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"There also is a general pattern of belief in mountain fairies, now often called by their Persian name, Peri, but still called Apsaras in the Rājataraṅgiṇī... for King Raṇāditya’s entering and disappearing in a mountain cave into the company of Daitya women). The Kalash distinguish between Suchi (sÏci), who are helpers in the hunt and in the killing of enemies, and the Varōti who are the more violent and angry male partners of the Suchi, reflecting the later Vedic (and typical medieval Kashmiri) distinction between Apsarases and Gandharvas. Certain mountains are the favored seats of the Peri, especially the impressive, 7708 m high pyramid of the Kailāsa-like Tirich Mir in the North of Chitral.http://japanesemythology.wordpress.com/origin-of-kunlun-hindu-kush-mountain-fairy-and-apsara-legends/
"Alexander the Great….One of the puzzles of the Indian campaign is the visit to Nysa. Here, the god Dionysus was venerated, one of Alexander's mythological ancestors …. It is not known which god was identified with Dionysus. Next to the town was a sacred mountain called Meros ('thigh') by the Greeks; it reminded them of the story that Dionysus was born from Zeus' thigh. In fact, the Indian name was Meru, the holy mountain or 'axis' of the world…….The route to Nysa as described by the Greek historians of Alexander's campaign suggest a southerly location near the river Kunar, but a location more to the north, near modern Chitral, better fits the fact that there was ivy to be found on the spot. Moreover, there is an impressive mountain near Chitral, called Tirich Mir. And although a march to Chitral makes no strategic sense, it is perhaps to be preferred; Alexander's marches to Troy and Siwa made no strategic sense either, but had a lot to do with Alexander's presumed ancestry."…..http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander13.html
"Herodotus connects the black inhabitants of Africa to the dark Indians, which must have made it easy to move Nysa to the valley of the river Swat, in the mysterious Indus country that was discovered by Alexander the Great. Here, he visited a city called Nysa near a mountain called Meros, 'thigh', which reminded the Macedonians of the myth that Dionysus was born from Zeus' thigh. The presence of ivy was sufficient evidence to prove the connection. Behind this story undoubtedly is the ancient Indian legend about the world mountain Meru. The story by Arrian of Nicomedia…..
"The myth of Nysa……In 326, Alexander invaded the Indus valley, where he discovered in Gandara a town called Nysa that was dedicated to the god Dionysus. (Probably, this was the Indian god Shiva. The mountain Meru mentioned below was the center of the Indian universe.) The only description of the temple is to be found in the Life of Apollonius of Tyana by the Greek author Philostratus. The story of the discovery is told by the Greek author Arrian of Nicomedia, whose Anabasis (section 5.1.1-2.2) was translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt…..hIn the country on Alexander's route between the river Cophen and the Indus lay the city of Nysa, supposed to have been founded by Dionysus, at the time of his conquest of the Indians......ttp://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_t18.html
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"…. the Hindus had also a mountain with this same appellation of pre-eminence of Meru, ‘the hill,’ with the prefix Su, ‘good, sacred’: the Sacred Hill…..Meru, Sumeru…in the geography of the Agni Purana, the term is used as a substantial geographical limit….. and some of the rivers flowing from the mountainous ranges, whose relative position with Sumeru are there defined, still retain their ancient appellations……This sacred mountain (Sumeru) is claimed by the Brahmans as the abode of Mahadeva, Adiswar, or Baghes; by the Jains, as the abode of Adinatli, the first Jiniswara, or Jain lord. Here they say he taught mankind the arts of agriculture and civilized life. …..The Greeks claimed it as the abode of Bacchus; and hence the Grecian fable of this god being taken from the thigh of Jupiter, confounding me-ros (thigh) with the mane (hill) of this Indian deity…… In this vicinity the followers of Alexander had their Saturnalia, drank to excess of the wine from its indigenous vines, and bound their brows with ivy sacred to the Baghes of the east and west, whose votaries alike indulge in strong drink.’……These traditions appear to point to one spot, and to one individual, in the early history of mankind, when the Hindu and the Greek approach a common focus; for there is little doubt that Adinath, Adiswara, Osiris, Baghes, Bacchus, Mann, Menes designate the patriarch of mankind, Noah…….The Hindus can at this time give only a very general idea of the site of Meru; but they appear to localize it in a space of which Bamian, Kabul, and Ghazni would be the exterior points. The former of these cities is ‘known to possess remains of the religion of Buddha, in its caves and colossal statues. The Paropamisan Alexandria is near Barnian; but the Meru and Nyssa of Alexander are placed more to the eastward by the _Greek writers, and according to the cautious Arrian between the Cophas and Indus. Authority localizes it between Peshawar and Jalalabad, and calls it Merkoh, or Markoh, “a bare rock 2000 feet high with caves to the westward, termed Bedaulat by the Emperor Humayun…..designation, however, of Dasht-i Bedaulat, or ‘unhappy plain,’ was given to the tract between the cities before mentioned …. The only scope of these remarks on Sumeru is to show that the Hindus themselves do not make India within the Indus the cradle of their race, but west, amidst the hills of Caucasus, whence the sons of Vaivaswata, or the sun-born,’ migrated eastward to the Indus and Ganges, and founded their first establishment in Kosala, the capital, Ayodhya, or Oudh…..Most nations have indulged the desire of fixing the source whence they issued, and few spots possess more interest than this elevated Madhya-Bhumi, ‘or central region’ of Asia, where the Amu, Oxus, or Jihun, and other rivers, have their rise, and in which both the Surya and Indu races (Sakha) claim the hill."…..http://www.ibiblio.org/britishraj/Tod1/bk02ch01.html
Tirich Mir…… Meru (Kaṭh B)….Meros (Arrian)…Anabasis)…..Sumeru … Pāli Sineru … cf. *devameru, Shina díamer = Nanga Parbat, CDIAL 6533)….
the campaigns of Alexander the Great (b. c. 356 and died 323) written by Anabasis Alexandrou
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Tirich Mir......"One of the puzzles of the Indian campaign is the visit to Nysa. Here, the god Dionysus was venerated, one of Alexander's mythological ancestors . It is not known which god was identified with Dionysus. Next to the town was a sacred mountain called Meros ('thigh') by the Greeks; it reminded them of the story that Dionysus was born from Zeus' thigh. In fact, the Indian name was Meru, the holy mountain or 'axis' of the world.....The route to Nysa as described by the Greek historians of Alexander's campaign suggest a southerly location near the river Kunar, but a location more to the north, near modern Chitral, better fits the fact that there was ivy to be found on the spot. Moreover, there is an impressive mountain near Chitral, called Tirich Mir. And although a march to Chitral makes no strategic sense, it is perhaps to be preferred; Alexander's marches to Troy and Siwa made no strategic sense either, but had a lot to do with Alexander's presumed ancestry."....http://www.livius.org
Email....okarresearch@gmail.com
John Hopkins.....Northern New Mexico….February 2014
I am not clear what was the name given to modern day Tirich Mir in Hellenic Greek
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