Ramyaka
Ramyaka, “the delightful land”
Nīla has other meanings too: see all meanings of Nīla.
Ramyaka is one of the varshas, the great lands, of Jambūdvīpa. The Brahma Purāṇa places it to the north of Meru and says that it is made of gold, and that the Uttara Kuru lands are there.
Its place in Jambūdvīpa
The munis ask to hear the form of the earth’s sphere and the arrangement of the bhuvanakośa, and the teller tells it in brief. In the middle of the seven dvīpas is Jambūdvīpa, and in the middle of Jambūdvīpa stands the golden mountain Meru. South of Meru are the varsha-mountains Himavān, Hemakūṭa and Nishadha; north of it are Nīla, Śveta and Śṛṅgī. South of Meru are the varshas Bhārata, Kimpurusha and Hari. Ramyaka is to the north; it is made of gold, and the Uttara Kuru lands are there. Each of these varshas is nine thousand yojanas wide, like Bhārata-varsha, and in their midst is Ilāvṛta, with the golden mountain Meru in it.
The Bhadrā, one of the four streams of the Ākāśa-gaṅgā that fall around the city of Brahmā on Meru, crosses the northern mountains, flows through the Uttara Kuru lands and reaches the northern ocean. In the Kuru lands the eternal Govinda, Bhagavān Vishṇu, dwells in the form of Matsya.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 18
The life of its people
“Brāhmaṇas!” the teller says, “in the eight varshas beginning with Kimpurusha, the beings know no sorrow, fatigue, anxiety, hunger, thirst or fear.” The people there are healthy, unhindered and untouched by any sorrow, and they live ten or twelve thousand years. There are none of the sufferings of the other land, and no division into the yugas Kṛta, Tretā and the rest. In each of these varshas there are seven chief mountains, and from them hundreds of rivers arise.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 18
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 18