Chapter 12 - A Description of the Earth

1-3. Vaishampayana said:—The Eternal Hari then placed Brahma on that golden lotus endued with all effulgence, qualities and marks of the earth, and extending over many a Yojana. He was the foremost of Yogins, the mind of all creatures and their creator and had his face directed towards all. The great saints, well-read in the Puranas, describe this lotus, as originating from Narayana’s person and supporting the earth.

4-10. The goddess who was the seat of that lotus is earth and the firm roots that grow inside it are the celestial mountains. Himavan, Meru, Neela, Nishadha, Kailasha, Krauncha, Gandhamadana, the sacred Trishira, the charming Mandara, Udaya, Kandara, Vindhya, and Asta, these are the mountains granting all objects of desires, and containing the hermitages of the gods, Siddhas and pious anchorites. The country interspersed by these mountains is called the insular continent Jamvu and here sacrificers celebrate their sacrifices. The streams, containing nectarine water, that come out of the sacrifices, are the goddess Sarit (river) having and hundreds of sacred shrines. The numberless filaments around the lotus are known on earth as the mountains of minerals.

11-13. O king, the upper petals of that lotus constitute the impassable and the mountainous tract of the Mleccas. The lower petals constitute the nether region, the abode of the great Daityas and Uragas; the region underneath it is called Udaka or the mine of great miseries. Persons committing heinous crimes are drowned there.

14. The vast sheet of water that lies at the extremity of this lotus is the ocean (with land) on all sides.

15-18. Because this great lotus originated in the mirror of Narayana’s heart it is called Pushkara. For this, the great sacrificing ancient Rishis, who are acquainted with the origin of this lotus, construct an altar of the shape of a lotus in the sacrificial ground. In this way the Lord created Brahma in the lotus the creator of mountains, rivers, gods, and other objects of the universe. While Brahma was created the Great Self-sprung Lord, of unlimited prowess, lying on the bed of the huge ocean created the eternal lotus identical with the universe.