Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.2298

c7.2298

3) Kerala and Pātāla (Nether world). The ancient sages of the Purāṇas have grouped the worlds into three, the Svarga (heaven), Bhūmi (the earth) and the Pātāla (the nether world). The three worlds taken as a whole were divided into fourteen worlds. It does not appear that this grouping was merely imaginary. A keen observation of the Purāṇas would lead one to infer that the Himālayan plateau was considered as Devaloka-Svarga (heaven), the planes between the Himālaya and the Vindhya as Bhūloka (the earth) and the regions to the south of the Vindhya as Pātāla (the nether world), by the ancient people of India. The seven worlds of Pātāla such as Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talātala, Mahātala, Rasātala and Pātāla might have been seven countries in this region. The following description which occurs in Devī Bhāgavata, Skandha 8, would substantiate this inference.