangabasi edn.)Ch. 14.31

In Mahabharata

Hemakuta हेमकूट in Mahabharata (2-29-7)

Sabha Parva, Mahabharata/Book II Chapter 25 mentions the countries Arjuna subjugated in the North, which include Harivarsha country. He crossed Hemakuta Parvata located in south of Harivarsha to arrive there. Hemakuta हेमकूट is mentioned Dakshnatyapatha of Mahabharata (2-29-7).

Various definitions

Source: Wisdom Library: Vāstu-śāstra

Hemakūṭa (हेमकूट) refers to a type of temple (prāsāda) classified under the group named Sāndhāra, according to Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra chapter 56. The Sāndhāra group contains twenty-five out of a sixty-four total prāsādas (temples) classified under four groups in this chapter. The Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra is an 11th-century encyclopedia dealing with various topics from the Vāstuśāstra.

Hemakūṭa is mentioned in another list of 40 temples, in the Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra, chapter 57, where it is mentioned as one of the nine temples being a favorite of Bhagavatī.

Source: Wisdom Library: Varāha-purāṇa

Hemakūṭa (हेमकूट).—One of the seven mountains located in Jambūdvīpa, according to the Varāhapurāṇa chapter 75. Jambūdvīpa is ruled over by Āgnīdhra, one of the ten sons of Priyavrata was a son of Svāyambhuva Manu, who was created by Brahmā, who was in turn created by Nārāyaṇa, the unknowable all-pervasive primordial being.

Source: archive.org: Puranic Encyclopedia

1) Hemakūṭa (हेमकूट).—A mountain in the North. Arjuna once went to Harivarṣa after stationing his army here. (Sabhā Parva, Chapter 28).

2) Hemakūṭa (हेमकूट).—A mountain on the banks of the river Nandā, known also as Ṛṣabhakūṭa. Once Yudhiṣṭhira went to this mountain and enjoyed the many beautiful scenes there. (See Ṛṣabha II).

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: The Purana Index

1a) Hemakūṭa (हेमकूट).—Mt. to the south of Ilāvrata, and a boundary hill of Kimpuruṣa. From it falls Alakanandā;1 a varṣaparvata; residence of Gandharvas and Apsaras;2 a hill of the south where is the Puṇḍra city;3 a division of Jambūdvīpa.4

1b) A tīrtha sacred to Manmatha.*

Source: Wisdom Library: Śaivism

1) Hemakūṭa (हेमकूट) is a Sanskrit word referring to one of the sixty-eight places hosting a svāyambhuvaliṅga, one of the most sacred of liṅgas according to the Śaivāgamas. The presiding deity residing over the liṅga in this place (Hemakūṭa) is named Virūpākṣa. The list of sixty-eight svāyambhuvaliṅgas is found in the commentary of the Jirṇoddhāra-daśaka by Nigamajñānadeva. The word liṅga refers to a symbol used in the worship of Śiva and is used thoughout Śaiva literature, such as the sacred Āgamas.

2) Hemakūṭa (हेमकूट) is the name of a mountain-range situated to the south of Kimpuruṣa, according to the Parākhyatantra 5.76. Kimpuruṣa is a region (navakhaṇḍa) situated within Jambūdvīpa: one of the seven continents situated within the world of the earth (pṛthivī). These continents are located above the seven pātālas and may contain even more sub-continents within them, are round in shape, and are encircled within seven concentric oceans.

According to the Parākhyatantra, “and to the south of that is the mountain Hemakūṭa, where a great heap (mahākūṭa) of gold was given to Prajāpati by Dhanada for the sake of a sacrifice”.

The Parākhyatantra is an old Śaiva-siddhānta tantra dating from before the 10th century.

Source: Wisdom Library: Kathāsaritsāgara

Hemakūṭa (हेमकूट) is the name of a mountain mentioned in the Kathāsaritsāgara, chapter 46. Accordingly, “when they heard Sumeru say this, and he himself led the way, they all, Sūryaprabha and the others, went to the mountain Hemakūṭa. And on the north side of it they reached a beautiful lake named Mānasa, which seemed to have been the first assay of the Creator’s skill when making the sea, which eclipsed with its full-blown golden lotuses, shaken by the wind, the faces of the heavenly nymphs sporting in the water”.

Source: Shodhganga: The Kavyamimamsa of Rajasekhara

Hemakūṭa (हेमकूट) is the name a locality mentioned in Rājaśekhara’s 10th-century Kāvyamīmāṃsā.—It is a varṣa parvata, being the second from the Mahāmeru on the southern side. This is the principle mountain range of the Kimpuruṣavarṣa, which is situated on the northern side of the Himavān and the Bhāratavarṣa.

Source: archive.org: Personal and geographical names in the Gupta inscriptions

Hemakūṭa (हेमकूट) is another name for Kailāśa: a mountain mentioned in the Gupta inscription No. 17. The Gupta empire (r. 3rd-century CE), founded by Śrī Gupta, covered much of ancient India and embraced the Dharmic religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Kailāśa mountain is situated about 25 miles to the north of Māna-sarovara beyond Gangrī and to the east of the Niti Pass.

हेमकूट

हेमकूट (AS, p.1027): विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर ने लेख किया है ....महाभारत के अनुसार हरिवर्ष के दक्षिण में स्थित एक पर्वत है। इस पर्वत को पार करने के पश्चात् अर्जुन अपनी दिग्विजय यात्रा के प्रसंग मे हरिवर्ष पहुंचे थे- 'सरोमानसमासाद्यहाटकानभितः प्रभुः गंधर्वरक्षितं देशमजयत् पांडवस्ततः। हेमकूटमासाद्य न्यविशत् फाल्गुनस्तथा, तं हेमकूटं राजेन्द्र समतिकम्य पांडवः। हरिवर्ष विवेशाथ सैन्येन महता वृतः’ (सभापर्व 28-5 तथा दाक्षिणात्य पाठ) इससे हेमकूट तथा मानसरोवर का सान्निध्य भी सूचित होता है। वास्तव में भीष्मपर्व 6, 41 में तो हेमकूट को कैलाश का पर्याय ही कहा गया है, ‘हेमकूटस्तु सुमहान् कैलासो नाम पर्वतः’। भीष्मपर्व 6, 41 मत्स्यपुराण में हेमकूट पर अप्सराओं का निवास बताया गया है। विष्णुपुराण विष्णुपुराण 2, 2, 10 में मेरुपर्वत के दक्षिण में हिमवान, हेमकूट और निषध नामक पर्वतों की स्थिति बताई गई है-‘हिमवान हेमकूटश्च निषधश्चास्य दक्षिणे’। जैसा महाभारत के उपर्युक्त वर्णन से स्पष्ट है हेमकूट कैलास या उसके निकट की हिमालय श्रेणी का नाम जान पड़ता है। जैन ग्रंथ जंबूद्वीप प्रज्ञप्ति में हेमकूट को जंबूद्वीप के छः वर्षपर्वतों में से एक माना गया है।