The Geography of the Puranas c7.s5.45

c7.s5.45

(4) The assertion that Meru is a circular, square, octagonal or thousand-sided, implies that observers must have travelled round Meru and taken different routes—all close to the escarpment. Those who changed their bearings four times to circumnavigate the Meru, naturally described it as square in shape while those who changed them frequently described it as many sided as the number of times they had to change their general direction of movement. The best way of summarily describing the circumference of Meru was therefore what Viṣṇu Purāṇa says, i.e., it is circular which simply means that one can make a complete round of Meru and come back to his starting point. The shape of a vast massive mountain system like Meru could not be ascertained or visualised otherwise.