Mount Meru

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It has been suggested that Sumeru be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since
June 2013.
For other uses, see Mount Meru (disambiguation).
"Neru" redirects here. For the Spanish footballer, see Neru (footballer).


Painting of Mount Meru as per Jain cosmology from Jain text Samghayanarayana loose-leaf
manuscript


Bhutanese thanka of Mount Meru and the Buddhist Universe, 19th century, Trongsa Dzong,
Trongsa, Bhutan


A mural depicting Mt. Meru, in Wat Sakhet, Bangkok, Thailand
Mount Meru (Sanskrit: ), also called Sumeru (Sanskrit) or Sineru (Pli) or (in
Tibetan) to which is added the approbatory prefix su-, resulting in the meaning "excellent Meru"
or "wonderful Meru" and Mahameru i.e. "Great Meru" (Chinese: Xumi Shan, Japanese:
Shumi-sen, Pli Neru, Burmese: Myinmo), is a sacred
mountain with five peaks
[1]
in Hindu, Jain as well as Buddhist cosmology and is considered to be
the center of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritual universes.
Many famous Hindu and similar Jain as well as Buddhist temples have been built as symbolic
representations of this mountain. The highest point (the finial bud) on the pyatthat, a Burmese-
style multi-tiered roof, represents Mount Meru.
Contents
1 Geographical
2 Hindu legends
3 Buddhist legends
4 Puranic legends
5 Javanese legends
6 References
7 Sources
8 See also
9 External links
Geographical
The dimensions attributed to Mount Meru, all the references to it being as a part of the Cosmic
Ocean, along with several statements like that the Sun along with all the planets (including Earth
itself) circumambulate the mountain, make determining its location most difficult, according to
most scholars.
[2][3]

Some researchers identify Mount Meru or Sumeru with the Pamirs, north-west of
Kashmir.
[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]

The Suryasiddhanta mentions that Mt Meru lies in 'the middle of the Earth' ("Bhugol-madhya")
in the land of the Jambunad (Jambudvip). Narpatijayachary, a 9th-century text, based on mostly
unpublished texts of Ymal Tantr, mentions "Sumeru Prithv-madhye shryate drishyate na tu"
('Su-meru is heard to be in the middle of the Earth, but is not seen there').
[14]
Vrhamihira, in his
Panch-siddhntik, claims Mt Meru to be at the North Pole (though no mountain exists there as
well). Suryasiddhnt, however, mentions a Mt Meru in the middle of Earth, besides a Sumeru
and a Kumeru at both the Poles.
There exist several versions of Cosmology in existing Hindu texts. In one of them,
cosmologically, the Meru mountain was also described as being surrounded by Mandrachal
Mountain to the east, Supasarv Mountain to the west, Kumuda Mountain to the north and
Kailash to the south.
[15]