Beyond the sea of fresh water is a region of twice its extent, where the land is of gold, and where no living beings reside. Thence extends the Lokáloka mountain, which is ten thousand Yojanas in breadth, and as many in height; and beyond it perpetual darkness invests the mountain all around; which darkness is again encompassed by the shell of the egg 6.

Such, Maitreya, is the earth, which with its continents, mountains, oceans, and exterior shell, is fifty crores (five hundred millions) of

[paragraph continues] Yojanas in extent 7. It is the mother and nurse of all creatures, the foundation of all worlds, and the chief of the elements.

Footnotes

197:1 So the commentator explains the terms Avasarpińí and Utsarpińí; but these words most commonly designate divisions of time peculiar to the Jainas; during the former of which men are supposed to decline from extreme felicity to extreme distress; and in the latter, to ascend from misery to happiness. The author of the text had possibly the Jaina use of these terms in view; and if so, wrote after their system was promulgated.

200:2 The Kúrma is the only Puráńa in which the white island, Śweta-dwípa, the abode of Vishńu, is included in the geography of the world: an incidental description of it is quoted by Col. Wilford from the Uttara Khańd́a of the Padma Puráńa (As. Res. XI. 99); and it is in this and in the Brahma Vaivartta that allusions to it are most frequent and copious.

200:3 A slight alteration has been here made in the order of the description.

201:4 The description of the Dwípas in the Agni, Bráhma, Kúrma, and Váyu Puráńas agrees with that of our text. The Márkańd́eya, Linga, and Matsya contain no details. The Bhágavata and Padma follow the same order as the Vishńu, &c. but alter all the names, and, many of the measurements. The account of the Mahábhárata is very irregular and confused. The variations throw no additional light upon the geographical system of the Puráńas. Some traces of this appear discoverable in the west; and the seven Dwípas, with their surrounding seas, may have some connexion with the notion of the seven climates, as Col. Wilford has supposed. That learned, but fanciful writer bestowed great pains upon the verification of these fictions, and imagined the different Dwípas to represent actual divisions of the globe: Jambu being India; Kuśa, the Kush of Scripture, or the countries between Mesopotamia and India: Plaksha being Asia Minor; Śálmali, eastern Europe; Krauncha, Germany; Śáka, the British isles; and Pushkara, Iceland. The white or silver island, or island of the moon, was also, according to him, the island of Great Britain. Whatever may be thought of his conclusions, his essays on these subjects, particularly in the eighth, tenth, and eleventh volumes of the Asiatic Researches, contain much curious and interesting matter.