Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c7.s4.1

c7.s4.1

The absurd conception of the shape of the Bhārata-varṣa as that of a tortoise (Viṣṇu in the tortoise form), facing the east, and the attempt to locate all the various territories on it are peculiar, among the Purāṇas, to the Mārkaṇḍeya (Ch. 58). It is really the fabrication of the astronomers and astrologers who associated nine divisions of the countries with particular constellations and thought that, when particular planets and constellations are occulted, the territories related to the constellations in question would pass through calamities. The nine limbs of the tortoise are the back, head, right forefoot, right flank, right hindfoot, tail, left hindfoot, left flank and left forefoot. A similar ninefold division of the Bhārata-varṣa is found in Chapter 14 of Varāhamihira’s Bṛhatsaṃhitā while its 10th century commentator Utpala not only quotes the *Samāsasaṃhitā* but also refers to an ancient author named Garga on the same subject and quotes another list of the kind from Parāśara. We quote below the *Mārkaṇḍeya* lists, though some of the names suffer from textual errors and wrong entries. It may be pointed out that the mention of Tilaṅga (Telengana) in Section IV suggests that the *Mārkaṇḍeya* chapter is later than the *Bṛhatsaṃhitā* composed in the 6th century A.D. The mention of Suvarṇabhūmi in Section IX as well as in the works of Parāśara and Varāhamihira is interesting. The divisions are indicated in both a Kūrma-cakra and a Nakṣatra-cakra.