Mountain of the Mahabharata
Malaya
मलय
Sandal hills of the Pandya king
Malaya (Southern Western Ghats around the Agastyamalai range, Tamil Nadu and Kerala): Sandal hills of the Pandya king, located at coordinates 9.60°N, 77.30°E.
Key Facts
| Type | Mountain |
|---|---|
| Sanskrit name | मलय |
| Coordinates | 9.60°N, 77.30°E |
| Modern location | Southern Western Ghats around the Agastyamalai range, Tamil Nadu and Kerala |
| Significance | Sandal hills of the Pandya king |
About Malaya
The sandal-bearing hills of the Pandya country in the far south, counted among the great ranges of Bharata and named in the tirtha lists as a place where pilgrims ended their lives on the pyre. The Pandya king who carried the Malaya peak as the device on his banner thought himself the equal of Bhishma, Drona, Karna and Arjuna together, and on the seventeenth day he turned Karna's divisions round like a potter's wheel and struck the diadem off Ashvatthama's head before he was cut down.
Why it matters: Sandal hills of the Pandya king
Details
- Sandal
- Famed source of the sandal paste and fragrant woods named throughout the epic
On the Map
Malaya sits at 9.60°N, 77.30°E, in Southern Western Ghats around the Agastyamalai range, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
View on the full mapStories Set at Malaya
Pandya of the Malaya Hills
The southern king who thought himself Bhishma's equal
The Bird With the Burnt Wings
A search that ended at a cliff, and the brother of Jatayu
The Names That Cleanse Sin
Asked what destroys sin, Bhishma answers with a litany of gods, rivers, mountains, sages and kings
Nala's Bridge
The Ocean refuses to part and names a workman instead, and the monkey army walks to Lanka