Mudgalapurana 2.11: bhūgolavarṇanaṃ nāmaikādaśo'dhyāyaḥ

Homage to the glorious Gaṇeśa.

Mudgala said: / Then nine sons were born to the lord of Jambudvīpa: / Nābhi, Kimpuruṣa, and also Hari, Ilāvṛta,

Hiraṇmaya, Kuru, Ramya, Bhadrāśva, and Ketumālaka. / Their father himself gave them the sections marked with their respective names.

Having given them thus, these seven sons of Priyavrata then / went to the forest, and having practiced austerity, they became Gāṇapatyas.

In the end, those speakers on Brahman went to the realm of the Lord of Gaṇas, / which is free from return [to rebirth] and non-different from yoga, through their power.

The extent of Jambudvīpa on all sides is one hundred thousand / yojanas, O Dakṣa, and it is surrounded by the salt-ocean.

There in the middle is the great mountain Meru, auspicious and made of gold, / its body adorned with various minerals, endowed with various medicinal herbs.

That golden mountain is accompanied by rivers with good water / and by caves, O Dakṣa, filled with various creatures.

The height of that great [mountain] is declared to be one hundred thousand yojanas; / sixty thousand yojanas is its measurement

of standing above [the earth], and thirty-two thousand [yojanas] standing below; / and eight thousand yojanas [wide] on all sides.

Divided into lower and upper parts, that golden mountain stood; / in the shape of a lotus, situated in the middle of the earth, it shone.

Situated in the form resembling lotus petals, / the mountains around it, composed of various minerals, shone.

Everywhere upon them were the marvelous dwellings / of gods, Guhyakas, birds, yogins, Rākṣasas, and great Siddhas,

of lords of serpents, chief sages, Gandharvas, O Prajāpati, / and of Piśācas and Bhūtas.

[Khaṇḍa 2, Adhyāya 11, Page 27] There were varied gardens and divine playgrounds, / and indeed, on all sides, waters that remove old age and sorrow.

Eight kingly mountains beginning with Kailāsa are situated in its directions; / upon them dwell the lords of the quarters, the foremost gods beginning with Rudra.

In the middle is the great forest-seat of Parameṣṭhin Brahmā; / thus that mountain shone, giving happiness to all the gods.

On its southern side there were three continental sections, / and likewise on its north three sections are proclaimed.

In its eastern and western parts, two regions are indeed recognized, / and in the middle, surrounded on all sides, is one region belonging to it, O Prajāpati.

Thus nine divisions have been declared in the central continent, / among which the Himācala and other mountains are regarded as boundary mountains.

Their elevation is two thousand yojanas, O Prajāpati, / and eight great mountains on all sides have their width [reckoned].

A thousand yojanas is the extent of each division, / and in them people dwell, distinct in their individual conditions.

In these regions are mountains and various kinds of rivers; / there all people live enjoying happiness, O Dakṣa.

The eight divisions excluding Ajanābha are proclaimed; / in them natural perfection exists permanently.

The men and women are always youthful and handsome; / enjoying happiness like gods, they are endowed with virtuous qualities.

Attached to one another, enjoying pleasures at the same time, / they are all devoted to the classes and stages of life, endowed with dharma and full of compassion.

The dharma of the ages does not exist there for those who observe common dharma; / there is no suffering born of cold, heat, and the like in these divisions, O giver of honor.

In some of them, people live for eleven hundred or a thousand [years], / or even twelve hundred or thirteen hundred [years];

in some, O Prajāpati, for fifteen hundred [years]; / humans indeed live for [these] hundreds of years.

The division belonging to Nābhi, known as Ajanābha, situated near Himācala, / is proclaimed as the realm of action, and it has become honored by all.

Having performed actions there, people go everywhere: / to the continents and divisions, and likewise to the netherworlds,

and to the heavens to attain enjoyment, which is the very fruit of their actions; / having enjoyed in those places, they directly return here again for the sake of action.

Or having performed sinful actions here alone, / those men and women go to the hells, and then return here again.

Through yoga here, one certainly becomes a lord of yogins, there is no doubt; / and through devotion to him, a person attains the nature of a Gāṇapatya.

Therefore, this Himalayan region is declared to be the best; / attaining the nature of the giver of everything, it is honored among them, O Prajāpati.

This realm is described by the wise as having the least pleasures among all; / it is joined with cold, heat, and the like, and attended by various diseases.

There are four classes there, and by their intermixture, / various classes are proclaimed with diverse dharmas, O Lord.

In this realm are the spans born of the yuga, the dharmas of the yugas on all sides; / and humans differ in nature, possessed of self-interest and other traits.

Further on, there are many mountains such as the Vindhya and Sahya; / originating from them, many rivers are situated everywhere,

bestowing merit merely by bathing, bearing sweet water, O highly intelligent one; / people there perform rituals, adhering to the threefold conduct.

There are holy bathing places belonging to all the gods, and abodes of the twice-born, / which bestow an abundance of fruits born of actions for those who serve them.

Endowed with these and other foremost qualities, this realm, O people, / is proclaimed as Bhārata by the wise because of its sustaining of actions.

This entire terrestrial orb has been told to you in brief; / from listening to it or reciting it, one's sins are removed.

Oṃ tat sat. Thus, in the glorious late purāṇic Upaniṣad, in the glorious Mudgalapurāṇa, in the second section on the acts of Ekadanta, the eleventh chapter, named 'Description of the Terrestrial Globe'.