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The Geography of the Puranas c6: Introduction

The Geography of the Purāṇas c6

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English

Introduction

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THE word 'Purāṇa' means 'old'. The main object of the compilation of the Purāṇas is to preserve old traditions which come down from remote antiquity. They are derived from the same religious system as the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata and present peculiarities which point to their belonging to a later period, and to an important modification in the progress of opinion. They are popular sectarian compilations of different periods, of mythology, philosophy, history, geography and the sacred law, intended, as they are now used, for the purpose of religious instruction. A Purāṇa according to an early definition,¹ best exemplified by the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, should treat of five subjects, namely, primary creation, secondary creation, genealogies of gods and patriarchs, reigns of various Manus and the history of ancient dynasties². This definition, however, is totally inapplicable to some of the Purāṇas, while it applies only partially to others. The Viṣṇu Purāṇa mentions its scope and source in the following words³:

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Accomplished in the purport of the Purāṇas, Vyāsa compiled a Paurāṇika Saṃhitā, consisting of historical and legendary traditions, prayers and hymns and sacred chronology. He had a distinguished disciple, called Sūta Romaharṣaṇa and to him the great Muni communicated the Purāṇas. Sūta had six scholars: Sumati, Agnivarcas, Mitrāyu, Saṃsapāyana, Akritavraṇa (called Kaśyapa) and Sāvarṇi. The last three composed three fundamental Saṃhitās, and Romaharṣaṇa himself compiled a fourth called Romaharṣaṇika. The substance of these four Saṃhitās is embodied in this (Viṣṇu) Purāṇa.

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The geographical material of the Purāṇas is mostly contained in their first two books or 'Lakṣaṇas' which deal with cosmogony, cosmology and cosmography. They include, among other related matters, the origin of the universe and the earth, the oceans and the continents, mountain systems of the world, regions and their people and astronomical geography. Incidental references to the geography of different lands, particularly those of Bhārata, occur throughout the Purāṇas in the historical accounts contained in them. One has to put all the isolated facts together to get a picture of the lands and their people to which they refer or which they intended to describe. There are 18 works⁴ which are recognised as mahā (great) Purāṇas.

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1. Brahma Purāṇa

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The main object of this Purāṇa is the promotion of the worship of Kṛṣṇa as Jagannātha. The early chapters of this work give a description of the creation, a short account of the Manvantaras and the history of dynasties down to the time of Kṛṣṇa. This is followed by a brief description of the universe. About one-third of the entire Purāṇa relates to the holiness of the Puruṣottama Kṣetra (Orissa) with its temples and sacred groves dedicated to the Sun, to Śiva and to Jagannātha.

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2. Padma Purāṇa

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Padma Purāṇa is a voluminous work divided into five books or khaṇḍas. The first two books, the Sṛṣṭi Khaṇḍa and the Bhūmi Khaṇḍa deal with the creation and the description of the earth respectively. The early chapters of Sṛṣṭi Khaṇḍa deal with cosmogony in the same style and often in the same words as the Viṣṇu Purāṇa. There are, however, additions characteristic of this Purāṇa, dealing with the virtues of the Puṣkara lake (near Ajmer) as a place of pilgrimage.

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The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa defers any description of the earth until its close, filling up 127 chapters with legends of a very mixed character, some ancient and common to other Purāṇas, but the greater part, peculiar to itself, illustrative of the tīrthas or essential places of pilgrimage.

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The Padma specifies the Jains, both by name and their practices, and talks of Mlecchas (barbarians, most probably Muslims) flourishing in India. Wilson places its composition between the 12th and the 15th or the 16th century A.D.

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3. Viṣṇu Purāṇa

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Viṣṇu Purāṇa is perhaps the only work which conforms to the definition of a Purāṇa almost exactly. Its five books present in proper sequence the material essential to a Purāṇa. The first two books, as usual, deal with the creation and the description of the earth and the astronomical details. The geographical matter in this Purāṇa is rather succinct and condensed and omits the details found in the other Purāṇas.

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Book 1 deals with primary creation. Book 2 deals with secondary creation and includes:
- description of the earth, the seven Dvīpas and the seven oceans (Ch.2);

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—description of Bhāratavarṣa (Ch. 3); —description of the Seven Dwīpas, tides, etc. (Ch. 4); —astronomical notions (Ch. 7-12).

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4. Vāyu Purāṇa

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It is divided into four Pādas, viz., Prakriyā, Upodbhāta, Anuṣaṅga and Upasaṃhāra, a classification peculiar to this Purāṇa. Its another peculiarity is the presence of an index or heads of chapters as found in the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa.

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The Prakriyā portion contains a few chapters only and treats chiefly of elemental creation. The Upodghāta continues the subject of creation and describes the various kalpas or periods during which the world has existed.

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The geographical section of this Purāṇa is more complete and detailed than that found in any other Purāṇas. It includes:

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Chapters 34-35 Jambū Dwīpa (1-96), (1-47) Chapter 36 Mountains and lakes, east, south, west and north of Meru (1-33) Chapter 37 Valleys between mountains, east of Meru (1-30) Chapter 38 Valleys between mountains, south of Meru (1-36) Chapter 38 Valleys between mountains, west of Meru (37-80) Chapter 38 Valleys between mountains, north of Meru (37-80) Chapter 39 Settlements (dwelling places) in the mountains (1-64) Chapter 40 Devakūṭa Mountain (1-26) Chapter 41 Kailāsa Mountain (1-82) Himavān Mountain Niṣadha Mountain Pārijāta Mountain Jurudhi Mountain (43-89) Chapter 42 Rivers from Meru (1-80) Chapters 43-44 Ketumāla and Bhadrāśva (1-38), (1-24) Chapter 45 Bhāratavarṣa (1-137) Chapter 46 Kimpuruṣa & Harivarṣa (1-35) Chapter 47 Divisions of Bhāratavarṣa (1-80) Chapter 48 Islands south of Bhāratavarṣa (1-43) Chapter 49 The Seven Dwīpas (1-153)

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The pattern of the geographical section is very similar to that obtained in the Matsya or Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa. Many passages are common to all.

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5. *Bhāgavata*

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Usually it is placed fifth in all the lists, but the Padma Purāṇa ranks it as the eighteenth, and calls it the essence of all the rest. It is the most popular Purāṇa and is held in the highest esteem by the Vaiṣṇavas. The Padma Purāṇa devotes a chapter to the māhātmya of this Purāṇa.

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The Purāṇa deals with cosmogony and geographical notions in the 5th Skandha (part), which is divided into the following chapters:

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| *Chapters* | *1-15* | *Priyavrata, Agnidhara, Ṛṣabha* |
| *Chapter* | *16* | *The Bhuvana Kośa* |
| *Chapter* | *17* | *The Gaṅgā* |
| *Chapters* | *18-19* | *The Mysteries of the Varṣas* |
| *Chapter* | *20* | *The Dwipas* |
| *Chapters* | *21-26* | *Svar and Bhucar, the Sun, the Planets & Stars, the Pātālas, the Narakas* |

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The main features of the chapters (16-20) are:

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(1) The minor details of the world geography, particularly that of Bhārata, are different from those in all other Purāṇas, excepting those given in the Padma Purāṇa.

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(2) The lists of topographical features are relatively more condensed and sketchy as compared with those in others like Vāyu, Mārkaṇḍeya, Matsya, etc., while the list of people inhabiting the various regions of Bhārata is left out altogether.

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6. *Nārada or Nāradīya Purāṇa*

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The Nāradīya Purāṇa is said to have been communicated by Nārada to the Ṛṣis at Naimiṣāraṇya on the banks of the Gomatī river. The concluding passage, "Let not this Purāṇa be recited in the presence of the "killers of cows" and "contemners of the gods"" shows that it was written after the advent of Muslims in India. Wilson and Pargiter consider it a compilation of the 16th or 17th century. There is very little material on cosmogony and cosmography in this Purāṇa and the geographical content too is insignificant.

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7. *Mārkaṇḍa or Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa*

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It is that Purāṇa in which, 'commencing with the story of the birds that were acquainted with right and wrong, everything is narrated by Mārkaṇ- deya'. The birds were of celestial origin. They were born on the field of Kurukṣetra and lived in the Vindhya Mountains. The Purāṇa provides a sort of a supplement to the Mahābhārata filling in the blanks left in some of its narrations. Wilson assigns it to the 9th or 10th century A.D.

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The account of the creation and description of the earth is much the same as in other Purāṇas, although it has some characteristic features. The first such feature is the Nava Khaṇḍa (Ch. 57) of the Purāṇa which in fact contains the strictly geographical information given in some other major Purāṇas. But the Mārkaṇḍeya has also another section (Ch. 58) called Kūrmavibhāga or the Kūrma-nivāsa, containing a list of the countries and peoples of Bhārata arranged according to the position of the country conceived as a tortoise (Kūrma) resting on water and looking eastward. This arrangement is based on earlier astronomical works like those of Parāśara and Varāhamihira. Most of these countries and peoples have been mentioned in the Nava Khaṇḍa section but the Kūrmavibhāga contains valuable topographical information not given in the other Purāṇas. On the whole, the pattern of this Purāṇa is similar to those of the Matsya, Vāyu, Brahmāṇḍa and Vāmana Purāṇas.

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8. Agni Purāṇa²

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The early chapters of this Purāṇa describe the Avatāras; while in the chapters dealing with the narratives of Rāma and Kṛṣṇa, it follows the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata. The chapters describing the earth and the universe are the same as in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa while the Māhātmyas or the legends of holy places particularly of Gayā are added to them. There are also chapters on mysticism, medicine, rhetoric, prosody, grammar, etc.

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The geographical account is exactly the same as in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa.

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9. Bhaviṣya Purāṇa

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This is the first Purāṇa which gives an account of the dynasties of the Kali age. The Matsya, Vāyu and Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇas which preceded this Purāṇa, appear subsequently to have incorporated into their accounts of the above dynasties material obtained from it.

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The first portion of the Purāṇa deals with the creation followed by the traditional account of the Earth and its contents. The geographical section follows the same pattern as that of the earlier Purāṇas. There is some curious matter in the last chapters relating to the Magas, the silent worshippers of the Sun from Śaka-dvīpa, which supports the conclusion that the compiler had adopted the Persian term *Magha* and connected the fire worshippers of Iran with those of India.

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The work is supposed to have been communicated by Kṛṣṇa to Yudhiṣṭhira, at a great assemblage of holy persons at the coronation of the latter after the conclusion of the great Mahābhārata War.

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10. *Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa*

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This is divided into 4 khaṇḍas, or books, viz., the Brahma, the Prakṛti, the Gaṇeśa and the Kṛṣṇa Jamma Khaṇḍas, the latter throughout enhancing the interest and importance of the work, the great mass of which is taken up by the detailed and lengthy descriptions of Vṛndāvana and Gokula.

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The geographical section is identical with the corresponding account obtained in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa and the Agni Purāṇa.

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11. *Liṅga Purāṇa*

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This work, like the other Purāṇas gives a description of the universe and of the royal dynasties up to the time of Kṛṣṇa, but it mainly concentrates on the narration of legends, enjoining of rites and recitation of prayers designed to do honour to Śiva in his various forms.

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12. *Varāha Purāṇa*

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A considerable portion of this Purāṇa is devoted to descriptions of various tīrthas or places of Vaiṣṇava pilgrimage. The description of Mathurā is replete with various particulars concerning the shrines of that city, constituting the Mathurā Māhātmya.

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13. *Skanda Purāṇa*

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All scholars agree that the Skanda Purāṇa does not exist as a complete work, and that only fragments in the form of Saṃhitās, Khaṇḍas and Māhātmyas found in various parts of the country constitute portions of this Purāṇa. The most celebrated of these is the Kāśī Khaṇḍa (in 15,000 stanzas), which gives a detailed description of the temples of Śiva in or adjacent to Vārāṇasī. The story of Agastya probably presents in the form of a legend, an account of the propagation of Hinduism in South India. The Utkala Khaṇḍa similarly highlights the holiness of Orissa and Puruṣottama Kṣetra or Jagannātha, and Bhuvaneśwara. Other Khaṇḍas, e.g., Brahmottara Khaṇḍa, Revā Khaṇḍa, Himavat Khaṇḍa, etc. emphasize the sanctity of local temples or group of temples in certain regions.

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This Purāṇa contains, like Mārkaṇḍeya, Brahma, Matsya and Vāyu, the longest lists of countries and peoples of India.

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14. *Vāmana Purāṇa*

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Besides giving the usual description of the creation of the universe, this Purāṇa explains the sanctity of certain regions particularly the Kedareśwara and Badarikāśrama in the Himālayas and the holiness of Sthāṇutīrtha—i.e., pools at Thāneśvara and Kurukṣetra between the Yamunā and the Sutlej.

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The geographical section of this Purāṇa follows the same pattern and contains lists of Janapadas and other features similar to those given in the Matsya, Vāyu, Mārkaṇḍeya and Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇas. The Vāmana Purāṇa, however, shows a tendency to present the descriptions of features and people independently. It also furnishes further information, for instance about the Turuṣkas and Andhras, which is not found in any other Purāṇas except the Garuḍa.

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15. *Kūrma Purāṇa*

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The list of Janapadas follows the shorter version of the Viṣṇu Purāṇa but contains a fuller list of rivers after Vāyu. This Purāṇa does not probably date back to a time earlier than that of Alberuni (*c.* 1030 A.D.).

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16. *Matsya Purāṇa*

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After the usual dialogue between Sūta and the Ṛṣis this Purāṇa opens with an account of the Matsya or the ‘Fish Avatāra’ of Viṣṇu in which he preserves a king named Manu as well as the seeds of all things in an arc from the waters of that inundation which in the season of a *Pralaya* overspreads the world. The contents of this Purāṇa have many words and much material found also in works like the Mahābhārata, the Viṣṇu Purāṇa and the Padma Purāṇa.

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The Bhuvanakośa section of the Purāṇa commences with Chapter 113 and covers the following topics:

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*Chapter 113* The extent of Jambū Dwīpa, its mountains and varṣas (1-77) *Chapter 114* Bhāratavarṣa (1-55) Kimpuruṣa-varṣa (56-65) Hari-varṣa (66-68) Ilāvṛta-varṣa (69-86)

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*Chapter 115* Description of Tapovana *Chapter 116* Description of River Airāvatī *Chapter 117* Himālayas (1-18) *Chapter 118* Hermitage of Atri (in the Himālayas) trees and birds of the Himālayas *Chapter 119* Himālaya cave, Āyatana *Chapter 120* Hermitage of Aila in the Himālayas *Chapter 121* Mountains and Rivers of the Himālayas (1-82) *Chapter 122* Saka Dwīpa (1-44) Kuśa Dwīpa (45-77) Krauñca Dwīpa (93-104) Śālmali Dwīpa (93-104) *Chapter 123* Gomeda Dwīpa (1-11) Puṣkara Dwīpa (12-29) The Tides (30-40) Trees in Dwīpas (35-40) Miscellaneous information about the Earth (41-56)

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Chapters 124 to 128 deal with the Sun, the Moon, the Planets and the Stars, whose description is the same as in the other Purāṇas.

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17. *Garuḍa Purāṇa*

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It contains a brief account of the creation, but a greater part of it is occupied with the descriptions of vratas or religious observances, of holy days, of sacred places dedicated to the Sun, etc. It also contains treatises on astrology, palmistry and precious stones and medicine (*Preta Kalpa*). The Purāṇa exhibits considerable freedom in its geographical section and, along with the Vāmana Purāṇa, adds further details to those contained in the Mārkaṇḍeya, the Vāyu and the Matsya. This appears to be one of the latest Purāṇas in point of time.

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18. *Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa*

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This Purāṇa, like the Skanda, is not available as such but is in the form of Khaṇḍas and Māhātmyas derived from it. The facility with which any tract may be attributed to the non-existent original, and the advantage that has been taken of its absence to compile a variety of unauthorised fragments, have given to the Brahmāṇḍa, Skanda and Padma Purāṇas a doubtful character. The geographical section of this Purāṇa appears to be a late copy (about 1030 A.D.) of the Vāyu with slight alterations and modifications introduced by the copyists.

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The style of all the Purāṇas is typical. Information is conveyed to the reader in the form of dialogues: questions by a pupil and answers by Romaharṣaṇa (called Sūta, a disciple of Vyāsa), who is the master and who unveils the mysteries of the universe to one who does not know. His answers are relevant to the questions put to him and he tries to make them easy enough to be comprehended by the listener—the common man. He makes the answers colourful, personifies diverse facts and phenomena of nature and terse philosophical notions and presents them in the form of legends and adventures of persons to make them appealing to the imagination of the pupil and to prepare him for the study of the source literature, particularly the Vedas and the epics.

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The Purāṇas faithfully represent the ideas regarding the origin of things and their distribution which were universally believed in ancient India. But the interpolations and modifications which subsequently crept into them, their inculcation of the worship of particular deities, the incongruous combination of a creator with the independent evolution of matter, and the deification of metaphor and mysticism, led to several incongruities and much disfigurement of narrative. It is, however, possible to read the ideas which the ‘master’ intended to convey to the ‘pupil’. Here are a few examples:

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(1) The patriarch Dakṣa had by Prasūti 24 daughters: hear from me their names: Śraddhā (faith), Lakṣmī (prosperity), Dhṛti (steadiness), Kriyā (action, devotion), Puṣṭi (thriving), Medhā (intelligence), Tuṣṭi (satisfaction), Buddhi (intellect), Lajjā (modesty), Vapu (body), Śānti (expiation), Siddhi (perfection), Kīrtti (fame): these thirteen daughters of Dakṣa were married to Dharma (righteousness). The other eleven bright-eyed and younger daughters of the Patriarch were Khyāti (celebrity), Satī (truth), Sambhūti (fitness), Smṛti (remembrance), Prīti (love), Anasūyā (charity), Kṣamā (patience), Sannati (humility), Ūrjja (energy), Svāhā (offering) and Svadha (oblation). These maidens were respectively wedded to the Munis: Bhṛgu, Bhava, Marīchi, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Atri and Vasiṣṭha; to Fire (Vahni) and to the Pitris (progenitors) (Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Bk. I, Ch. VII, 23, 25).

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In the above narrative obviously the persons are manifestly allegorical, being personifications of various types of intelligence and virtues and religious rites, and therefore appropriately wedded to the probable authors of the Hindu Code of religion and morals or to the equally allegorical representation of that Code, Dharma or moral and religious duty.

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(2) The master (Pārāśara) describes the creation of Svāyambhuva Manu, the first man (Adam of the Bible and the Koran) and tells us how through him the earth was peopled in due course of time. Svāyambhuva Manu had two sons: Priyavrata and Uttānapāda.

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Priyavrata married Kāmyā (or Kanyā), the daughter of the Patriarch Kardama and had by her two daughters Smṛti and Kuksi, and ten sons, Agnidhara, Agnibāhu, Vapusmat, Dyutimat, Medha, Medhātithi, Bhavya, Sabala, Putra and Jyotiṣmat. Of these, three, i.e., Medha, Putra and Agnibāhu, adopted a religious life. Priyavrata having divided the earth into seven continents (dwīpas) gave them to his other seven sons. To Agnidhara, he gave Jambū Dwīpa; to Medhātithi he gave Plakṣa Dwīpa, to Vapusmat Sālmalī Dwīpa, to Jyotiṣmat Kuśa Dwīpa, to Dyutimat Krauñca Dwīpa, to Bhavya Śaka Dwīpa and to Savala Puṣkara Dwīpa.

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Agnidhara, the king of Jambū Dwīpa, had nine sons.... He apportioned Jambū Dwīpa among these nine sons. He gave the country called Hima, south of Himavat to Nabhi; Hemakūṭa to Kimpuruṣa; the country of Nisadha to Harivarṣa, the country in the centre of which Meru is situated to Ilāvṛta; the countries between it and the Nila mountains to Ramya; the country north of it called Śweta to Hiraṇvata, the country bounded by the Śṛngavān mountain, to the north of Śweta mountain, to Kuru; the countries to the east of Meru to Bhadrāśwa and Gandhamādana and to the west of Meru to Ketumāla....

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Nabin who had for his portion the country of Hima... had a hundred sons, the oldest of whom was Bharata.... Under these princes, Bhāratavarṣa was divided into nine portions, and their descendants successively held possession of them for 71 periods of the aggregate of the four ages (or for the reign of a manu).... (Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Bk II, Ch. 1).

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Here the Purāṇa wants to tell us three things:

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(a) The common origin of Man, i.e., of all the races of mankind is traceable to one centre on this planet. This is in accordance with the modern monogenist theory which holds that all the varieties of mankind are zoologically of one species. The opposite view that several distinct races of man had independent origins (polygenist theory) has been discredited.

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(b) Radiating from that common centre, seven human groups occupied seven different regions of the world and the human society or civilisation developed independently in each of these seven centres. This is in consonance with the modern view that the world's primary races belong to seven different climatic regions of the world where they took shape and developed characteristic features under the influence of their peculiar physical environment.

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(c) Later, from one of these regions (in Jambū Dwīpa according to the Purāṇas) nine human groups occupied the nine sub-regions of this land mass. One of these nine occupied Bhārata.⁹ (3) The Purāṇas narrate a legend about Gaṅgā. This great river was detained amidst the tresses of Lord Śiva, in order to punish her for her arrogance, until the divinity was moved by the penance and prayers of King Bhagiratha to set her free (Vāyu Purāṇa, Ch. 47, 32-35).

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This is obviously a reference to a ‘climatic pulse’ in the past ages. A glacial period of a very short duration occurred in northern India leading to the accumulation of snow on the mountain peaks, lesser melting of the snow in summers and consequently the abnormal decrease in the volume of water carried by the Gaṅgā. Waters were ‘released’ on the restoration of the normal or warmer conditions after a short interval (categorically speaking, ‘hundred years’).

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(4) Pārāśara—Having thus described to you the system of the world in general, I will now explain to you the dimensions and situation of the Sun and other luminaries:

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The chariot of the Sun is 9,000 leagues in length, and the pole is of twice that longitude; the axle is 15,700,000 leagues long, on which is fixed a wheel with three naves, five spokes and six peripheries....

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Here the three naves are the three divisions of the day, i.e., morning, noon and night; the five spokes are the five cyclic years, and the six peripheries are the six seasons. (The Bhāgavata Purāṇa explains the three naves as the three parts of the year, each of 4 months’ duration and the twelve spokes as the twelve months).

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(5) The Master relates the story of the Syamantaka gem (mentioned in Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Bk. IV, Ch. 13 as well as in the Bhāgavata, Vāyu, Matsya and Brahma Purāṇas and Harivaṃśa, etc.), which is very interesting as it presents a curious and no doubt a faithful picture of ancient manners, in the self-government of a kindred clan, in the acts of personal violence which are committed, in the feuds which ensue, in the public gatherings that are held, and the part that is taken by the elders and by women in all community work or activities.

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(6) The destruction of Hastināpur is described in another account (Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Bk. V, Ch. 35):

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Having thus spoken, the Kuru chiefs, unanimously refusing to set the son of Hari at large, immediately returned to the city (Hastināpur). Bala, reeling with intoxication, and filled with the wrath which their contemptuous language had excited, struck the ground furiously with his heel, which split open with a thunderous sound that reverberated through space. With eyes glowing with rage, and with a frowning brow he exclaimed, ‘What arrogance is this in such vile and spineless creatures?

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I will take this capital of the Kauravas with all the sons of Kuru, and cast the city of elephant (Hastināpur) into the Bhāgīrathī.

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This evidently describes the occurrence of an earthquake which shook the city of Hastināpur and the consequent change in the course of the river Gaṅgā which destroyed the capital of the Kurus. The capital was subsequently removed to Kauśāmbi during the time of King Nicakṣu.

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These few examples illustrate the style of the Purāṇas and also bring out the value of the traditions which have been so well preserved in these works. In general, all the world over, the early history of the nations consists more or less of traditions handed down by memory since the ages before the invention of writing. Traditions are still more lasting when handed down in fixed words as in the case of the Purāṇas, especially when the poets have set them in verse. Among other nations of the world as well the poets, for instance, Homer and Firdausi, have preserved many picturesque incidents of history although they have not the historian's conscience about facts. Eager to rouse and delight their audience, to flatter the national pride of their people and the family pride of the chieftain, in whose court they recited their poems, the poets brought in real names and events, but they manœuvred them to suit their dramatic sense or even completely fabricated history. This is not true of the Purāṇas which very often present historically correct facts, although, as mentioned earlier, they personify abstract ideas or inanimate objects with the sole purpose of making facts easily digestible and ensuring the easy remembrance of events. Thus in the case of the former, it is too hard a task to sift out historic truth from the mixture of natural events and exact source of knowledge, while in the latter case it is possible to visualise the factual background.

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The geographical matter contained in different Purāṇas represents distinct stages in the progress of the geographical knowledge of the world in general and of Bhārata in particular. In some Purāṇas we find a bare sketch of world geography, while others give a detailed account of even distant lands. This expansion of geographical knowledge was due to (a) military expeditions which carried Indians to far-off lands, (b) commercial relations with lands across the northern mountain barriers and southern seas, (c) intense religious and missionary activities which made travel desirable, if not imperative, to distant and normally inaccessible regions and (d) political and diplomatic relations with foreign countries. This observation applies to the geography of India as well. Of all the Purāṇas, the Vāyu, the Mārkaṇḍeya, the Skanda, the Brahmāṇḍa, the Varāha, the Matsya and the Bhāgavata pay special attention to, and provide more detailed information about, the geography of India and the world. In some Purāṇas special regions or special topics receive more attention than others:

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for instance, in the Padma (Bhūmi Khaṇḍa) its greater part is illustrative of places of pilgrimage; the Agni Purāṇa emphasises details of the Gayā region; the Brahma and Varāha Purāṇas deal at length with the lands around Mathurā and Puri; the Vāmana Purāṇa with those of Thaneśvara, and the Padma Purāṇa with the Ajmer region. This is natural since the Purāṇas were evidently written in different periods and under different circumstances. It may be possible to reconstruct a tentative chronology of the different Purāṇas on the basis of the progress of geographical knowledge evidenced in them. Dr Hazra¹⁰ and Dr Sircar¹¹ have attempted a chronology for the Purāṇas on extra-geographical considerations, mainly linguistic and historical, and it would be interesting to compare their conclusions with those reached by the geographer. However, this aspect of the Purāṇas has not been discussed here since it was considered beyond the scope of this work.

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Since the Purāṇas were not intended to be textbooks of geography, they cannot be expected to present geographical facts and ideas in a logical order, though in some cases the logical order is maintained. Geographical information in them is only incidental and is inserted wherever it is considered relevant to the topic or theme under which it occurs. In fact, we do not find a definite or precise synonym for the term 'geography' in the Purāṇas or even in contemporary literature. Various names appear to denote 'geography' in different works; for instance, Bhuvana-Kośa (treasure of Terrestrial Mansions), Bhuvana-Sāgara (Ocean of Terrestrial Mansions or Inhabited Lands), Bhuvana Khaṇḍa (Section of the Earth), Trilokya Darpana (Mirror of the Worlds), Kṣetra-Samāsa (Combination of countries), etc.

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The chapters in this study have been arranged in the following order. The first chapter deals with the sources of the Purāṇas and attempts to clarify the earlier notions on which the Purāṇic geography is apparently based. The next chapter shows how the idea of the Purāṇic dwipas and oceans evolved in course of time and also deals with the extent of the Purāṇic 'world' and its different 'dwipas'. This is followed by a series of chapters on the regional geography of the Jambū Dwipa which occupies a prominant place in the Purāṇic geography. The topographical features of these regions, which could be identified, have been plotted and indicated on suitable maps to facilitate the study of their Purāṇic descriptions. The chapter on Bhāratavarṣa is not claimed to be comprehensive. It only deals with the essentials of its geography, so that it may be kept within reasonable limits and in order that the repetition of those geographical facts regarding this varṣa may be avoided about which there is little controversy and which are discussed in detail in the well-known works of foreign and Indian scholars. A list of these is appended at the end of the chapter on Bhāratavarṣa. However, a few maps of Bhārata, depicting all these facts, have been added to present them in a more definite and precise form and in a systematic manner.

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A chapter on cosmology which deals with the origin of the earth and the universe of which the earth is a small component, has been added at the end. Much of the discussion in this chapter might appear to be irrelevant from the point of view of 'pure geography', but the addition of this chapter was considered necessary because the Purāṇic cosmography is dependent on and bound up with its cosmology and cosmogony. The Purāṇas trace things to their origins, and their geography too begins with the origin of the earth and the universe.

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