In Hindu mythology, Mount Meru is regarded as the center or axis of the universe.
Mount Meru appears in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain cosmological traditions, with details differing among them. Hindu accounts often place it at the center of the cosmic world system and describe it as immensely high, radiant, and surrounded by continents, oceans, and celestial realms. The mountain is a cosmological structure rather than a straightforward identification with a single physical peak.
Mount Meru is sometimes confused with Mount Kailash, which is especially associated with Shiva and is revered as a sacred earthly mountain. Mount Mandara is another mythological mountain, famous as the churning rod in the Samudra Manthana. Vindhya is a real mountain range in India that also appears in Hindu stories.
The axis-mundi idea helps explain why Meru occupies a central role in temple architecture, sacred diagrams, and religious geography. Different texts give different measurements and descriptions, so exact dimensions should not be treated as universally fixed.