III. Apokopa or Poinai Them
The first and westernmost of the seven Indian “mountains” mentioned by Ptolemy (vii, 1, 19) bears the curious name τὰ ’άπίκιπακαλεîται Ποιναὶ Θευ. Its extremities are stated to be situated at 116° E. 23° N. and 121° (v.l. 124°) E. 20° 30′ (v.l. 26°) N. In Ptolemy's idea it was therefore a mountain-range of considerable length running either in a south-easterly or north-easterly direction.
Lassen points out that according to Ptolemy the Apokopa was situated to the west and south of the Vindhya. This, he argues, is impossible as the latter extends almost as far west as the coast so as to leave no room for another mountain range. He then proceeds to correct Ptolemy's error with the aid of Megasthenes and the Māhābharata. In a fragment of the Greek ambassador's work on India, preserved by Pliny, mention is made of a high mountain named Capitalia. This name Lassen renders by ” Capital Punishment ” (“ Todes-strafe ”) and assumes it to be the equivalent of Ptolemy's Poinai Theon, i.e. ” Punishments of the gods ” (“ Strafen der Götter ”). He believes it to originate from a legend relating how the gods punished a crime committed on this spot and furthermore detects a reference to such a legend in the name Apokopa to which he assigns the meaning of ” hewing down, chopping off ” (“ das Abhauen ”). An allusion to the supposed legend Lassen discovers in the Māhābharata (Bombay ed., iii, 82,55–6). Here in the course of an enumeration of firthas a visit to the mountain Arbuda is recommended and it is briefly stated that here a cleft (chidra) of the earth is found and the hermitage of Vasistha celebrated in the three worlds.