Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c6.s4.38

c6.s4.38

The bow-shaped Bhārata-varṣa would appear to be the Indian subcontinent since it is described as semi-circular and lying between the Himavat in the north and the sea in the south⁸⁰ or as catuḥ-saṃsthāna-saṃsthita having the Himavat like the string of a bow in the north and the sea in the south, east and west.⁸¹ But it is said to have been divided into nine subdivisions (nava-bheda), all of which ‘extend to the ocean, but are mutually inaccessible.’82 As regards the shape of the Bhārata-varṣa, described as ‘constituted with a fourfold conformation’ (probably a rhomboid or rectangle or unequal quadrilateral), we have to note that it was known to Eratosthenes and other Western writers.⁸³ Besides the above two conceptions, the Kūrmavibhāga (Kūrmaniveśa) in the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa and in the astronomical works concieve of the Bhārata-varṣa as conforming to the shape of a tortoise lying outspread and facing towards the east.⁸⁴