The Geography of the Puranas c7.s4.12

c7.s4.12

Before we trace the evolution of the Purāṇic cosmography it would be interesting to see how similar notions prevailed among the other nations of the world, particularly among the Arabs, the Persians, the Greeks and the Chinese. The Arabs borrowed from the Greeks the division of the habitable world into seven climates. This division is based on the relative length of days and nights. Ptolemy counted, in his 'Geography', twenty climates²; but some more ancient authors had recognized seven climates³, and it was the latter which the Arabs adopted. The seven climates included all the portion of the globe to which the ancients and the Arabs gave the name of the 'habitable quarter' of the world. The Arabs and the ancients, however, were agreed that there existed habitable earths even beyond the seven climates⁴.