Mount Potalaka in Malaya mountains

[N. Ganesan]

Mt. Potiyil/Potiyam/Potikai has been equated with Himalaya
in a CT text, puRanAnURu.

puRanAnURu poem 2, considered one of the earliest in that
anthology, praises a Chera king thus:

"Even if milk becomes something sour, or the sun goes dark,
or the Four Vedas swerve from the truth,
may you shine on, with no loss,
 on and on with your unswerving ministers!
May you be never shaken, like Mount Potiyam, like Himalaya
with its golden peaks where long-eyed does sleep
on slopes in the faint dawn near fawns with tiny heads
under the glow of the three fires
in which the Brahmins offer ghee according to their difficult rites."

                                    - puRam 2
                        Translation by Hart and Heifetz,
                        (The entire puRam translation to
                         appear from Columbia UP; George
                         asked me to review).

Note that Monier-Williams calls Malaya(=Potiyil/Potikai) as
dakSiNAcala and DaNDin calls it dakSiNAdri.

Regards
N. Ganesan



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