Anavatapta (
Sanskrit अनवतप्त "the Unheated", , also called "the Pond without Heat") is the lake lying at the center of the world, according to ancient Indian tradition. The name Anavatapta means "heat-free"; the waters of the lake were thought to be able to soothe the fires that torment beings. Anavatapta is also the name of the dragon that was said to live in the lake; having become a
bodhisattva, it was free from the distresses that plague other dragons, which are tormented by fiery heat and preyed on by
garudas.
According to
Charles Higham, Lake Anavatapta was a "sacred Himalayan lake imbued with miraculous curative powers to remove human sins."
[Higham, C., 2001, The Civilization of Angkor, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, ] George Cœdès
George Cœdès (; 10 August 1886 – 2 October 1969) was a 20th-century French scholar of southeast Asian archaeology and history.
Biography
Cœdès was born in Paris to a family of supposed Hungarian-Jewish émigrés. In fact, the family was ...
states the lake, "...according to Indian tradition, is located in the confines of the Himalayas, and its waters gush out of gargoyles in the form of the heads of animals."
Lying south of Perfume Mountain, Lake Anavatapta is said to be 800
li in circumference and bordered by gold, silver, and precious stones. Four rivers issued from the lake. The earthly manifestation of the lake is often identified with
Lake Manasarovar, which lies at the foot of
Mount Kailash (Gandhamadana or Perfume Mountain) in the
Himalayas. The four mythical rivers are sometimes identified with the
Ganges (east), the
Indus
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...
(south), the
Amu Darya (west), and the
Tarim or the
Yellow River (north).
See also
*
Neak Pean
References
{{reflist
Buddhist cosmology