Is there any truth to stories about gold in the river beds, the countless treasures of these mountains if we regard the Northern Uvals as the legendary mountains? Let us look at reference literature. The Brokhaus and Efron encyclopedia says that the banks and river beds of the Mera, Volga (by Kostroma), Unzha and their tributaries have such an abundance of pyrites (fool’s gold) that it is enough lor industrial use. At the end of the 19th century peasants collected rock-ore washed up by the rivers and brought them to local factories.36 The Vurlam River flowing from the Northern Uvals to the south and its tributaries carry their waters through fields containing golden sand.
Part of the map in Ptolemaeos’ Geography, published in Rome in 1490
Relevant here is some information about the mineral resources of the Northern Uvals, the Timan mountain ridge, and other elevations in the northern European part of the Soviet Union. Many of them were most likely well known and used back in ancient times. They are sheet mica, mountain wax, tar, oilstone, rock salt, cuprous limestone, malachite, iron, copper, tin, silver, gold, precious stones such as diamond, zircon, ilmenite, spinel, amethyst, garnet, rock crystal, agate, beryl, chalcedony, amber. This list could be continued, but suffices to prove that the rivers flowing in “golden beds” and mountains “rich in precious stones” are not myths.
The mysterious holy mountains of Indo-Iranian mythology, Scythian legends and stories by ancient writers, begin to seem quite real as virtually everything said about Hara and Meru, the Ripei (Hyperborei) mountains applies to the Northern Uvals:
1. Like the legendary mountains, the Uvals extend from west to east.
2. Like these mountains, they are the border of the north and south, and are the main divide of rivers of the south and north that flow from the Uvals.
3. As in these mountains, the North Star and Big Dipper can be seen high in the sky all year.
4. As true of these mountains, the shores of the freezing White and Barents seas lie behind the Uvals. Here the polar day and the polar night are both half a year long. The northern lights can be seen on the sea shore.
5. There is only one place in the Soviet Union where the direction of the predominant air masses in the winter is clearly oriented from the northeast to the southwest. Starting out in the Kara Sea, running along the western extremity of the Northern Urals, and skimming over the Northern Uvals,40 this powerful current “is the same northeast wind invariably mentioned in connection with the Hyperborei and Ripei mountains and the related problems”.
6. Rivers flowing from the Northern Uvals do often have gold in, their beds, or beds lined with pyrite (fool’s gold) which resembles gold.
7. The Northern Uvals and the Timan mountain ridge are rich in a variety of minerals.
8. The Northern Uvals are covered with luxuriant forests and an endless variety of herbs and grasses. Fir, linden, elm, alder, and birch trees, black and red currants, Cornelian cherries, honeysuckle, rose hips, and thickets of hop grow on their slopes. These places have always been famous for abundance of animals, birds and fish: all this is mentioned in ancient and medieval literature as applied to the Ripei Mountains.
Among what has been said of holy mountains in the Indo-Iranians (the Ripei Mountains of the Scythians), and what we have not as yet linked with the Northern Uvals, there is another important detail – their altitude. Indeed, the Hara, Meru and Ripei mountains are described as very high, whereas the Northern Uvals today are no ' more than 500 meters above sea level. But it must be kept in mind that the singers of Mahabharata always described Hara and Meru as covered with forests and teeming with animals and birds.Consequently, they could not be very high.
Main watershed of the northern and southern rivers of the Eastern Europe.Fig.Vinogradov G.I.
Just what are the Northern Uvals like? Let us refer to E. Murzaev’s Dictionary of Folk Geographical Terms which says that an “Uval” (hill) in the vicinity of the White Sea is a steep and tall river bank, a mountainous ridge along a valley.44 The river valleys of the Northern Uvals divide are deep and steep canyons with sides up to 80 and more meters high. The Sukhona drop on the section from Totma its month is over 49m, here it is as rapid as a mountain river.45 We know the altitude of mountains is not stable – over the millennia elevation parameters change, they become bigger or smaller. According to geological data, the ancient river valleys of the divide were 80—160 meters lower than they are today. Researchers unanimously agree that deep-set ancient valleys were caused by vertical tectonic movements of relatively large amplitude – 200—400 m46. Hence, we cannot say with certainty how high the Northern Uvals were 3,000—5,000 years ago, that is3 in Indo-Iranian antiquity, whose lower level it is impossible to chronologies precisely.
Finally, the question of cradle of the Indo-Iranian peoples is still open. Most Soviet researchers link the formation of the Indo-Iranian group with the southern half of the European part of the Soviet Union – the reaches of the lower Don. the northern Black Sea and Volga areas, etc.47 In antiquity the Uvals were indeed located north of the sources of rivers flowing on these lands, and they blocked the way to the shores of the White and Barents seas, which is probably why the legends said the mountains were impassable.
There is one more point: precisely in the watershed section of the Northern Uvals, to this day, there are many place names of intriguing similarity to Indo-Iranian words: Harino, Harovo, Harina Mountain, Harenskoye, Harinskaya, Harinovskaya; Mandara, Man-darovo, Mandra (and the Mandara mountain in the Mahabharata); Ripino, Ripinka, Ripa (and Ripei Mountains), etc. Just as interesting are river names in the region, names of still unknown origin: Indola, Indomanka, Indocap, Sindosh, Varna, Striga, Svaga, Svatka, Hvarze-nta, Harina, Pana, Kobra, Tora, Arza. (To the best’ of the author’s knowledge the possible connection between the hydronyms of this area and Indo-Iranian languages has not yet been studied). Besides, as late as the early 20th century the weaving and embroidery designs used by Russian peasant women still preserved the tradition of geometric ornamentation which originated in the most ancient Eurasian cultures of the Copper and Bronze ages, and primarily in the ceramic ornamentation of the Andronovo farming-stock breeding culture of the 17th-12th centuries B.C. which many researchers believe was an Indo-Iranian (Aryan) group.
Ah this gives reason to surmise that the holy mountains of Hara and Meru in Indo-Iranian mythology, the Hyperborei and Ripei Mountains mentioned by the Scythians and authors of antiquity, were the elevations of the northeastern European part of the Soviet Union – the Northern Uvals.
In conclusion, the Northern Uvals, especially in their eastern and central regions, remain practically unexplored by archeologists.
Hopefully, in the near future they can expect new and fascinating discoveries helping to raise the curtain covering the history of many peoples inhabiting our continent.
Where are you, Mount Meru?
In the far north, where the land is covered with snow most of the year, great and endless mountains stretch from west to east. Around their golden peaks, the sun makes its annual journey, seven stars of Ursa Major sparkle above them in the dark of night, and in the center of the universe is the North Star. From these mountains all the great earthly streams rush down, only one of them flows south, to the warm sea, and others – to the north, to the white ocean. On the tops of these mountains forests make noise, marvelous birds sing, wonderful animals live and rivers flow in the golden channels. But it wasn’t given to a mere