The Geography of the Puranas c10.3

c10.3

The shape and bulk of Bhāratavarṣa is given in various Purāṇas and contemporary literature where it has been variously described as a half moon, a triangle, a rhomboid or an unequal quadrilateral or like a drawn bow. Ptolemy ignores the Indian peninsula altogether and in his map the Indian coastline is represented by almost a straight line from the Gangetic delta to Makran. These various shapes have at least one common feature, the concave shape of the Himālayas (along its northern borders) which occupy the base of these figures. The shape of the Indian peninsula, i.e., the country south of the Vindhyas and its n.w. corner, i.e., North Afghani-stan, were variously conceived and this gave rise to discrepancies in various descriptions. The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (Kūrmavibhāga, Ch. 58) compares the shape of the country with that of a tortoise floating on water and facing the east. It places the various population groups on or near its face, legs, tail and body. Obviously the 'tortoise' in the above description covered the whole of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, the Kabu' Valley, the western coastal region up to the source of the Godāvarī, the eastern coastal plain up to and including Kalinga and the Central Indian Plateau up to the crest of the Satpuras. The rest of the Peninsula beyond these limits is not represented in this scheme. The different shapes of Bhāratavarṣa as given in ancient literature therefore represent various stages in the process of the extension of the occupied or known areas of the country during the course of history. To say that there are inconsistencies in the Purāṇas regarding the shape of the country is thus unfair.