BTW: Do you have some thoughts of the Mount Meru myth and it´s astronomical/cosmological meanings? That would be interesting to hear about.
Oh sure. Mount Meru is and Indian myth and there are many references to it in our scriptures. Here are some for your perusal:
Cf. Bhāskarâchārya’s Siddhânta Shiromani, (1150 CE), Golādhyâya, Chapter vii., verses 6-7.
“There is a peculiarity at the place, where the latitude is greater than 66° N. Whenever the northern declination of the sun exceeds the complement of the latitude, there will be perpetual day, for such time is that excess continues. Similarly when the southern (declination exceeds), there will be perpetual night. On Meru, therefore there is equal half-yearly perpetual day and night.” Thus if the latitude of a place be 70°, its complement will be 90 - 70 = 20°; and as the sun’s heights above the celestial equator (that is, his declination) is never greater than 23° 28' there will be a continuous day at the place, so long as the declination is greater than 20° and less 23° 28', and there will be a similar continuous night when the sun is in the Southern hemisphere. Paul Du Chaillu mentions that at Nordkyn or North Cape (N. lat. 71° 6'50'') the northernmost place on the continent of Europe, the long night commences on 18th November, and ends on 24th January, lasting in all, for 67 days of twenty-four hours each."
"Mount Meru is the terrestrial North Pole of our astronomers, and the Sûrya-Siddhânta, XII, 67, 6th Century BCE, says: - “At Meru Gods behold the sun after but a single rising during the half of his revolution beginning with Aries.” Now according to Purânas Meru is the home or seat of all the Gods, and the statement about their half year-long night and day is thus easily and naturally explained; and all astronomers and divines have accepted the accuracy of the explanation. The day of the Gods corresponds with the passage of the sun from the vernal to the autumnal equinox, when the sun is visible at the North Pole, or the Meru; and the night with the Southern passage of sun, from the autumnal back to the vernal equinox."
"We shall, therefore, next quote the Mahâbhârata, which gives such a clear description of Mount Meru, the lord of the mountains, as to leave no doubt its being the North Pole, or possessing the Polar characteristics. In chapters 163 and 164 of the Vanaparvan, Arjuna’s visit to the Mount is described in detail and we are therein told, “at Meru the sun and the moon go round from left to right (Pradakshinam) every day and so do all the stars.” Later on the writer informs us: — “The mountain, by its lustre, so overcomes the darkness of night, that the night can hardly be distinguished from the day.” A few verses further, and we find, “The day and the night are together equal to a year to the residents of the place.”
"Passing on, therefore, to the Vedic literature, we find Mount Meru described as the seat of seven Âdityas in the Taittirîya Âranyaka I, 7, 1, (2,000 BCE Approx.), while the eighth Âditya, called Kashyapa is said never to leave the great Meru or Mahâmeru. Kashyapa is further described as communicating light to the seven Âdityas, and himself perpetually illumining the great mountain. It is, however, in the Taittirîya Brâhmana (III, 9, 22, 1), (2,000 BCE Approx.), that we meet with a passage which clearly says, “That which is a year is but a single day of the Gods."
"There is, however, another passage in the Âranyaka (I, 7, 1-6) which throws some light on the nature of these Âdityas.* The names of the suns here given are different. They are: Aroga, Bhrâja, Patara, Patanga, Svarnara, Jyotishîmat, Vibhâsa and Kashyapa; the last of which is said to remain, constantly at the great mount Meru, permanently illumining that region. The other seven suns are said to derive their light from Kashyapa and to be alone visible to man."
"Râmâyana (IV, 40, 64), which mentions Udaya Parvata, or the mountain of sun-rise, and says that on the top of it is the peak Saumanasa, the place where Vishnu’s first step was planted. We are then told that his second step was placed on the summit of Meru; and that “when the sun had circled round Jambudvîpa (Indian sub-continent) by the north, he is mostly visible on that lofty peak.”
Source: "Arctic Home in Vedas", BG Tilak
