Brahmāṇḍa-kaṭāha
Brahmāṇḍa-kaṭāha · brahma-aṇḍa-kaṭāha, “the shell of Brahmā’s egg”
Grammar: masculine noun; a compound of brahmāṇḍa (brahma-aṇḍa, the egg of Brahmā, the universe) and kaṭāha (a shell, a great bowl): “the shell of the egg of Brahmā”.
Meaning: the shell of the cosmic egg, which encloses all the worlds of the Brahmāṇḍa on every side.
In the scriptures: the ṛshis describe the earth to the rākshasa king Sukeśī. Jambūdvīpa, one lakh yojanas in measure, lies in the middle; around it lie the oceans and the dvīpas Plaksha, Śālmali, Kuśa, Krauñca and Śāka, each twice the one before, out to the ocean of milk, on which Śrī Hari lies on the couch of Śesha. From Jambūdvīpa to the ocean of milk the extent is forty crore ninety-five lakh yojanas. Beyond them are Pushkara dvīpa and the ocean of sweet water, each four crore fifty-two lakh yojanas. “One lakh yojanas beyond all these, on all four sides, the shell of the Brahmāṇḍa spreads in the shape of an egg” (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 11).
When Bali gave the three steps, Bhagavān Vāmana took a form made of the whole world. With his first step he occupied the whole earth. With his second foot he covered the Svarga, Mahar, Jana and Tapo lokas, Vairāja and the sky, and, filling the endless space between, he broke the upper shell of the brahmāṇḍa and stretched his second foot into the lightless world beyond, and stood there as the Virāṭ Purusha. From the top of the brahmāṇḍa, broken by the toes of that foot, a great stream of water poured down along it. Because it flowed with a crooked course it became Kuṭilā, famed also as Vishṇupadī, and the tāpasas serve its holy waters as the Suranadī, the river of the devas (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 65).
Related terms: Brahmāṇḍa · Dvīpa · Yojana · Trivikrama · Vishṇupadī
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 11, 65