Mudgalapurana 2.12: sūryamaṇḍalavarṇanaṃ nāma dvādaśo'dhyāyaḥ

Homage to glorious Gaṇeśa.

Mudgala said: / In this context, I shall state the supreme condition of all worlds; / I shall also briefly tell you about the principal heavens.

Bhūrloka, Bhuvarloka, Svarloka, Maharloka, Janaloka, / Tapoloka, and Satyaloka are considered the worlds produced from the cosmic egg.

As far as the sun and the moon illuminate with their rays, / that much is declared to be Bhūrloka in the Purāṇas, O Prajāpati.

It is traversable on foot by men; thus it is accepted by the scriptures; / Bhūrloka is declared, O Dakṣa, to consist of the seven continents.

Whatever is the total extent of Bhūrloka on all sides, / that same extent is also declared for Bhuvarloka.

Bhuvarloka is proclaimed [to reach] from Bhūrloka up to the sun; / from that up to Dhruva, Svarloka is described by the wise.

There, the rims of the wind are declared to be of eight kinds, O Lord: / Āvaha, Pravaha, and then the next is Annavaha,

then Saṃvaha and Vivaha, and above that is Parāvaha, / and likewise Parivaha, and higher than that, Vaha is remembered.

At a hundred thousand yojanas from the earth is situated the disc of the sun; / a hundred thousand [yojanas] from the sun is placed the disc of the moon.

The entire orb of lunar mansions shines a hundred thousand [yojanas] from that; / two hundred thousand yojanas from that is considered the disc of the planets.

A hundred thousand [yojanas] from that shines the circle of the sages; / at just a hundred thousand [yojanas] above the circle of the sages is situated Dhruva.

Dhruva is the pivot of the entire wheel of celestial luminaries; / bearing rays of wind, he keeps the host of luminaries in motion.

Ten thousand yojanas is the disc of the sun, / and twelve thousand [yojanas] is considered the disc of the moon.

Below the sun is situated Rāhu, measuring ten thousand yojanas, / and thirteen thousand [yojanas] is said to be his disc.

Full of darkness, an abode of darkness, he runs swiftly along his course at the conjunction; / with his shadow, he quickly covers the sun or the moon.

That alone is called an eclipse by exponents of the scriptures, O Dakṣa, / when the entire disc of the sun and the moon is pervaded by darkness.

The disc of Venus is a sixteenth part of the moon's, / and that which is a fourth less than Venus's, O twice-born one, belongs to Jupiter.

A fourth less than Jupiter's is the disc of Mars and Saturn; / and a fourth less in extent than those two is the disc of Mercury.

The forms of stars and constellations diminish successively, / being five, four, three, or two hundred yojanas [in extent].

The smallest among all are the discs of the stars, / measuring one and a half yojanas; nothing smaller than that is found.

Above them are three planets that travel far: / Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, who are known as slow-moving.

And below them are four other great planets: / the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, and Venus, who are swift-moving.

Resting upon the two solstices, the Sun always moves; / the lord of all planets, he travels beneath them all.

Having made an expansive orb, the Moon moves higher than he; / the entire circle of lunar mansions extends above the Moon.

Venus is traditionally held to be above the lunar mansions, Mercury above him, / Mars above the son of Soma (Mercury), and Jupiter above him.

Saturn is higher still than that, and above him is the realm of the Seven Seers; / and above the Seven Seers, Dhruva is stationed.

The chariot of the Sun is considered to be nine thousand yojanas [in size]; / its axle-pole is twice that, O Prajāpati.

The axle measures one hundred thousand [yojanas], fixed upon the support of Dhruva; / upon the second axle is mounted that wheel on Mount Mānasa.

His wheel is celebrated as consisting of the zodiacal signs, having twelve spokes; / his seven horses, made of the Vedic meters, are headed by Gāyatrī.

Reaching the southern course, he moves rapidly, very rapidly; / when the Sun has gone to the north, he moves without haste.

Above Mānasa in the eastern direction is the great city of Mahendra, / in the south that of Dharmarāja, and in the west that of Varuṇa.

In the north is that of Kubera; hear their names from me: / Amarāvatī, Saṃyamanī, Sukhā, and Vibhā, in order.

Taking the circle of celestial lights, the god of gods, Prajāpati, / shines at dawn in the city of Mahendra.

At midday in the city of Yama, at twilight in that of Varuṇa, / and at midnight in Kubera's city—thus travels the Sun.

Through rising and setting, he moves uniformly at all times / throughout all the cardinal directions and in all intermediate directions.

Like a potter's wheel, the lord of day rotates in the world, / revealing time as divided according to each being's understanding.

He produces day and night, sustaining creatures with his rays; / these three worlds are filled with the rays of the Sun.

Water, land, and sky are declared to be the excellent abodes of the worlds; / and this threefold [world] has the Sun as its root, there is no doubt.

From him arises the entire universe, with gods, asuras, and humans; / in the middle part it has him as its support, and at the end it is established in him.

Whatever splendor belongs to Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśa, Indra, the moon, stars, fire, nāgas, / plants, brāhmaṇas, and waters—that arises from the Sun.

Dividing all the radiance of the radiant ones, the splendor belonging to all the worlds, / the Lord, the Sun, sports by himself.

The Soul of all, Lord of all worlds, a portion of Gaṇeśa, the Sun, / the root of the three worlds, is also the deity embodied as ritual action.

Om tat sat. Thus ends the twelfth chapter, named 'Description of the Solar Orb', in the narrative of Ekadanta in the second section of the glorious and supreme Maudgala Mahāpurāṇa, an Upaniṣad of the Purāṇas.