Vyasa turned to the place where the Devi lives. He told King Janamejaya that he would now describe Manidvipa, the lovely abode of Bhuvaneshvari, the Adishakti who brings the world forth. Above Brahmaloka there is a world spoken of as the Sarvaloka, and that is Manidvipa, the dwelling of the Bhagavati; it is called the world of all because it is the best of all worlds. Long ago the Paramba, whose form is Mulaprakriti, made it by her own will, first of all things, to be her home. It is greater and finer than Kailasa, than Vaikuntha, than Goloka, and nowhere in the three worlds is there a place as beautiful. Manidvipa is the parasol held over the three worlds; it puts out the heat of samsara, and it is the shade in which all the brahmandas rest.
The nectar ocean and the first two ramparts
Around Manidvipa lies an ocean of nectar, many yojanas across and as deep as it is wide, raised by the wind into hundreds of waves at a time. Its sand is clean and made of jewels, it is full of fish and conches, and where wave strikes wave the spray comes off cool and shining; ships under flags of many colors come and go across it, and all along its shores stand trees of gems. Beyond the ocean rises the first wall, of iron, seven yojanas in extent and touching the sky. Guards live inside it in good spirits, on every side, men who can strike with any weapon and know every kind of war. It has four gates and gatekeepers in their hundreds, and it is ringed by the many ganas who are devoted to the Bhagavati. The ganas and the vehicles of the gods who come for the darshan of Jagadishvari stop here, so that the place is never free of the rumble of hundreds of vimanas and the sound of bells, and the directions are as if deafened by the neighing of horses and the striking of their hooves. The servants of the gods are always here, and the Devi’s own ganas, canes in their hands and shouting kilakila, beat them back and keep them in order. In that din no one hears anyone, and a single word reaches its listener only with great effort. Here and there lie lakes of sweet water and many gardens of jewel trees.
Beyond the iron wall stands the second, of bronze, round in shape, larger than the first, its top at the sky and its brightness a hundred times greater. Inside its gopuras and gates grow trees of every kind that exists, always laden with flowers and fruit and new shoots and fine fragrance: jackfruit and bakula, lodhra and karnikara, shimshapa and devadaru, mango and tala and tamala and sala, nagakesara, champaka and sandal, date and sugarcane, khadira and tamarind, bilva and kutaja and dozens more, with forests of tulasi and mallika among them and gardens with hundreds of step-wells. Cuckoos sing in the trees and bees drone, the shade is cool and the trunks drip sap; trees of every season stand together, full of birds, with rivers of many juices running between them. The wind off the wings of pigeons, parrots, mynas and hamsas shakes the branches, herds of does run through the shade, and peacocks dance and cry, and the whole divine forest drips honey on every side.
The gardens of the six seasons
Beyond the bronze wall is a wall of copper, square, seven yojanas high, and between the two lies the Kalpavatika, whose trees carry flowers and leaves like gold and seeds and fruit like jewels, and whose fragrance spreads ten yojanas around. Vasanta, the spring, guards that forest, adorned with flowers, under a parasol of flowers, seated on a throne of flowers and unsteady on the liquor pressed from them; Madhushri and Madhavashri, smiling, are his two dear wives, who play at ball with clusters of blossom. Drunken cuckoos call, the scented wind kindles the longing of lovers, and gandharvas who love song stay there with their women. Beyond the copper wall is a wall of lead, seven yojanas high, and between them lies the Santanavatika, its blossoms the color of gold and its fruit full of a juice like nectar. Its lord is Grishma, the summer, with Shukrashri and Shuchishri for his two dear wives; every creature the heat has tormented sits down in the shade of those trees and is content, and the ring is full of siddhas and gods, and of pleasure-loving women, garlanded, palm-leaf fans in their hands, sandal on their limbs, drinking cool water. Beyond the lead wall is a wall of brass, seven yojanas long, and between them a garden of harichandana trees. Its lord is Varsha, the rains, seated on clouds, with tawny lightning for his eyes and the clouds for his armor, thunder for his mouth and the rainbow for his bow, and ringed by his ganas he lets down thousands of streams of water on every side. Twelve shaktis are dear to him, Nabhahshri and Nabhasyashri and ten more down to Varidhara, all of them giddy with intoxication. New shoots and green grass cover the ground there, the rivers run hard, and the lakes stand clouded with mud, like the minds of men full of attachment and aversion. Gods and siddhas live in that ring, and with them, happy with their wives, the people who built step-wells and wells and tanks for the Devi’s sake and offered them to her. Beyond the brass wall is a wall of five metals, seven yojanas long, with the Mandara-vatika in its middle; its lord is Sharad, the changeless autumn, with Ishulakshmi and Urjalakshmi for his two dear wives, and many siddhas live there with their wives and followers. Beyond the five-metal wall is a shining wall of silver, seven yojanas long, with the Parijata forest in its middle, whose scent reaches ten yojanas and delights every gana engaged in the Devi’s worship. Its lord is the very bright Hemanta, weapon in hand among his ganas, with Sahashri and Sahasyashri for his two dear wives, and the siddhas who keep the Bhagavati’s vrata live there. Beyond the silver wall is a wall of molten gold, seven yojanas long, called the Sauvarna-sala, with the Kadamba-vatika in its middle, where thousands of streams of kadamba liquor run without pause, and whoever drinks from them knows the bliss of the Self. Its lord is the excellent Shishira, with Tapahshri and Tapasyashri for his two dear wives, and the great siddhas who made many gifts to please the Devi live there in companies with their families, full of the joy of every enjoyment.
Beyond the gold wall is a wall of pushparaga, the topaz, red as kumkum, seven yojanas long. Its ground is pushparaga, and its forests and groves and the trees with their basins are pushparaga, for this is the rule of the jewel walls: whatever gem a wall is made of, the trees, forests, ground, birds, pavilions, pillars, lakes and lotuses inside it are of that gem, and the water takes that gem’s color, so that everything within a wall is like the wall. And each wall from here inward is a lakh of times brighter than the one before it.
The guardians of the eight directions
The dikpalas of every brahmanda live in Manidvipa, each quarter’s guardians gathered into one, with their blazing weapons, and their cities stand in the eight directions of the island. In the east is Amaravatipuri, with high peaks and many groves, its beauty more than a thousand times the beauty of heaven; there the mighty Indra shines, mounted on Airavata with the vajra in his hand, with the army of the gods, and Shachi with him among many divine women. In the fire-corner, the southeast, is Vahnipuri, blazing like fire, where Agni sits among his gods with his two shaktis, Svaha and Svadha. In the south is Yamapuri, where the sun’s son, great Yama, staff in hand, sits with his shakti among his attendants and his ministers, Chitragupta and the rest. In the southwest corner is the city of the rakshasas, where sword-bearing Nirriti sits with his shakti among his rakshasas. In the west, in Varunaloka, the mighty king Varuna sits with his ganas, the noose in his hand, mounted on a fish and overcome with the varuni he has drunk, devoted to his shakti Varunani, who sits beside him. In the northwest, the wind’s corner, is Vayuloka, where large-eyed Vayu lives with his shakti, banner in hand, mounted on a deer, among the Marut-ganas and the yogis who have perfected pranayama. In the north is the great world of the yakshas, where pot-bellied Kubera sits with his shakti, with Vriddhi and Riddhi and the other shaktis, the nine nidhis, and his yaksha generals, Manibhadra, Purnabhadra and the rest. And in the northeast corner is the great Rudraloka, set with priceless jewels, where Bhagavan Rudra presides, his eyes blazing and his form wrathful, a great quiver bound on his back and a blazing bow in his left hand. Around him stand countless Rudras like himself, archers with strung bows and tridents, misshapen and fearsome-faced, spitting flame, some with ten arms, some with a hundred, some with a thousand, all the Rudras of sky and earth and all those the Rudradhyaya names; and crores of Rudranis, the matrikas with Bhadrakali at their head, and Virabhadra with the other ganas. A garland of heads hangs at his neck, serpents are his bracelets and his sacred thread, a tiger skin is on his body and an elephant hide is his upper cloth, his limbs are smeared with the ash of the pyre; the fierce sound of his damaru deafens the directions, his laughter and the slapping of his arms frighten the sky, hosts of bhutas crowd about him, and he is the dwelling place of all beings. Because he is lord of the Ishana direction, he is named Ishana.
The inner ramparts of jewels
Beyond the pushparaga wall is a wall of padmaraga, the ruby, red as kumkum, ten yojanas long, with many gopuras and gates and hundreds of pavilions on pillars of the same gem. On the red ground in its middle sit the sixty-four kalas, heroic, armed with many weapons and adorned with jewels, from Pingalakshi and Vishalakshi down to Vagishi. Each kala has a world of her own and is its mistress, and each is surrounded always by the dwellers of her world with their vehicles and weapons. Their eyes are red with anger, their faces burn with blazing tongues, they spit fierce fire, and they say the same thing over and over: “We will now drink up all the water, destroy the fire, stop the wind, and devour the whole world.” Bow and arrows are always in their hands, their hair stands up tawny, they long for war, and the gnashing of their teeth deafens the directions. Each kala has an army of a hundred akshauhinis, and a single one of those shaktis has the power to destroy lakhs of brahmandas, so what a hundred akshauhinis of them could do, Vyasa said, he could not tell. Beyond the padmaraga wall is a wall of gomeda, ten yojanas long, bright as the japa flower, and everything within it is gomeda, red as kumkum. In its middle live thirty-two great shaktis, from Vidya and Hri to Ambika and Hladini, armed with many weapons, their faces fearsome as pishachas, standing alert around the wall, worshiped daily by the dwellers of svarga. They long for war at heart, discs in their hands and eyes red with anger, and they keep saying, “Cut, cook, pierce, burn to ash!” Each of them leads ten akshauhinis, a single shakti of that army can destroy a lakh of brahmandas, and if these goddesses are angered the whole brahmanda is undone in an instant; nowhere at any time is their defeat possible. Beyond the gomeda wall is a wall of vajra, the diamond, ten yojanas high, with gopuras and gates shut with doors and chains, and all the ground within is diamond, with the houses, lanes, crossroads, highways, courtyards, step-wells, tanks and wells. There live the attendants of Bhagavati Bhuvaneshvari, each of them proud, and each served by a lakh of maids: some hold palm-leaf fans, some cups of honey, some betel-boxes, parasols, chamaras, mirrors, kumkum paste and kajal; some paint designs, some press feet, some keep the jewel caskets of the Bhagavati’s ornaments; and by a mere trace of her grace all of them think the three worlds a trifle. Drunk with shringara, they are called the Devi’s dutis, her messengers, Anangarupa, Anangamadana and six more; their limbs shine like lightning, their waists tinkle with many-stringed girdles and their feet with anklets, and running swiftly in and out, canes in hand, skilled in every task, they look like streaks of lightning. Their dwellings stand outside this wall in the eight directions, with many vehicles and weapons.
Beyond the diamond wall is a wall of vaidurya, the cat’s-eye, ten yojanas high, all vaidurya within, down to the river banks and the sand. In its eight directions shines the circle of the matrikas, each surrounded by her ganas and each the gathered form of that matrika in every brahmanda: Brahmi, Maheshvari, Kaumari, Vaishnavi, Varahi, Indrani, Chamunda, and the eighth, Mahalakshmi, benefactors of the world, formed like Brahma, Rudra and the other gods. At the four gates of that wall the vehicles of Maheshvari Bhagavati stand always ready and decked with ornaments: elephants and horses by the crore, palanquins, hamsas, lions, garudas, peacocks and bulls, crores of chariots with generals seated and banners kissing the sky, and crores of vimanas with instruments and flags. Beyond the vaidurya wall is a wall of indranila, the sapphire, ten yojanas high, all of that gem within. There a shining lotus of sixteen petals opens, many yojanas wide, like a second Sudarshana chakra, and on it dwell sixteen shaktis, Karali, Vikarali, Uma, Sarasvati, Shri, Durga and ten more down to Arya. Shield and sword in their lotus hands, the color of the blue cloud, always longing for war, these are the senanis of Jagadishvari Shridevi, the generals who lead the shaktis in every brahmanda; empowered by Jagadamba they can shake the whole brahmanda, and even thousand-mouthed Shesha could not describe their valor. Beyond the indranila wall is a wide, shining wall of pearl, ten yojanas high, and in its middle a great lotus of pearls with eight petals. On the petals sit eight goddesses shaped like the Bhagavati and holding her weapons, the mantrinis, her ministers, equal to her in enjoyments, reading her signs and knowing her intent; by their power of knowledge they learn the news of beings in every brahmanda, and Anangakusuma, Anangakusumatura and the six others keep her informed of everything in the worlds from one moment to the next. Beyond the pearl wall is a wall of mahamarakata, the great emerald, ten yojanas long, full of every good fortune, and in it stands the Bhagavati’s great yantra of six corners, with gods at the corners. In the east corner is four-faced Brahma with Bhagavati Gayatri, and all the Vedas, shastras, smritis and Puranas live there embodied. In the southwest corner is Bhagavati Savitri, holding conch, discus, mace and lotus, and Mahavishnu in the same form, with all his forms, Matsya, Kurma and the rest. In the northwest corner is Maharudra with Sarasvati, and all the forms of Rudra and of Gauri and the sixty-four agamas embodied. In the southeast corner is Kubera, the lord of the Devi’s treasure, a jewel pot and a jeweled casket in his two hands, with Mahalakshmi. In the western corner, Varuna’s, Kamadeva lives always with Rati, and every kind of shringara lives there embodied. And in the northeast corner is Vighneshvara Ganesha, holding noose and goad, always present with Devi Pushti. By Brahma and the others is meant their gathered form in every brahmanda, and all of them are engaged in the service of Jagadishvari. Beyond the great emerald wall is a wall of pravala, the coral, red as kumkum, a hundred yojanas long, and in its middle live the five mistresses of the five elements, Hrillekha, Gagana, Rakta, the fourth Karalika and the fifth Mahochchhushma, each as bright as her element, holding noose, goad, boon and abhaya, dressed like the Bhagavati and proud in their fresh youth. Beyond the coral wall is a great wall of the nine jewels, many yojanas wide, where the dwellings and tanks and lakes of the goddesses of the Amnaya are all of the nine jewels. All the avataras of Shridevi live there, and all the forms of the Mahavidyas, every goddess bright as crores of suns with her encircling shaktis, her ornaments and her vehicles, and the deities of seven crore mahamantras live there too.
The Chintamani mansion and the Devi’s throne
Beyond the wall of the nine jewels, in the middle of the trikona, stands Jagadamba’s great mansion called Chintamani, where every object is made of that wish-granting stone. Its thousands of pillars are cut from stones that radiate like the sun, the moon and the lightning, and their light is so fierce that nothing inside can be seen. In it are four mandapas of a thousand pillars each, the Shringara-mandapa, the Mukti-mandapa, the Jnana-mandapa and the Ekanta-mandapa, hung with many canopies, perfumed with many incenses, shining like crores of suns. Around them lie gardens of saffron, mallika and kunda, with countless musk-deer dripping musk, and a great forest of lotuses with steps of jewels, full of nectar, humming with drunken bees, graced by karandavas and hamsas, its banks fragrant all around, so that the whole of Manidvipa is perfumed by these gardens. In the Shringara-mandapa the best of the gods sit around Jagadambika as the members of her assembly, and the goddesses sing to her always in many tones. Seated in the middle of the Mukti-mandapa, she gives her devotees mukti; in the Jnana-mandapa she teaches knowledge; and in the Ekanta-mandapa she deliberates always with her mantrinis on the protection of the world.
In the Chintamani house stands the Bhagavati’s mancha, her couch, with ten excellent steps that are the shakti-tattva itself. Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra and Ishvara are its four legs, and Sadashiva is the plank laid across them, and on it sits Bhuvaneshvara Mahadeva. He is the half-body of the Bhagavati who, at the beginning of creation, for her own lila, became two. He is very skilled at destroying the pride of Kandarpa and beautiful as crores of Kandarpas, five-faced and three-eyed, adorned with jewel ornaments, seeming always sixteen years old, and in his arms the great lord of all holds a deer, the gesture of abhaya, an axe and the gesture of the boon. Three-eyed Mahadeva shines like crores of suns and is cool as crores of moons, the hue of pure crystal, cool in his luster.
On his left lap sits Devi Shri Bhuvaneshvari, a gold girdle set with nine kinds of jewels at her waist and armlets of molten gold and vaidurya on her arms. Her ears bear gold ornaments shaped like the Shrichakra, the glory of her forehead outdoes the half-moon, her lips outshine the bimba fruit, and a tilaka of kumkum and musk brightens her face. A chudamani bright as moon and sun is on her head, a nose-ornament clear as Venus at its rising, a cluster of pearls at her throat, a crown of priceless jewels, and the curls on her lotus face like a row of drunken bees. Her face is the spotless autumn moon, her navel a whirlpool of the Ganga, her fingers bear rings set with rubies, and her three eyes, shaped like lotus petals, are her greatest beauty. Strings of gems and pearls are on her lotus feet, bees hover over the mallika garland on her scented hair-knot, and in her four arms shine the boon, the noose, the goad and abhaya. She has every adornment of shringara, limbs soft as a creeper; she is the ground of all beauty, and she is filled with a compassion that has no guile in it. The sweetness of her voice makes the vina seem poor, and she bears the luster of crores and crores of suns and moons, surrounded always by friends, maids, divine women and all the gods. She has the three shaktis, iccha, jnana and kriya, will, knowledge and action; Lajja, Tushti, Pushti, Kirti, Kanti, Kshama, Daya, Buddhi, Medha, Smriti and Lakshmi are embodied women about her, and the nine pitha-shaktis, Jaya, Vijaya, Ajita, Aparajita, Nitya, Vilasini, Dogdhri, Aghora and Mangala, serve that Paramba without pause. The two nidhis named Shankha and Padma sit at her sides, and from them issue the rivers Navaratnavaha, Kanchanasrava and Saptadhatuvaha, carrying the nine jewels, flowing gold and carrying the seven metals, and all of them at last run into the ocean of nectar. From her nearness, as she sits on the Lord’s left lap, Maheshvara has his lordship over all; there is no doubt of it. And the measure of the Chintamani house is this: the great mansion is a thousand yojanas in extent.
That supreme abode
Beyond it are many more great walls, each double the one before, and the whole of this Manidvipa stands in space with nothing to hold it up. As a cloth is folded and spread out again for some purpose, so at pralaya Manidvipa draws in upon itself and at creation spreads wide, and it is never destroyed. The utmost limit of the light of all those walls is the Chintamani house, where the radiant Devi dwells. All the worshipers of Shri Bhuvaneshvari in every brahmanda, in the worlds of gods and nagas and men and the rest, reach this Manidvipa, and those who, devoted to her worship, give up their lives in a Devi-kshetra all go where the Bhagavati, who is great bliss itself, dwells. Rivers of ghee, of milk, of curd and of honey flow there always, and the Amritavaha, and rivers of grape juice and jambu juice and mango juice and cane juice, and thousands of others; there are trees that bear the fruit of wishes, and step-wells and wells that give whatever fruit and water one asks for, and nothing is lacking. In Manidvipa no one has wasting disease or gray hair, old age or worry, envy, lust, anger or anything of the kind. All who live there are young, each with his wife, bright as thousands of suns, and they worship Shri Bhuvaneshvari without pause; of these worshipers some have won salokya, some samipya, some sarupya and some sarshti. The hosts of the gods of every brahmanda stay there and worship Jagadishvari, and the seven crore mahamantras, embodied, and all the Mahavidyas worship the auspicious Bhagavati, who is the state of equilibrium, Brahman as cause, her form made many-colored by Maya. Crores of suns, moons, lightnings and fires are not equal to a crore-th of a crore-th part of its light: here a light like coral, there the sheen of emerald, here the brightness of lightning and sun, there sindura and sapphire and ruby, quarters lit by diamond and pearl like forest fire and molten gold, and places of moonstone and sunstone. Peacocks dance in it, pigeons coo, cuckoos call and parrots talk sweetly; lakhs of lakes surround it with jewel lotuses blooming in their middles; a hundred yojanas around it are always perfumed, its sky is lit by masses of chintamani, and it shines for ten thousand yojanas; and the flickering rays that come through the holes of its jewel lattices, and its mirrors, confuse the directions until a man loses which way he was facing. The furthest limit of all lordship, all shringara, all omniscience, all tejas, all valor, all good qualities and all compassion is in this Manidvipa, and every joy, from a king’s joy up to the joy of Brahmaloka, is contained in its joy. This, Vyasa told the king, is the supreme abode of the Mahadevi, the best of all the best worlds. “By merely remembering Manidvipa all sins are quickly destroyed; one who remembers it at the moment the life-breath departs goes to that very city.” Whoever reads these five adhyayas daily with attention suffers no trouble from bhutas, pretas, pishachas and their kind, and at the building of a new house and at a vastu-yajna they should be read with care, for that brings good.
Source: Shrimad Devibhagavata Mahapurana (Gita Press, Gorakhpur)