m. (of doubtful derivation) Name of a low range of hills connecting the Northern extremities of the Western and Eastern Ghauts, and separating Hindustan proper from the Dekhan (the vindhya- range is reckoned among the seven principal ranges of bhārata-varṣa- [see kulagiri-,] , and according to , forms the Southern limit of madhya-deśa- or the middle region;according to a legend related in ,the personified vindhya-, jealous of himālaya-, demanded that the sun should revolve round him in the same way as about meru-, which the sun declining to do, the vindhya- then began to elevate himself that he might bar the progress of both sun and moon;the gods alarmed, asked the aid of the saint agastya-, who approached the vindhya- and requested that by bending down he would afford him an easy passage to the South country, begging at the same time that he would retain a low position till his return;this he promised to do, but agastya- never returned, and the vindhya- range consequently never attained the elevation of the himālaya-) etc.
विन्ध्यः [विदधाति करोति भयम् Uṇ.4.121] 1 N. of a range of mountain which separates Hindustan proper from the Deccan or south; it is one of the seven Kulaparvatas (q. v.) and forms the southern limit of Madhyadeśa; see Ms.2.21. [According to a legend, the Vindhya mountain, being jealous of the mount Meru (or Himālaya) demanded that the sun should revolve round himself as about Meru, which the sun declined to do; whereupon the Vindhya began to rise higher and higher so as to obstruct the path of the sun and moon. The gods being alarmed sought the aid of the sage Agastya, who approached the mountain and requested that by bending down he would give him an easy passage to the south, and that he would retain the same position till his return. This Vindhya consented to do (because according to one account, he regarded Agastya as his teacher); but Agastya never returned from the south, and Vindhya never attained the height of Meru.] -2 A hunter. -न्ध्या 1 N. of a plant (लवली). -2 Small cardamoms. -3 A measure of time (त्रुटि); L. D. B. -Comp. -अटवी the great Vindhya forest. -कूटः, -कूटनम् epithets of the sage Agastya. -गिरिः the Vindhya range of hills; also विन्ध्याचल, विन्ध्याद्रि. -वासिन् m. an epithet of the grammarian व्याडि. (-नी) an epithet of Durgā.
m. N. of a mountain range running from east to west and separating the Deccan from Madhya-desa: -ketu, m. N. of a prince of Pulinda; -giri, m. the Vindhya range; -para, m. N. of a prince of the fairies; -vana, n. forest in the Vindhya; -vâsin, a. dwelling in the Vindhya: -î, f. (± devî) a form of the goddess Durgâ; -stha, a. resid ing in the Vindhya; -½akala, m. the Vindhya range; -½atavî, f. forest in the Vindhya; -½adri, m. the Vindhya range.
(lit., ‘the road to the south’), ‘the south country,’ is found, probably as a designation of the Deccan, as early as the Baudhāyana Dharma Sūtra, coupled with Surāstra. A similar expression is daksinā padā, ‘ with southward foot,’ in the Rigveda, referring to the place where the exile (parā-vrj) goes on being expelled. This no doubt simply means ‘ the south ’beyond the limits of the recognized Aryan world, which even as late as the Kausītaki Upanisad appears as bounded by the Vindhyas on
In the Rigveda and the Atharvaveda is conjoined with giri in the sense of ‘hill’ or ‘mountain.’ From the Rigveda onwards it is common in this sense as connected with the waters of rivers which flow in the hills. The legend of the mountains having wings is already found in the Samhitās. In the Kausītaki Upanisad are mentioned the southern (daksiηa) and the northern (uttara) mountains, evidently in allusion to the Himālaya and the Vindhya ranges. The plants (osadhi) and aromatic products (añjaηa) of the mountains are referred to in the Atharvaveda, and their mineral treasures in the Rigveda.
The ‘Middle Country,’ is, according to the Mānava Dharma śāstra, the land between the Himālaya in the north, the Vindhya in the south, Vinaáana in the west, and Prayāga (now Allahabad) in the east that is, between the place where the Sarasvatī disappears in the desert, and the point of the confluence of the Yamunā (Jumna) and the Gañgā (Ganges). The same authority defines Brahmarsi-deśa as denoting the land of Kuruksetra, the Matsyas, Pañcālas, and śūrasenakas, and Brahmāvarta as meaning the particularly holy land between the Sarasvatī and the Drṣadvatī. The Baudhāyana Dharma Sūtra4 defines Áryāvarta as the land east of Vinaśana; west of the Kālaka-vana, ‘ Black Forest,’ or rather Kanakhala, near Hardvār; south of the Himālaya; and north of the Pāriyātra or the Pāripātra Mountains; adding that, in the opinion of others, it was confined to the country between the Yamunā and the Gañgā, while the Bhāllavins took it as the country between the boundary-river (or perhaps the Saras-vatī) and the region where the sun rises. The Mānava Dharma śāstra, in accord with the Vasiṣṭha Dharma Sūtra, defines Áryāvarta as the region between the Vindhya and the Himālaya, the two ranges which seem to be the boundaries of the Aryan world in the Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad also. The term Madhyadeśa is not Vedic, but it is represented in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa by the expression madhyamā pratisthā diś, ‘ the middle fixed region,’ the inhabitants of which are stated to be the Kurus, the Pañcālas, the Vaśas, and the Uśīnaras. The latter two peoples practically disappear later on, the Madhyadeśa being the country of the Kuru-Pañcālas, the land where the Brāhmaṇas and the later Samhitās were produced, bounded on the east by the Kosala-Videhas, and on the west by the desert. The western tribes are mentioned with disapproval both in the śatapatha Brāhmaṇa and the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, while the tradition of the Brahminization of the Kosalas and the Videhas from the Kuru-Pañcāla country is preserved in the former Brāhmaṇa.
noun (masculine) a hunter (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
name of a low range of hills connecting the Northern extremities of the Western and Eastern Ghauts (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
name of a prince (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
noun (masculine) name of a king who ruled over a particular part of the Vindhya mountains (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
name of a son of Yudhiṣṭhira (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
name of his descendants (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
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