Description of Bharatavarsha and its sacred mountain ranges, river systems & its people in the Brahma Purana

A post on the description of Bharatavarsha & its sacred mountain ranges, river systems & its people in the Brahma Purana Rishi Lomaharshana begins the description of Bharatavarsha with this verse: 

उत्तरेण समुद्रस्य हिमाद्रेश्चैव दक्षिणे। 

वर्ष तद्धारत नाम भारती यत्र सतति ॥ 

To the north of ocean and to the South of Himalayas is the sub-continent Bharata. The subjects are called "Bharatis". 

नवयोउ नसाहस्रो विस्तारश्च द्विजोत्तमा । 

कर्मभूमिरिय स्वर्गमपवाञ्च इच्छताम् ॥ 

Rishi Lomaharshana describes Bharat as the land of of karma where swarga can be attained.

महेंद्रो मलय सह्यः शुक्तिमानक्षपर्वत । 

विध्यश्च पारियात्रश्च सप्तात्र कुलपर्वता ॥ 

Then he describes the 7 Kulaparvatas i.e chief mountain ranges of a Bharat, namely : Mahendra, Malaya, Sahya, Suktiman, Rksa, Vindhya and Pariyatra.

In below verses it is reiterated that its only from Bharat that men attain swarga & mukthi. Nowhere else on earth are holy rites prescribed for men. It also talks about rebirth.

Below shlokas mention 9 divisions of Bharatavarsha, namely : Indradvipa, Kaserumat, Tamraparņa, Gabhastiman, Nagadvipa, Saumya, Gandharva and Varuna. Indradvipa is identified with the trans Brahmaputra region.

Kaserumat is the coastal plains between the deltas of Godavari & Mahanadi rivers. Tamaraparna is associated with the southernmost perennial river of Tamaparani which flows in southern TN. Gabhastiman is the hilly region between Narmada & Godavari rivers. 

Nagadvipa is the region extended all over the mountainous belt between Narmada ranges upto the Chota Nagpur plateau (northern Chhattisgarh & parts of Jharkhand)

There is a mention of a Sowmyadvipa in Brahma Purana. In other puranas this is replaced with Simhala(Lanka) or Gandharva. Varuna is the western coast of Bharat.

Here Lomaharshana demarcates the eastern & western borders by describing the people who dwell beyond the borders of Bharat. To the east are the Kiratas & the west the Yavanas.

Every Purana that dwells into this topic describes the Chaturvarna & assigns their role, so does Brahma Purana. Brahmins perform sacrifices, Kshatriya the battles, Vaishyas trade & Shudras are into service. Only the above can call Bharat their homeland.

The next few shlokas describe the rivers & their mountain ranges from where they originate. Here Satadru (Sutlej) & Chandrabhaga (Chenab) are mentioned to be originating from the foot of the Himavan mountain.

Narmada, Surasa & other rivers originate from the Vindhya mountains. Tapi, Payoshni, Nirvindhya have their origins from the foothills of the Ṛkṣa mountains. Taking a dip in them relieves one of paapa.

Godavari, Bhimarathi, Krishnaveni and other rivers originate from the foot of Sahyadhri. The Kritamala, Tamraparni start from Malaya. The Trisandhya, Rsikulya and other rivers have their source in Mahendra. The Rsikulya, Kumara flow from the foot of Suktiman mountains.

These Shlokas identify the various people dwelling along the banks of all the rivers mentioned in the above few tweets. It mentions the well known Kurus & Panchalas. Eastern people of Kamarupa (Assam). Paundras & Kalingas are mentioned as people south of Kamarupa (West Bengal & Odisha)

The Saurashtras, Abhiras (Gujarat & southern Rajasthan), Arbudas (mount Abu region), Malavas (Malwa), Sauviras (Sindh), Saindhavas (near Dwaraka), Salvas (Alwar), Madraramas (Madra kingdom), Ambashthas (Punjab), Parasikas, Sakala (Sialkot)

Reference

Brahma Purana by Maharshi Krishnadwaipayan & Motilal Banarsidass

The Significance of Naraka Chaturdashi and its description in the Brahma Purana

Shri Krishna & Garuda

The Brahma Purana describes in vivid detail the slaying of Narakasura by Shri Krishna. The whole event is described by Veda Vyasa. The below Shlokas mentions the arrival of Indra at Dwaraka to meet Shri Krishna & describe to him the atrocities committed by Narakasura.

Indra identifies Naraka, the son of Bhumi as the king of Pragjyotisha who harasses and destroys all living beings. Indra says to Krishna that after killing many devas, siddhas & rajas; Naraka imprisoned their daughters in his palace.

Indra complains to Krishna on how Naraka took away by force the famed umbrella of Pracetas, on how he removed Maniparvata, peak of Mandara & took away by force the earrings of Indra's mother Aditi. Indra then implores Shri Krishna to take action against Naraka.

Indra implores Krishna to take action against Naraksura

Krishna assures Indra that he'll take action. Along with with Sathyabhama on his side, Krishna mounts the Garuda & flys towards Pragjyotisha, the capital of Narakasura. The last verse describes Naraka's capital as a terrible place full of nooses everywhere

Krishna flys into Naraksura's capital, Pragjyotisha

Krishna proceeds to use the Sudarshana Chakra to cut off all those nooses. In the process he also slays asura Mura & his 7000 sons.

Krishna slays asura Mura

The below shlokas describe the slaying of Narakasura. In the battle Krishna kills a 1000 asuras. Wielding the Sudarshana Chakra, Krishna splits Narakasura into two halves & kills him.

Krishna kills Narakasura with the Sudarshana Chakra

After Naraka's killing, Bhumidevi approaches Shri Krishna with Aditi's earrings.After retrieving Aditi's earrings, Shri Krishna proceeds to liberate 16,100 girls taken as prisoners by Narakasura. Along with the girls, Krishna also frees 6000 elephants, a mighty number of Kambhoja horses. Krishna immediately has them all transported back to Dwaraka.

Bhudevi hands over Aditi's earrings to Krishna

Krishna also retrieves the umbrella of Varuna & the mountain of Maniparvata. He along with Sathyabhama mount the Garuda & fly towards Swarga to restore the earrings to Aditi. This concludes the story of slaying of Narakasura. This is the significance of Naraka Chaturdasi.

Krishna & Satyabhama fly back from Pragjyotisha

Reference

Brahmapurana Volume II Gurumandal series

Images from Google

Pauranika description of Ayodhya by Agastya muni in the Skandapuranam

The Pauranika description of Ayodhya nagara was first described by Narada muni to Skanda, who in turn describes it to Agastya muni in the Ayodhya Mahatmya of the Skandapuranam.

An artist's impression of Ayodhya of the Purnaic era

The below Shlokas describe Ayodhya on the banks of the Sarayu river as a magnificent city on par with Indra's abode Amaravati. Ayodhya is described as a city full of elephants, horses, chariots & foot soldiers. It tops all cities in its richness & prosperity. It has numerous broad roads & great rampart walls & golden arched gateways resembling mountain ridges & peaks.

Shlokas describing Ayodhya

Ayodhya's squares & crossroads are well planned and neatly maintained. There are many storeyed palaces with numerous artistic alterations & modifications in the walls. It is rendered splendid by many tanks with excellent water abounding in full blown lotuses.Ayodhya is said to be well adorned with shrines of deities possessing divine splendour and is always resounded with the sounds of the chanting of the Vedas which can be heard everywhere.

The below Shlokas describe the various gardens of Ayodhya & its various flowering plants & trees. Among the trees mentioned are Saala(vatica robusta), coconut, palmyras, jackfruit, gooseberry, mango tress, wood apple, Ashoka tree. Among flowers mentioned are mallika, bakula, paatali, naagapushpa, champaka, karaveera, karnikara, ketaki. Some of the other fruit bearing trees mentioned are nimbha(margosa), jambira, kadali(banana), matulinga(pomegranate). The city is always abound with the fragrance of sandalwood.

Shlokas describing various flowering plants.

Below Shlokas describe the citizens of Ayodhya. It has many kinds of citizens of high accomplishments such as princes having qualities of Devas, women of great beauty who are on par with Apsaras, eminent poets of great excellence, Brahmanas equal to Bṛhaspati in intelligence and merchants and other citizens who are like the Kalpa vriksha. The quality of horses in Ayodhya are on par with the Uchchaihshravas & the elephants comparable to Airavata, guarding all the directions of the city. Hence Ayodhya is compared to Indra's capital, Amaravati.

Shlokas describing citizens of Ayodhya

It was here that kings of Suryavamsha with Ikshvaaku as the foremost one, were born. All of them were devoted to protection people. The city is built on the banks of the river Sarayu whose waters are meritorious. Its banks are echoed with humming of bees & chirping of birds.The Sarayu is a sparklingly clear and beautiful river with Manasa lake as its source. It is full of holy water. The touch of this river is as excellent as that of Ganga.

Kings of Ayodhya praised

Such is the description of Ayodhya nagara as mentioned in the Ayodhya Mahatmya in the Skandapuranam.

Reference:

Skandapuranam by Nag Publishers.

Description of the geography of Bharatavarsha in the Markandeya Puranam

One of the most exhaustive accounts of the description of Bharatavarsha & Jambudwipa comes from the Markandeya puranam. Markandeya describes to sage Kraustuki the geographical features including mountain, river & forest systems of Bharat.

                          

To the question posed by sage Kraustuki on the size of the earth, its continents, oceans, mountains & rivers of Bharat, Markandeya answers. He says the earth is 50 times 10 million yojanas in every direction. Markandeya also lists 7 continents including Jambudweepa. Markandeya lists the 7 continents (dweepa) in increasing order of their size starting with Jambudweepa followed by Plaksa, Salmala, Kusa, Krauncha, Saka & finally the Pushkara dvipa, the biggest of all. He says all these 7 continents are surrounded by salt water ocean.

In the above shlokas, Markandeya lists out the 9 division of Bharat. He demarcates the eastern & western borders by describing the people who dwell beyond the borders of Bharat. To the east are the Kiratas & the west the Yavanas.

Markandeya then lists 7 mountain ranges of Bharat. 

1)Mahendra(eastern Odisha/AP ghats) 

2)Malaya(Kerala/TN/Karnataka portion of western ghats) 

3)Sahya(MH portion of western ghats) 

4)Suktimat(chain of mountains in MP) 

5)Rksa(central India) 

6)Vindhya 

7)Paripatra(western Vindhya range)

Regarding the Himalayas, Markandeya mentions it while describing the geography of Jambudweepa. Himalaya is mentioned as a continental mountain range (हिमवान्हेमकूच निषधो मेरुरेव च), perhaps suggesting its massive size compared to the other mountain ranges.

Apart from the 7 mountain ranges, Markandeya identifies individual peaks in them. For example this verse mentions mount Mandara of the Samudra mantan fame, identified as a peak near modern day Bhagalpur in Bihar. 

Next Markandeya classifies rivers based on their origin (of the mountain range). 1st set of rivers are those originating from the Himalayas. Ganga, Saraswati & Sindhu being the foremost of the rivers. Also mentioned are other holy rivers like Yamuna, Satadru, Iravati, Gomati etc

Next set of rivers are those originating from the Paripatra mountain range(western Vindhyas). The names of some of these rivers are so sweet sounding. Vedasmrti, Vedavati, Anandini, Sadanira, Avarni etc are some of the central Indian rivers originating from the Vindhyas.

Narmada, Mahanadi, Mandakini(different from the one at Rudraprayag) too are mentioned as rivers originating from the Vindhyas. Other rivers include Suratha, Chitrakuta, Citrotpala, Tamasa, Vanjula, Sumeruja, Suktimati, Vega vahini etc

Markandeya next lists out rivers originating from the Sahyadri range(this includes even portion of the western ghats as far as present day Kodagu where Kaveri is born). Rivers listed are Godavari, Bhima, Krishna, Venya, Tungabhadra, Suprayoga(tributary of Krishna) & Kaveri.

In this shloka Markandeya mentions the names of the southernmost rivers originating from the Malaya mountain range (Kerala part of western ghat). Rivers mentioned are Krtamala(Vedamali) a river flowing through Cochin, Tamaparani(the most well known of all), Pushpaja, Utpalavati.

Rivers with their origins in the Mahendra mountains (eastern ghats) Pitr-soma, Rsi-kulya, Iksukha, Tridiva,Laangulini, Vamshakaara. These rivers flow through Odisha & northern Andhra & into the bay of bengal.

Markandeya ends his description of rivers by saying सर्वाः पुण्याः सरस्वत्यः सर्वा गङ्गाः समुद्रगाः विश्वस्य मातरः सर्वाः सर्वपापहराः स्मृताः All rivers possess holy merit, all are rivers flowing into the ocean, all are mothers of the world, they are well known to cleanse from all sin.

Markandeya concludes with these two verses. The second verse describes Bharatavarsha as a peninsula which is surrounded by the great ocean on its south, west & east. With Himalayas to the north stretching like the string of a bow.

References

Markandeya Puranam