A Dialogue Begins in the Sacred Vindhya Mountain
Introduction: This is the third of a new series compiling and retelling stories from the Puranas, simply and without distortion or substantive embellishment. This episode comes from the beginning of the Markandeya Purana. The quotes cited are from Bibek Debroy’s excellent translation of the Markandeya Purana.
Last time, we learned about Jaimini Rishi’s four questions about the Mahabharata. Today, his dialogue with the birds begins.
Jaimini Rishi journeys to the Vindhya Mountains to meet the birds at Markandeya Rishi’s suggestion. To enhance our understanding of the Puranas, we should delve deeply into each detail, including the significance of the Vindhya Mountains.
Agastya Muni & The Vindhya Mountains
Stories of Agastya Muni are peppered throughout the Vedas, the Puranas, and the Itihaasa. This particular incident is narrated in both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. In the Mahabharata, Lomasha Rishi tells Yudhishthira about various accounts from Agastya Muni’s life when they are visiting the tirtha where Agastya Muni had once slain Vatapi.
The sun used to circumambulate Mount Meru. Once, Vindhya, a rival mountain, complained to Suryadeva, ‘O Bhaskara! You always go around Meru. Circumambulate me in the same way.’