Mountain of the Mahabharata
Himavat
हिमवत्
King of mountains; road of the final journey
Himavat (Representative point in the high Garhwal Himalaya): King of mountains; road of the final journey, located at coordinates 31.10°N, 78.30°E.
Key Facts
| Type | Mountain |
|---|---|
| Sanskrit name | हिमवत् |
| Coordinates | 31.10°N, 78.30°E |
| Modern location | Representative point in the high Garhwal Himalaya |
| Significance | King of mountains; road of the final journey |
About Himavat
The Himalaya personified, king of mountains and father of Ganga and Uma. The Pandavas crossed his ranges to reach Badari and Gandhamadana, and on the Mahaprasthanika journey they climbed him one last time toward heaven.
Why it matters: King of mountains; road of the final journey
Details
- Parva
- Vana and Mahaprasthanika Parvas
On the Map
Himavat sits at 31.10°N, 78.30°E, in Representative point in the high Garhwal Himalaya.
View on the full mapEvents at Himavat
- The Treasure of MaruttaYear -11To fund the Ashvamedha after the ruinous war, Vyasa reveals that the gold of the ancient king Marutta's sacrifice lies buried in the Himalayas. The Pandavas march north and bring it home on thousands of beasts.
- The Birth of the War-GodYear -6The demon Taraka wins a boon making him unslayable by every being then in existence - and forgets to guard against one not yet born. To make a son of the celibate ascetic Shiva, the gods pass his fiery seed from Agni to the Ganga to the six star-mothers, the Krittikas, who nurse the six-faced child Skanda. Made commander of heaven, the war-god slays the unkillable demon and frees the worlds.
- The Fish and the FloodYear 3The sage-king Manu takes pity on a tiny fish that begs his protection - and the fish, growing impossibly large, reveals itself as the Lord and warns him of a flood that will drown the world. Manu builds a boat, gathers the seeds of all life and the seven sages, and is towed by the fish's horn to a Himalayan peak above the deluge, to father the world anew.
- The Elephant and the CrocodileYear 8Gajendra, the mighty lord of elephants, is seized by a crocodile while bathing and struggles for an age, his great strength slowly failing and his herd abandoning him. Only when his own power is utterly spent does he cry out in true surrender to the Lord - who comes at once and saves him. The very picture of the helpless soul calling out to God.
- The Sage in the WellYear 66The gifted sage Trita, envied by his elder brothers, is abandoned in a deep dry well and left to die for the sake of their cattle. With no materials at all, he performs a whole sacrifice by the power of his mind, summons the gods, and is raised from the pit - an undefeated spirit turning helplessness into deliverance.
- The Maiden Named DeathYear 71When undying beings overburden the earth, the Creator brings forth Death as a weeping maiden who refuses to slay the innocent. Consoled that she bears no sin and acts through the natural order, with her very tears becoming the body's ailments, she takes up her gentle work - a consolation for the grieving.
- The King Who Was BothYear 72A king straying into Shiva's enchanted wood is turned into a woman; unable to undo the spell fully, the divine power grants that he live as man and woman by turns. As a woman he bears a son who founds the lunar dynasty - a tale of fate's strange turns and the acceptance of what cannot be changed.
- The Serpent Who Bears the WorldYear 82Shesha, the virtuous eldest of the serpents, cannot bear his brothers' wickedness and leaves them for severe penance. Brahma grants his wish to abide ever in virtue, then sets him to bear the unsteady earth upon his hood; and the steadfast serpent becomes both the support of the world and the couch of Vishnu.
- Tapati and Samvarana - The Daughter of the SunYear 87King Samvarana wins Tapati, daughter of the sun god, through twelve days of prayer and the embassy of the sage Vasishtha - then forgets his kingdom for twelve years of happiness while the rains abandon his land. Their son is Kuru, who gives his name to the dynasty and to the field of Kurukshetra.
Stories Set at Himavat
The Curse That Killed a King
Pandu's Arrow, Kindama's Curse, and the Birth of the Pandavas
Adventures in the Forest
Twelve Years of Pandava Exile
The Great Departure
Krishna's Death, the End of the Yadavas, and the Pandavas' Climb to Heaven
The Great Journey
Book 17 - The Pandavas Walk North to Die, and the Dog Who Followed
The Horse Sacrifice
Arjuna Follows a Wandering Horse, and Dies at His Own Son's Hand
The Descent of the River
Bhagiratha and the Sons of Sagara
The Birth of the War-God
Skanda and the Slaying of Taraka
The King Who Became a Sage
Vishvamitra's Long Ascent
The Slaying of Vritra
Dadhichi's Bones and Indra's Sin
The Fish and the Flood
Manu and the Great Deluge
The Elephant and the Crocodile
Gajendra's Surrender
The Boy Who Became the Pole Star
Dhruva's Penance
The Warrior With the Axe
Parashurama, Jamadagni, and the Long Vengeance
The Sage in the Well
Abandoned by his brothers, he made a sacrifice from the pit
The Maiden Named Death
How Death came into the world, weeping and without sin
The King Who Was Both
Changed from man to woman, ancestor of a great line
The Serpent Who Bears the World
Shesha leaves his wicked kin and upholds the earth
Tapati and Samvarana
The Daughter of the Sun
The Last Witness
Sanjaya after the divine eye
The Curse of the Eight Vasus
Heaven's theft, earth's long sentence
The Sacrifice That Was Stopped
A son's fire, put out by the men it was lit for
The Test in the North
Ashtavakra goes for a bride and is stopped by a woman
Why Gold Is the Highest Gift
The metal left behind by fire
The Gold of King Marutta
How the ruined victors paid for the ashvamedha
The Apsara Sent to Break a Sage
Menaka's fear, and the child left on the Malini
The Ascetics at the Gate
The morning five orphans were handed to Hastinapura
The Man Who Was Not Allowed In
A Sudra's hermitage, a sage's kindness, and two lives turned inside out
Four Faces and a Blue Throat
Uma asks her husband to account for himself
The Naked Priest of Varanasi
How a king outbid Indra for a brother nobody wanted
The Weapon That Would Not Burn Them
Ashwatthama's fire, and why it left two men standing
What the Blind King Was Told
Duryodhana's inventory of the rajasuya, and the quarrel it started
The Weapon He Could Not Lift
Ashvatthama's bargain on the Dwaraka shore
The Fourth Commander
A nephew's water poured on an uncle's head at the foot of Himavat
The River With Seven Names
Wherever she was called, she came
The Anointing of the War God
Every god brings a gift to a six-day-old commander
The Duel on the Southern Bank
Two pupils of one teacher settle a war with clubs
The Age Before Kings
How men who protected one another stopped, and what had to be written
The Day the Rod Vanished
What happened to the world when Chastisement disappeared
The Two Who Argued Over a Debt
Desire and Wrath come to court in rags
The Sweat That Became Fever
A drop from Shiva's forehead, and the disease scattered through the world
Three Doors and Fifty Women
The son of Vyasa is made to walk, and then made to wait
The Rishi Born From a Word
Vyasa tells his disciples who he was before he was Vyasa
Garuda's Map of the World
The four directions described from a bird's back
The Promise Made in the Kamyaka Woods
The allies arrive, and Draupadi asks Krishna what her friendship is worth
The Queen Who Put God on Trial
A bird on a string, and a child breaking its toys
The Mountain That Answers Speech
Where a sage's temper made silence the price of passage
The Sage at the Limit
A skeleton ascetic marks the line mortals may not cross
The Weapons That Must Not Be Shown
A demonstration the three worlds could not survive
Devasena and the Husband Not Yet Born
A rescue on the Manasa hills and a promise the gods had to invent someone to keep
Swaha and the Six Disguises
The wives who were punished for a child that was never theirs
The Thunderbolt and the Seizers of Children
What came out of the wound, and the bargain that followed
The Names That Cleanse Sin
Asked what destroys sin, Bhishma answers with a litany of gods, rivers, mountains, sages and kings
The One Who Walked Before the Car
Vyasa tells Arjuna whose lance was breaking the ranks in front of him
Upamanyu's Penance
The boy who refused every god but Shiva, and the god who came disguised as Indra to hear him do it
The Vow of Ten and Two Years
Krishna keeps a twelve year vow on the mountain and a fire walks out of his mouth
Sakamvari and the Ford of Gold
The goddess who fed the sages on herbs, and the tirtha where Vishnu knelt to Rudra
How the Krittikas Took Abhijit's Place
A star leaves the sky in envy of her elder sister, and Skanda's six nurses are raised into the empty station
Sanjaya Describes the Earth
The blind king asks what the earth is worth, and his charioteer answers with the whole of it
The Seven Winds
Vyasa halts a recitation on the Himavat and names the winds that move the worlds
The Curses of the Rishis
Krishna names the marks that Brahmanas left on gods, seas and mountains
How Vishnu Got the Discus
Upamanyu tells Krishna where Sudarsana came from, and Krishna climbs Himavat to ask Mahadeva for a son
Gifts Under the Lunar Mansions
Narada tells Devaki what to give under each star, and the gods ask Brahman for ground to stand on