If one wants to know about the lands and people of the world during Sanatana Dharma, the best source, in my opinion, is the set of instructions given by Sugriva to his army of vanaras in search of Sita, who was abducted by Ravana.
He gives such detailed descriptions, ably captured by Valmiki, that one can identify the Lands even today.
I have posted on Peru where Nazca Lines resemble the Trishul of Lord Shiva,Arkaim in Russia.
In the course of his directions Sugriva directs a group of his army bound for west to search for Sita in a mountain where the sun sets.
“Sugreeva, (the ‘vanara’ commander) directs the ‘vanaras’ to go west from the Vindya mountains of India, right up to the fourth quarter of the (Arabian) sea, via a point described as ‘where the Sindhu falls into the sea’ – which may point to either where the Indus falls into the Arabian Sea at Karachi in Pakistan or to where the Narmada falls into the Arabian Sea. Sindhu is the Sanskrit name of Indus, butsindhu also means ‘river’. Going along this route, the fourth quarter of the sea would bring the Vanaras to the ‘Persian Gulf’.
Valmiki description of a coastal mountain by the name ‘Hemgiri’ – high with its peak touching the sky, and also a waterlogged mountain by the name ‘Paariyatra’ indicates that the ‘vanaras’ were probably taking a sea-side route along the Persian Gulf. Valmiki also describes a Mount ‘Vajra’, which he says shines like a diamond – possibly a reference to the peaks of what is today known as the Zagros Range.
After crossing the fourth quarter of the Ocean, the ‘vanaras’ are told that they will see a structure on Mt. Chakravan, which looks like a ‘wheel with a thousand spokes’. The Ramayana says that the city or structure was built on this mountain by the ‘celestial architect’ ‘Vishwakarma. This suggest a megalithic circular wheel like structure atop a mountain…
Another option is the city of Yerevan in Armenia. Yerevan is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities of the world. Yerevan has been built and rebuilt over the ruins of older cities over the centuries – but its basic plan even today remains circular as it was in the ancient times. The city is spread out now but historically the city was located at the heart of the Armenian Highland in Kotayk canton of Ayrarat province.
The Ramayana say that a at distance of 64 ‘yojanas’ (a yojana has been taken to mean a distance of anywhere between 6 to 15 km) from this city, the Vanaras will encounter a peak by the name ‘Varaaha’. This may well be Mt. Ararat of today. Mt. Ararat is visible from Yerevan. Also, over the millennia the name ‘Chakravan’ may have distorted to ‘Yerevan’ and ‘Varaaha’ to ‘Ararat’.
The Ramayana then mentions a city by the name ‘Pragjyotish’ which was the abode of the demon ‘Naraka’. Though there are no cities with a name close to ‘Pragjyotish’ in the Armenian region, but there sure is a town by the name ‘Narek’ located close to Mt. Ararat.
Another possibility is that Valmiki may have been referring to a pre-historic city, on the ruins of which Baghdad was built later. Present day Baghdad was built on the ruins of ancient Baghdad which was first built in 700 AD. But is it possible that there was a city already existing thousands of years before 700 AD and was mentioned in the Ramayana. Sketches of ancient Baghdad comes uncannily close to Valmiki’s description.
Some scholars have suggested that there is also a possibility that when the ‘vanaras’ head west and then continue their journey along a mountain range, they could be moving northwards along the Zagros and further to the Ural range. In that case, could the ancient city that the ‘vanaras’ saw be ‘Arkaim’ in the Urals. It has even been debated that ancient Arkaim was not a city at all, and that it was a weapon-storage facility!
Citation.
http://vediccafe.blogspot.in/2013/05/where-is-chakravan-city-of-ramayana.html
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