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Sri Maitreya spoke. “Lord, describe to me now this entire globe of the earth. Tell me the measure and the shape of every ocean, every continent, every region, every mountain, and every river.” Parashara answered, “Maitreya, this expanse could not be told in full in a hundred years, so hear it in brief. Jambu, Plaksha, Shalmala, Kusha, Krauncha, Shaka, and Pushkara: these seven continents are ringed, each in its turn, by seven oceans of salt water, sugarcane juice, wine, clarified butter, curds, milk, and sweet water. At the center of them all lies Jambudvipa, and at its exact heart stands the golden mountain Sumeru, eighty-four thousand yojanas tall, sunk sixteen thousand yojanas into the earth, thirty-two thousand yojanas wide at its summit and sixteen thousand at its base.”
To the south of Sumeru rise the boundary ranges Himavan, Hemakuta, and Nishadha; to its north stand Nila, Shveta, and Shringi, each dividing one region from the next. Jambudvipa has nine segments, and Ilavrita lies at their center. Around it four mountains, Mandara, Gandhamadana, Vipula, and Suparshva, stand as though bracing Meru in place, and upon them grow, in order, the great trees: the kadamba, the jambu, the pipal, and the banyan. From the juice of the jambu tree’s fruit runs the Jambu river, and the clay along its banks, once it dries, hardens into the gold called jambunada. On Meru’s summit rests the great city of Brahma, fourteen thousand yojanas across, and around it stand the cities of the eight guardians of the directions, Indra and the rest. The holy Ganga, sprung from Vishnu’s foot, falls first upon the orbit of the moon, then into that city of Brahma, and from there she parts into four streams, Sita, Alakananda, Chakshu, and Bhadra, flowing away toward the four quarters. The people of these regions live free of illness for ten to twelve thousand years, and there sorrow is unknown and the ages leave no mark.
Bharatavarsha: the land of action
“Maitreya, the country that lies north of the ocean and south of the Himalaya is called Bharatavarsha, home to the offspring of Bharata, and its breadth is nine thousand yojanas. This alone is the land of action, from which a human being may reach heaven or moksha, and here too, by sinning, one falls into hell or into a lower birth. Within it stand seven principal ranges: Mahendra, Malaya, Sahya, Shuktiman, Riksha, Vindhya, and Pariyatra. It has nine divisions, the last of them encircled by the sea. From the Himalaya spring the Shatadru and the Chandrabhaga; from the Vindhya, the Narmada and the Surasa; from the Sahya, the sin-cleansing Godavari, Bhimarathi, and Krishna. Along their banks dwell many peoples, the Kurus, the Panchalas, the Kalingas, the Magadhas, and countless more.”
In this Bharatavarsha alone the four ages turn, Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali, and nowhere else. Here the sages perform their tapas and, through yajna, secure the world to come. Of all the regions of Jambudvipa, Bharata is the finest, for the rest are only lands of enjoyment. Even the gods sing of it, saying that those who take birth in Bharatavarsha, the road to both heaven and moksha, are more blessed than the gods themselves; only when the merit of a thousand lifetimes ripens does a soul at last win a human birth in this land.
The seven continents and their oceans
Beyond Jambudvipa lie six more continents, each in turn twice the breadth of the one before it, and every continent is ringed by an ocean twice its own width. Each is the realm of one of Priyavrata’s sons, and each is divided into seven regions that carry the names of that king’s seven sons; each has its seven boundary mountains and its seven rivers. Plakshadvipa’s lord is Medhatithi; it is ringed by the ocean of sugarcane juice, and there the Lord is worshipped in the form of Soma, the moon. Shalmala’s lord is Vapushman; it is ringed by the ocean of wine, and there the Lord is worshipped in the form of Vayu, the wind. Kushadvipa’s lord is Jyotishman; it is ringed by the ocean of ghee, and there Sri Hari is worshipped in the form of Brahma.
Krounchadvipa’s lord is Dyutiman; it is ringed by the ocean of curds, and there the Lord is worshipped in the form of Rudra. Shakadvipa’s lord is Bhavya; on it stands a vast shaka tree, and the very touch of its breeze fills the heart with delight, and it is ringed by the ocean of milk, where the Lord is worshipped in the form of Surya, the sun. The last, Pushkaradvipa, has Savana for its lord; it holds only two regions, Mahavira and Dhataki, and at its center a single ring-shaped mountain named Manasottara. There is neither disease there nor sorrow, nor any distinction of high and low; people live ten thousand years, and Brahma is worshipped beneath one nyagrodha tree. This continent is ringed by the ocean of sweet water, and past it lie a land of gold, then the Lokaloka mountain, then a thick and total darkness, and at the very edge the shell of the cosmic egg. In this way the whole globe of the earth measures five hundred million yojanas across.
The seven netherworlds and Shesha
“Maitreya, beneath the earth lie seven netherworlds, each ten thousand yojanas deep, and their names are Atala, Vitala, Nitala, Gabhastiman, Mahatala, Sutala, and Patala. Their soils run white in one place, black in another, ruddy or yellow elsewhere; some gravelly, some stony, some fashioned wholly of gold. In their beautiful palaces dwell danavas, daityas, yakshas, and great serpents. Once, returning from the netherworlds, Narada announced in heaven that Patala is lovelier even than heaven itself: there the serpents’ ornaments blaze with gems, and by day the sun’s rays give light without heat, while by night the moon’s rays spread their glow without cold.”
Below these seven netherworlds lies Shesha, the dark-formed body of Lord Vishnu, whom they call Ananta, the endless one. He bears a thousand hoods, adorned with the swastika sign, radiant as a white mountain, robed in blue, and in his hands he holds a plough and a pestle. He rests at the foot of Patala, carrying this whole earth upon his head like a crown. At the close of a kalpa, Rudra in the form of Sankarshana issues from his mouth like a blazing tongue of venom and burns the three worlds to ash. When Shesha yawns in his intoxication, the entire earth shudders, its oceans and its forests with it. By worshipping him in ancient days, the great sage Garga won his knowledge of the whole circle of the stars and of every omen, the favorable and the ill alike.
The hells and the glory of the Lord’s name
Below the earth and its waters lie the hells, into which sinners are cast down. Hundreds of them stand under the rule of Yama: Raurava, Sukara, Rodha, Tala, Vishasana, Mahajvala, Taptakumbha, Lavana, Vaitarani, Krimisha, Asipatravana, Krishna, Lalabhaksha, Puyavaha, Vahnijvala, Adhahshira, Sandamsha, Kalasutra, Tamas, and Avichi, among many more. The man who bears false witness or speaks with a partial tongue falls into Raurava; the killer of a brahmin and the thief of gold, into Sukara; the killer of a cow, into Rodha; and the one who tears down the fences of fields, into the Krishna hell. Having served out its term in hell, the soul climbs back by stages, as a plant, then a worm, a creature of the water, a bird, a beast, and at last a human being, moving toward dharma.
And yet, Maitreya, of all the penances of austerity and works, the remembrance of Sri Krishna stands highest. For one whose heart fills with remorse after sin, this remembrance of Hari is the single supreme atonement. Whoever calls Sri Narayana to mind, at dawn, at dusk, at noon, or at night, at any hour at all, watches every sin dissolve in that instant and never returns to hell; for such a devotee, even the pleasure of heaven counts as a hindrance. Whatever the mind holds dear is heaven, and whatever it finds hateful is hell; sin and merit are only other names for these two. The truth is that this entire universe is made of knowledge alone: vidya, true knowing, grants release, and avidya, ignorance, binds. And so, Maitreya, I have laid before you the whole globe of the earth, its oceans, its mountains, its continents and regions, its netherworlds, and its hells.
Source: Vishnu Purana (Gita Press, Gorakhpur)