The Malaya Mountains were a range of mountains that were mentioned in the Hindu sacred texts like ''
Matsya Purana
The ''Matsya Purana'' (IAST: Matsya Purāṇa) is one of the eighteen major Puranas (Mahapurana), and among the oldest and better preserved in the Puranic genre of Sanskrit literature in Hinduism. The text is a Vaishnavism text named after the h ...
'', the ''
Kurma Purana
The ''Kurma Purana'' (IAST: Kūrma Purāṇa) is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, and a medieval era Vaishnavism text of Hinduism. The text is named after the tortoise avatar of Vishnu.
The manuscripts of ''Kurma Purana'' have survived into t ...
'', the ''
Vishnu Purana
The Vishnu Purana ( IAST:, sa, विष्णुपुराण) is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism. It is an important Pancharatra text in the Vaishnavism literature corpus.
The manusc ...
'',
and the epics of the ''
Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
'' and the ''
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...
''.
The Vishnu Purana specifically mentions it amongst the seven main chains of mountains in
Bharata (India), namely
Mahendra, Malaya,
Sahya, Śuktimat,
Riksha,
Vindhya
The Vindhya Range (also known as Vindhyachal) () is a complex, discontinuous chain of mountain ridges, hill ranges, highlands and plateau escarpments in west-central India.
Technically, the Vindhyas do not form a single mountain range in the ...
, and
Páripátra.
[ According to the ''Matsya Purana'', during the ]Great flood
A flood myth or a deluge myth is a myth in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these myths and the primaeval ...
, the giant boat of King Manu
Manu may refer to:
Geography
* Manú Province, a province of Peru, in the Madre de Dios Region
**Manú National Park, Peru
** Manú River, in southeastern Peru
* Manu River (Tripura), which originates in India and flows into Bangladesh
*Manu Tem ...
was perched after the deluge on the top of the Malaya Mountains.[{{Cite web , url=http://www.vedicyagyacenter.com/vedic-scriptures-files/epic-pdf/MATSYA%20PURANA.pdf , title=''The Matsya Purana'' , access-date=26 March 2014 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140326133426/http://www.vedicyagyacenter.com/vedic-scriptures-files/epic-pdf/MATSYA%20PURANA.pdf , archive-date=26 March 2014 , url-status=dead ]
These mountains are believed to have formed the southernmost part (southwards starting from the Mangalore
Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ke ...
region) of the Western Ghats, modern day Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
, while the Northern part of the same was called the Sahya Mountains. The peaks of these Malaya mountains were said to be higher than those of the Sahya Mounta. Sangam Literature
The Sangam literature (Tamil: சங்க இலக்கியம், ''caṅka ilakkiyam'';) historically known as 'the poetry of the noble ones' (Tamil: சான்றோர் செய்யுள், ''Cāṉṟōr ceyyuḷ'') connotes ...
calls these mountains Pothigai
The Pothigai Hills, also known as Agasthiyar Mountain is a 1,866-metre (6,122 ft)-tall peak in the southern part of the Western Ghats of South India. The peak lies in Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu near the border of Kerala.
The ar ...
.
References
Ancient Indian mountains
Places in the Ramayana
Mahabharata
Mountains of the Western Ghats
Mountains of Kerala
Mountains in Buddhism