Chapter 4 - Uttarakuru, Bhadrāśva, Mālyavat

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

The sages said:

1. O Sūta, O you very intelligent one, tell us in full (about the countries) to the north, west and east of Meru, so also about the Mālyavat mountain.

Sūta said:

2. O brāhmaṇas, on the south of Nīla, and the northern side of Meru there is the auspicious land called Uttarakuru, where siddhas have resided.

3. The trees there have sweet fruits and always have flowers and fruits. The flowers are very fragrant and the fruits are tasty.

4-5. O best brāhmaṇas, some trees there give all the fruits as desired by (one who approaches them). O best brāhmaṇas, there are other trees called kṣīrin (i.e. yielding milk). All they always ooze milk that resembles nectar. They also yield clothes and in their fruits are ornaments.

6. The entire land is full of gems and has fine golden sands, O you ascetics, and there are trees bearing no fruit (but) pleasant to touch in all seasons.

7. Men that are born there have dropped from the world of gods. They are born in pure, noble families, and are very handsome.

8-11. There twins (of opposite sexes) are born and women resemble the celestial nymphs (in beauty). They (i.e. the men and women) drink the nectar-like milk of those milk-yielding trees. The twins that are born there grow equally during the (proper) period. Both have similar beauty, virtues and dresses also. They are fit for one another like the cakravāka birds, O brāhmaṇas. Those people are healthy and always of a cheerful mind. O glorious one, they live for ten thousand and ten hundred years, and do not desert each other.

12. Birds called Bhāruḍa, having sharp beaks and great strength, carry them away when dead and throw them into valleys.

13. O brāhmaṇas, I have described to you in brief (the country called) Uttarakuru. I shall now duly describe to you the eastern side of Meru.

14. O ascetics, in the country called Bhadrāśva which is the chief (country), there is a grove (called) Bhadraśāla, where there are huge trees called kālāmra.

15-18. O glorious ones, the kālāmra trees always bear flowers and fruits and are auspicious. They are a yojana tall and are resorted to by siddhas and cāraṇas. The men there are white (in complexion), bright and very strong. The women have the complexion of lotuses, are beautiful and pleasant to look at. They have complexion like that of the moon, have four (principal) colours and their faces are like the full moon. Their bodies are cool like the moon and they are skilled in dancing and singing. O best brāhmaṇas, the span of life there is ten thousand years. They who drink the juice of kālāmra, always remain young.

19-21a. On the south of Nīla, on the north of Niṣadha there is a huge, ancient, Jambu tree. It is auspicious, and grants all desired objects. It is resorted to by siddhas and cāraṇas. The ancient country Jambudvīpa is so called after its name. (The height of the jambu tree) is a thousand and a hundred yojanas, O best brāhmaṇas.

21b-26. Similarly on the eastern peak of Mālyavat there are small mountains. O brāhmaṇas, Mālyavat measures fifty thousand yojanas. Men born there resemble gold (in their complexion). All of them have fallen from Brahma’s heaven and all expound the Vedas. They practise divine penance and live in perpetual celibacy. They enter the sun for protecting the beings. Sixty thousand and sixty hundred of them surround the sun, and go before Aruṇa. Being heated with the sun’s heat for sixty thousand years they (ultimately) enter the moon’s orb.