Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c4.2596

c4.2596

BRAHMAPURĪ. The abode of Brahmā. Brahmapurī is on the summit of Mahāmeru, with an area of fourteen thousand yojanas (leagues). Around this city, at the four sides, (East etc.) and at the four corners (South-East etc.) there are eight towns, very big and beautiful, kept by eight protectors such as Indrā and others. The river Gaṅgā which springs from the feet of Mahāviṣṇu wets the whole of Candramaṇḍala (Lunar region), falls down on the Brahmapurī, and dividing itself into four rivers called Sītā, Alakanandā, Cakṣus and Bhadrā flows in four directions. The river Sītā flows through the top of the mountains and passing through the mountain in the east called Bhadrāśva, falls in the Eastern Ocean. The river Alakanandā flows to the south and reaches Bhārata. Then it divides into seven rivers which unite in the ocean. The river Cakṣus passes through the mountains in the west and enters the country called Ketumālavarṣa and then flows into the ocean. The river Bhadrā passes through all the mountains in the north and flows through the north country of the Kurūṣa and falls in the North Ocean. The mountain of Mālyavān in the west and the mountain of Gandhamādana in the east are as long as the mountain of Nilagiri in the north and the mountain of Niṣadha in the south. Mount Meru shaped like an earring stands in the middle of these four mountains. (Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Aṃśa 2, Chapter 21).