54 - The description of Jambu-dvipa.

Markandeya tells Kraushtuki further the size of the earth, and this piler and dimensions of the seven continents and their oceans---He describes Jambu-dvipa, the countries in it, and Meru and the other mountains; and mentions various local facts. 

Kraustuki spoke.

1       How many are the continents, and how many the oceans, and how many are the mountains, O brahman? And how many are the countries, and what are their rivers, O Muni?

2 And the size of the great objects of nature, * and the Loka-loka mountain-range; the circumference, and the size and

*Mahá-bhúta.

3 the course of the moon and the sun also tell me all this at length, O great Muni. 

Markandeya spoke.

4 The earth is fifty times ten million yojanas † broad in every direction, †† O brahman. I tell thee of its entire constitution,

†This word must obviously be supplied; see verse 8.

†† Taking the yojana as 40,000 feet (see Canto xlix, 40), this diameter of the earth equals 3,787,878,788 miles.

5 hearken thereto. The dvipas which I have mentioned to thee, bogan with Jambu-dvipa and ended with Pushkara-dvipa, O illustrious brahman; listen further to their dimen-

6 sions. Now each dvipa is twice the size of the dvipa which precedes it in this order, Jambu, and Plaksha, Shalmala, Kusha,

7 Krauncha and Shaka, and the Pushkara-dvipa. They are completely surrounded by oceans of salt water, sugar-cane juice, wine, ghee, curdled milk, and milk, which increase double and double, compared with each preceding one. 

8 I will tell thee of the constitution of Jambu-dvipa; hearken to me. It is a hundred thousand yojanas in breadth and length,

9 it being of a circular shape. §Himavat, and Hema-kúta, Nishadha, || and Meru, Nila, Shveta and Shringin are the seven 

§ Vrittan. This distance cannot apply to the circumference (vritti) as well, the circumference, length and breadth cannot all be the same.

|| The text reads Rishabha, which disagrees with other Puránas and verses 22 and 23

10 great mountain-systems* in it. Two of these great mountain-ranges † are a hundred thousand yojanas in extent, and are situated in the middle of Jambu-dvipa; there are two mm mountain-ranges which are south of those two, and two more

* Varsha-parvata. 

† Nishadha on the south of Meru, and Nila on the north, according to the Vishnu-Purána, Bk. II, ch. ii.

11 which are north. They are severally less by ten and ten thousand yojanas in length††; they are all two thousand yojanas

†† The text of the first line of verse 11 seems wrong: read instead, as in the MS.-Dashabhir dashabhir nyúnáḥ sahasrais te parasparam. Hema-kúta (south of Nishadha) and Shveta (north of Níla) are 90,000 yojanas long. Himavat (south of Hema-kúta) and Shringin (north of Shveta) are 80,000 yojanas long. The decrease is due to their position in the circle of the earth. See Vishnu- Purana, Bk. II., ch. Ii.

12 in height, and they have the same breadth. And six of the mountain-ranges in it extend into the sea. The earth is low on the south and north, it is highly elevated in the middle. 

13 On the southern half of the elevated ground S are three countries, and on the north are three. Ilávrita is situated between those halves, and is shaped like the hall-moon.

§ Vedi.

14 East of it is Bhadrāśhva, and west is Ketu-mála. || 

Now in the middle of Ilávrita is Meru, the mountain of

|| These are the nine countries mentioned in canto liii, verses 32-35.

15 gold. The height of that immense mountain is eighty-four ¶ thousand yojanas; it penetrates downwards sixteen thousand 16 yojanas, and it is just sixteen thousand

¶ For chatur-asiti read chatur-ashiti?

16 yojanas, and it is just sixteen thousand yojanas broad; and since it is fashioned like a cup, ** it is thirty-two thousand yojanas broad at the summit. It is white, yellow, black and

** Sharáva; other authorities compare it to the inverted seed vessel of a lotus, which is somewhat like an inverted cone.

17 red on the east and other sides consecutively; and a brahman, a vaishya, a shudra, and a kshatriya are stationed there according to the castes. Moreover, upon it on the east and the seven

18 other directions of the sky consecutively †† are the Courts of Indra and the other Loka-palas; and in the centre is Brahma's Court, which is fourteen thousand yojanas high.

†† The MS. reads puryo dikshu for púrvadishu, with practically tho same meaning.

19 Moreover, below it are the subjacent hills * with a height of ten thousand yojanas. On the east and other sides con-

* Vishkambha-parvata.

20 secutively are the mountains Mandara, Gandha-mádana, and Vipula, and Su-párshva†; they are decorated with trees as standards. The kadam tree †† in the standard on Mandara,

† Mandara is on the East; Gandhá-mádana on the South; Vipula on the West; and Su-párshva on the North. See Cauto Ivi, verses 7, 13 and 16.

†† See note **, page 25.

21 the jambu tree § on Gandha-madana, and the ashvattha tree || on Vipula, and the great banyan ¶ on Su-párśhva. These mountains

§ Eugenia Jambolana, Hooker, vol. II, p. 499; Roxb. p. 398. A large tree, common everywhere, with a rather crooked trunk, shining leaves, and edible fruit. The bark yields brown dyes.

|| Called also pippala; Ficus religiosa (Oliver, p. 272; Roxb. p. 642); the modern peepul; a large spreading tree with a greatful shade, common everywhere. See also note *, p. 33.

¶ Vata, Ficus benghalensis (Oliver, p. 272; F. indica, Roxb. p. 639), the large, common, well-known tree.

22 are eleven hundred yojanas in extent. Jathara and Devakūta are two mountains on the east side; they stretch up to Nila and Nishadha without any space intervening between

23 them. Nishadha** and Páripátra are on the west side of Meru; these two mountains, like the two former, extend to Nila

** Read Rishabha?

24 and Nishadha. Kailasa and Himavat are two great mountains on the south; they stretch east and west; they extend into

25 the ocean. Shringávat and Járudhi, Moreover, are two mountains on the north; they, like the two on the south, extend

26 into the ocean. †† These eight are called the boundary mountains, O brahman. Hima-vat, Hema-kúta and the other

†† For antarvántar read arnavantar?

27 mountains comprise, one with another, nine thousand yojanas, eastward, westward, southward and northward. Similarly, Meru stretches to the four quarters in the middle in Ilávrita.

28 The fruits which the jambu †††† tree produces on the mountain Gandha-madana, are as large as an elephant's body: they

†††† For jambá read jambvá? 

29 fall-on the top of the mountain. From their juice springs the famous Jambu river, in which is found the gold called

30 Jambu-nada. That river passes around Meru and the enters Jambu-múla, O brahman; and those people drink of it

31 In Bhadrāśhva Vishnu is figured with a horse's head: in Bhárata* he has the shape of A tortoise; and he is like a boar in Ketu-mála; and he has a fish's form in the north.

* For bhárite read bharate?

32 In all those four countries, worldly affairs are governed by the arrangement of the constellations, o brahman; the people there study the influence of the planets.