Of the mountains which surround Lake Anotatta, Mount Gandhamādana is the most celebrated.
Mount Gandhamādana is made of chalcedony and is the colour of Green Gram.84 It has an abundance of the ten scents (of trees); the scent of roots, scent of heartwood, scent of sapwood, scent of inner bark, scent of outer bark, scent of the trunk, scent of sap, scent of flowers, scent of fruit and scent of leaves. It is covered with many kinds of herbs. On moonless nights it glows as brightly as burning charcoal. (Ud-a 5:5)
The name Gandhamādana means “Intoxicated by Scents,” and it is by all accounts a most delightful place. It is the home of the kinnara folk, a small bird-like people, as well as yakkhas and devas (Jāt 485, 540). But the beings most characteristic of Mt Gandhamādana are the paccekabuddhas, those who achieve full awakening in the dark ages which lie between the arising of Buddhas. They have the same penetration of reality as a Buddha, but they do not establish a teaching which survives their death. Sometimes there are hundreds of them in the world at once, and they have their dwelling and place of assembly on Mt Gandhamādana.85
Gandhamādana is located in the Himavā. It lies beyond seven mountains (or mountain ranges): Cūḷakāḷapabbata (“Little Black Mountain”), Mahākāḷapabbata (“Great Black Mountain”), Nāgapaliveṭhana (“Nāga Encircled”), Candagabbha (“Womb of the Moon”), Sūriyagabbha (“Womb of the Sun”), Suvaṇṇapassa (“Gold Flank”) and Himavantapabbata (“Snowy Mountain”). There (i.e. on Mt Gandhamadāna) is a slope called Nandamūlaka (“Root of Joy”) where paccekabuddhas may be found. There are three caves, Suvaṇṇaguhā (“Gold Cave”), Maṇiguhā (“Jewel Cave”) and Rajataguhā (“Silver Cave”).
At the entrance to the Maṇiguhā there stands a tree called Mañjūsaka which is a yojana high and a yojana across. On any day during which paccekabuddhas come, this tree flowers with every flower found on the land or in the water. This tree stands over the meeting hall of the paccekabuddhas, called the Sabbaratanamāḷa (“Pavilion of All Jewels”). The hall is swept clean of rubbish by a sweeping wind, sand which is made of all the jewels is spread over the floor by a leveling wind, a sprinkling wind fetches Anotatta water and sprinkles it around the hall and a fragrance-working wind gathers flowers from the fragrant trees in the Himavā and places them in the hall. A grass wind gathers grass and places grass mats in the hall. Thus are the seating places of the paccekabuddhas always prepared and ready for the day that they come and assemble there. Whenever a new paccekabuddha arises in the world, he goes there and all the other paccekabuddhas assemble and ask him about his meditation object (kammaṭṭhāna). (Sn-a 1:3)
As we have said, it is impossible to construct a coherent map of upper Jambudīpa from the Pali texts; the inconsistencies in the geography are just too great. Trying to fix the location of Mt Gandhamādana, therefore Lake Anotatta, in relation to the lands of human beings illustrates this problem. The seven mountain ranges, which are mentioned only in the passage cited and a parallel passage in the Apadāna Commentary (Ap-a 1:1,2), would imply a very great distance for the lake and its surrounding mountains from human habitations.
However, in the Vessantara Jātaka when the king and his family go into exile in the Himavā they leave the human lands from his brother’s kingdom of Ceta86 for a fifteen yojana journey to the site selected for their hermitage; Mount Vaṅka. The route they took is described by mentioning important landmarks. The very first is Mount Gandhamādana, from there they proceeded due north to Mount Vipula, then to a river named Ketumatī, then onwards to a Mount Nāḷika and then the Mucalinda Lake, from which they followed a mountain stream to its source in a small lake under Mt Vaṅka. This passage implies that Mt Gandhamādana lies just to the north of the human lands, as it is cited as their first landmark in the journey.87
To add to the confusion, in the Dhammapada Commentary there is the story of the visit of the Buddha and five hundred bhikkhus to the elder Revata, Sāriputta’s brother, who was dwelling at the Khadiravana (Acacia Grove) in the Himavā (Dhp-a 7:9). This account of this journey says that there were two possible routes to take from Savatthī. One was a round-about journey of sixty yojana through lands inhabited by human beings, the other a direct path of thirty yojana but through country inhabited by non-human beings (amanussa, which usually implies malevolent yakkhas). As the Buddha knew that the elder Sīvali, who was possessed of very great merit, was part of the company, he opted for the direct but dangerous route. The route taken is specified in another passage (which does not mention the possibility of a longer one) as follows:
On the first day they reached the Banyan Tree, (presumably the one under which the Buddha stayed for a week shortly after his awakening under the Bodhi tree). On the second day they reached Mt Paṇḍava near Rājagaha. On the third day they came to the Aciravati River (a known tributary of the Ganges). On the fourth day they reached the ocean (varasagara). It was only on the fifth day that they entered the Himavā. On the sixth day they came to the Chaddanta Forest. On the seventh day they reached Mt Gandhamādana. There they stayed for a week waited upon by the deva Nāgadatta and thereafter proceeded in one day to the Khadiravana and Revata’s hermitage. (AN-a 1: 207)
There is much that is difficult to make sense of in this itinerary, especially if this route is meant to be the direct path mentioned in the first passage cited. It doesn’t make sense that the company travelled all the way to the sea before striking north, unless the word varasagara (“Noble Ocean”) means something else entirely. Also, since they did not even enter the Himavā until the fifth day of a thirty yojana journey, it seems this passage also implies that Mt Gandhamādana lies not very far north of the human lands; certainly there is no mention of crossing seven mountain ranges.
As we have seen, there is some evidence that the geography of the whole cakkavāḷa was still being worked out in the commentarial period. The seven mountain ranges of the Suttanipāta Commentary may be an intermediate stage in the process and represent an early version of the seven ranges around Sineru. The names do not match up, but the inclusion of ranges named “Womb of the Moon” and “Womb of the Sun” is reminiscent of the role of Yugandhara as the place where these heavenly bodies reside.
By way of comparison, the Abhidharmakośa has nine “Ant Mountains” lying between the human lands and the Himavā. They are so called either because of their shape, or because they are low in comparison to the mountains of Himavā proper. Beyond those lies Lake Anavatapta (the Sanskrit form of Anotatta) from which flows the four great rivers named as the Gaṅgā (Ganges), the Sindhu (Indus), the Vakṣu (Oxus) and the Sītā (Yarkand), and beyond that lies Mount Gandhamādana (AK 3:5. p 456, & n. 393, p 531).
1:13 THE GREAT LAKES
Most of the other great lakes of Himavā are little more than names in the texts. There are stories about petas living in magical dwellings by the shores of Lake Kaṇṇamuṇḍa (Pv-a 2:12) and Lake Rathakāra, (Pv-a 3:3) and the Buddha gave a talk to a group of bhikkhus by Lake Kuṇāla (Jāt 536, story of the present). Otherwise we know nothing about either their location or character, with the exception of Lake Chaddanta which is described in some detail:
Lake Chaddanta is fifty yojana broad. In the middle of the lake, for a space of twelve yojana around, no pond-scum (sevāla) or weeds (paṇaka) grow and the still water is like a beautiful jewel in appearance. Surrounding this central area is a belt of pure white lotuses, a yojana across. Surrounding this is a belt of pure blue lotuses, a yojana across. Then alternate belts of red lotuses and white lotuses, each surrounding the previous belt and each a yojana across, for seven belts altogether. This is surrounded by a belt of lotuses of mixed colours, also a yojana wide. Then, in water as deep as an elephant’s flank, there is a belt of fine red rice. Around this lays a belt of small bushes covered in delicate and very fragrant flowers of blue, yellow, red and white colours. Thus, there are ten belts, each a yojana across.
Around that is a belt where various kinds of beans grow, “little king beans”, “great king b
eans” and “green gram” (khuddakarājamāsa-mahārājamāsa-mugga). Then a belt with vines upon which grow different kinds of squash, cucumbers and pumpkins. Then a belt of sugar-cane, growing as big as palm trees. Then a belt of plantains as big as elephant’s tusks, then a belt of Sal trees, then one of jack fruits as big as water pots, then one of sweet tamarinds and one of mango trees, then a great jungle thicket of many kinds of plants and around all these stands a grove of bamboo. (Jāt 514)
(The widths of the various outer belts are not specified, but as the total for the inner belts do not make up the requisite width of the lake, we must assume that some of the outer ones lie in shallow water. If they are also taken as being one yojana broad, then everything up to the mango trees lies within the lake).
Around the bamboo grove there are seven mountains. From the outermost inwards these are; the Cūḷakāḷa Mountain (“Little Black”), Mahākāḷa Mountain (“Big Black”), Udaka Mountain (“Watery”), Candimapassa Mountain (“Moon Flank”), Sūriyapassa Mountain (“Sun Flank”), Maṇipassa Mountain (“Jewel Flank”) and the Suvaṇṇapassa Mountain (“Gold Flank”). These last are seven yojana in height and surround Lake Chaddanta like the rim of a bowl. The innermost flank of these mountains is golden coloured and its radiance causes the lake to resemble the newly risen sun. The outer mountains are in turn six yojana, five yojana, and then four, three, two and one yojana in height.
At the north-east corner of the lake, at a place hit by a moist (i.e. cool) breeze, there grows a great banyan tree. Its trunk is five yojana around and is seven yojana high. Four branches grow outward in the four cardinal directions and a fifth grows straight upward. Each of these is six yojana long, so the overall height of the tree is thirteen yojana, and the distance from the end of one side branch to the other is twelve yojana. The banyan tree has eight thousand descending shoots and stands there as beautiful as a bare jewel mountain (muṇḍamaṇipabbato). To the west of the lake, on the Suvaṇṇapassa Mountain, there is a golden cave twelve yojana in size. (ibid.)
The environs of the lake, with its lush vegetation rich in edible plants, are home to the herd of Chaddanta elephants, the mightiest of all elephant-kind. The name Chaddanta means “six-tusked.” These elephants live in the golden cave during the rainy season (vassāratta) and in the shade of the great banyan in the summer (gimha), enjoying the cool breeze.88
1:14 THE GREAT TREES
Seven of the locales within the cakkavāḷa are graced with a great tree which last for the entire kappa (AN-a 1: 322, Eng. 1: 333). Each of these stands one hundred yojana high with a trunk fifteen yojana in girth and foliage extending for a hundred yojana around (Vism 7.43).
The great tree of Jambudīpa is the Jamburukkha. The name can refer also to a common tree, the black plum tree, Syzygium cumini.89 It was, for example, under one such tree that the young Bodhisatta Siddhattha experienced jhāna while his father, King Suddhodāna performed the ploughing ceremony. The shadow of this tree stayed miraculously stationary to provide shade to the young prince throughout the afternoon (MN-a 36). The singular great Jamburukkha is sometimes called Mahājamburukkha to distinguish it from the lesser trees (e.g. SN-a 47:13 & Dhp-a 14:2). The island-continent of Jambudīpa takes its name from this great tree, which is its emblem (saññāṇabhūtā) (AN-a 1: 322).
The location of the Jamburukkha is deep in the Himavā, (AN-a 1:322) most probably on the upper reaches of the Gaṅgā which is the source of all the major rivers of lower Jambudīpa. This is implied in a passage describing the origin of Jambu gold, a special high-quality gold panned from rivers, renowned for its colour and lustre:
Jambu gold is found in the Jambu River. Where the great Jambu tree, with its fifty yojana branches, grows there flow many rivers. Onto both banks of these rivers fall fruit from the Jambu tree. From these fruit there arise golden shoots. The water of the rivers carries these shoots down all the way to the sea and this is known as “Jambu gold” (jambonada).90
When the Buddha was staying with the fire ascetic followers of Uruvelakassapa, he displayed several miracles as a prelude to converting them. In one of these, he fetched in an instant a fruit from the Jambu tree “after which Jambudīpa takes its name.” He offered it to Uruvelakassapa, saying that it had “superb colour, superb aroma, superb flavour,” but the ascetic declined, not feeling worthy of such a gift.91
On the island-continent of Uttarakuru, which is a kind of earthly paradise,92 the great tree is the Kapparukkha. It is not possible to identify this with any known species.93 The name indicates that it lasts for an entire kappa, a characteristic it shares with all the great trees. There are many kapparukkhas growing all over Uttarakuru, perhaps meant to be scions of the original great Kapparukkha. These trees provide the necessities of life to the inhabitants of that land; clothes, ornaments and food-stuffs hang down from the branches (AN-ṭ 9, 21). This has led many modern translations to refer to them as “wish-fulfilling trees.” Devas too are said to take clothes from kapparukkhas (Sn 3: 11). The fabulously wealthy Jotika who married a maiden of Uttarakuru had one of these on the grounds of his estate, from which he made gifts of fine clothes to the people of the town (Dhp-a 26:33). In Buddhist countries offerings made to the saṅgha are sometimes hung on a small model of a kapparukkha.
The great trees of the other two continents are no more than names to us. That of Aparagoyana is the Kadamba tree, identified by the DPPN with the species Nauclea cordifolia, and that of Pubbavideha is the Sirīsa tree, identified with the Acacia sirisa (AN-a 1: 322).
The great tree of Tāvatiṃsa, the realm of the devas situated at the summit of Mt Sineru, is the Pāricchattaka. This tree is identified with the earthly species called in Pali koviḷāra which according to the DPPN is the Bauhinia variegata. This tree is remarkable for its lovely orchid like flowers, and indeed the flowers of the Pāricchattaka tree seem to be its most important feature. The origin of this tree is explained as being due to the powerful kamma of a man called Magha. In very ancient times he, together with his thirty-two companions, did meritorious deeds on earth. Because of these deeds, they were reborn as Sakka and the other devas of the Thirty-three. One of Magha’s righteous acts was the planting of a koviḷāra tree and the placing of a stone slab underneath it. By the power of this kamma, the one hundred yojana high Pāricchattaka Tree appeared in Tāvatiṃsa, together with Sakka’s throne, the paṇḍukambalasilā, a huge stone slab described as being under the shade of the great tree.94
The Pāricchattaka Tree blossoms once a year, however we can infer that by this is meant a celestial year or one hundred earthly years.95 The various stages of the budding flowers is eagerly watched by the devas and each new development is an occasion for rejoicing (AN 7: 69). The arrival of the fully blown flowers marks the beginning of a festival. The flowers are very beautiful, as radiant as the newly risen sun and they are visible for fifty yojana away. Their heavenly scent carries one hundred yojana.
The flowers do not have to be cut, winds arrive which sever the stalks of the flowers and blow them toward the Sudhamma Hall, the assembly place of the devas. Other winds sweep away the old dried flowers and strew the fresh blossoms around the seating places.96 The pollen from the flowers covers the bodies of the devas with a golden powder so that it is as if they were painted with lacquer. For four months the devas play in this blossom festival, striking one another with the flowers (AN-a 7, 69 & DN-a 19).
As stated above, the devas do not have to labour to harvest the flowers of the tree, but sometimes they climb into the tree and pluck them for fun, making garlands of them. A story is told of a named deva Subrahmā who went with one thousand accharās (“nymphs”, a class of minor female devas) to the Pāricchattaka Tree. Five hundred of the accharās climbed into the tree to make garlands, having first used the power of their minds to make the tree’s branches bow down to receive them. In the denouement of this episode, all of these female devas die and are reborn in niraya causing Subrahmā in his distress to seek out the Buddha (SN-a 2:17).
The blossoms of the Pāricchattaka Tree are important emblems of Tāvatiṃsa. In one story Sakka gives one to an earthly woman whom he had transported to Tāvatiṃsa, to serve as a sign that she had really been there (Jāt 531). In another story, the hermit Nārada, who could travel to Tāvatiṃsa by psychic power, was resting by Lake Anotatta using a Pāricchattaka blossom as a parasol when he was accosted by three devīs (female devas), the daughters of Sakka, who had come there to bathe. They said it was not appropriate for any human or dānava (in this context, meaning an asura) to possess these “noble immortal” (amaravara) flowers, which were only suitable for devas (Jāt 535). Of course, the flowers are not really immortal; this may be taken as a poetic trope. The fact that Nārada was able to use one as a sun-shade demonstrates that the Pāricchattaka flowers are very huge in human terms.97
The Pāricchattaka festival described above is one of the four occasions upon which the devas assemble. One of the others is to mark the end of the earthly rains retreat of the Buddha’s saṅgha. At that time, the devas travel to the human realm and “with Pāricchattaka blossoms and divine sandalwood in hand” invisibly attend the Pavāraṇā ceremonies which mark the end of the rains. Sakka goes to the Piyangudīpa Mahāvihāra on a small island off the Sri Lankan coast, and the rest disperse to various other vihāras around the Buddhist world (DN-a 19).
The beauty and glory of the Pāricchattaka Tree in full blossom is such that it is used as a metaphor for the glory of the halo around the Buddha’s head (MN-a 11). When the Buddha entered parinibbāna (i.e. died) the devas showered down Pāricchattaka blossoms onto his lifeless body.98
The Buddhist Cosmos Page 7