The Geography of the Puranas c7.s1.10

c7.s1.10

The Purāṇic references to climatic elements are meagre as compared with those occurring in the Vedic literature. They no doubt draw upon the latter but nowhere do they improve upon or excel the older accounts. It may be argued that perhaps the Purāṇas did not attach so much importance to climate as the Vedic Āryans did, or they considered it irrelevant to their subject matter, and were content with the knowledge of its elements as conveyed by the ancients. The division of the atmosphere (rajas) into divya and pārthivya (Ṛgveda, IV, 53, 3), or into Uttama, Parama and Tṛtīya (Ṛgveda, X, 45, 3) which anticipated the modern atmospheric layers, is quite old, so are the types of winds, Vāyu, Maruts and Rudra referred to in the Rgveda, Taitt. Saṁh. and Ait. Brāh. The phenomena of rainfall and its causes, types of clouds and climatic regions are directly or indirectly mentioned in the Rgveda and other Saṁhitās. The Purāṇas very often repeat, sometimes neglect, and only very rarely add to these ideas.