#143 Where was the trikUT Mount of rAvaNa? jhArkhand?

Vol. 5 Sundara kAnDa i.e. the Vol. of Beauty (hanumAn crossing the ocean and searching for Sita)
Chapter 2 i.e. sarga 2
verse 1 i.e. SlOka 1.

sa sAgaramanAdhrIshhyam
atikramya mahAbalaHa
trikUTaSikharE lankAM
sthitAM svasthO dadarsha ha.

CONTEXT and GIST
hanumAn leaped over the insurmountable sea and looked at the City of lanka from the Mount trikUTa.

ybrem after analysis
The general impression among Indians is that, this trikOOT mountain is in Sri Lanka.

I feel that this trikOOT (or trikUT) is the Mount trikUTA (now it has a ropeway) in dEvghar, jhArkhand State. This dEVghar is the seat of baidyanAtha jyOtirlingam, one of the 12 great temples of Shiva.

This baidyanAth phallus was said to have been established by rAvaNa after fierce penance. It has a good mythological story attached to it.

From the Mount trikUT we can view the Shiva temple established by rAvaNa. The word 'lanka' need not referred to an island in Sea. It can as well be a lake or mote of a fort or a big island of Great river like Ganga.

6-39-18 and 19
shikharam tu trikuuTasya
praamshu ca ekam divi spR^isham
samantaat puSpa samchannam
mahaa rajata samnibham
shata yojana vistiirNam
vimalam caaru darshanam
shlakSNam shriiman mahac
caiva duSprApam shakunair api
manasaa api durAroham kim punaH karmaNA janaiH.

This is in the book of "War" i.e. yuddha kAnDa.
rAma lakshmaNas and the vAnaras built a bridge, crossed the Sea, and reached lanka.

First rAma lakshmaNas and the vAnaras looked at the lanka city from suvEla Mount. Later the vAnaras went to trikUT mountain. The above verse describes the trikUT mount visited by vAnaras.

Important
This verse describes trikUT mount as having an area of a 100 yOjanas (1600 km.), same as the Sea which hanumAn leaped. We have to now, equate the area of the sea with the area of the Mount. Obviously, it was not the Sea or the Ocean which hanumAn leaped. There are no such large mounts either in Sri Lanka or in Jharkhand which satisfy the criteria of 1600 sq.km. area and Sea adjacent to it. The Area of the TrikuT Mount should be some 10km. long x 10km. width. Then only the vAnara tribals can walk from the SuvEla mount to the trikUT Mount.

Of course, trikUT Mount must be very tall and difficult to climb. The verse justifies it: mahac
caiva duSprApam shakunair api
manasaa api durAroham kim punaH karmaNA janaiH. (Even birds find it difficult to climb, not to speak of humans). For this reason only, a ropeway has been built at the trikUT Mount of baidyanAth dEvghar, in the 21st Century.