Mercury; Angáraka (Mars) is as far above Venus; and the priest of the gods (Brihaspati, or Jupiter), as far from Mars; whilst Saturn (Sani*) is two hundred and fifty thousand leagues beyond Jupiter. † The sphere of the seven Rishis (Ursa Major) is a hundred thousand leagues above Saturn; and, at a similar height above the seven Rishis, is Dhruva (the pole-star), the pivot or axis of the whole planetary circle. Such, Maitreya, is the elevation of the three spheres (Bhúr, Bhuvar, Swar) which form the region of the consequences of works. The region of works is here (or in the land of Bharata). 1 Above Dhruva, at the distance of ten million leagues, lies the sphere of saints (or Mahar-loka), the inhabitants of which dwell in it throughout a Kalpa (or day of Brahmá). At twice that distance is situated Jano-loka, where Sanandana and other pure-minded sons of Brahmá 1 A similar account of the situations and distances of the planets occurs in the Padma, Kúrma, and Váyu Puráňas. The Bhágavata§ has one or two varieties; but they are of no great importance. All my MSS. have Sauri. + सौरिर्बृहस्पतेश्चोर्ध्वं द्विलचे सम्यगास्थितः । So, to every purpose of this note, read all the MSS. to which I have access; and we are thus told that Saturn is only two hundred thousand yojanas beyond Jupiter. Professor Wilson must have read बृहस्पतेः सार्धद्विलचे. See, further, my second note at p. 230, infra. Here, and in the sentence following, this word represents ÿjyá, 'sacrifice'. § V., XXII. reside. At four times the distance between the two last lies the Tapo-loka* (the sphere of penance), inhabited by the deities called Vairájas, who are unconsumable by fire. At six times the distance (or twelve Crores,a hundred and twenty millions of leagues †) is situated Satya-loka, (the sphere of truth), the inhabitants of which never again know death'.: 1 An account of these Lokas is met with only in a few of the Puránas, and is not much more detailed, in them, than in our text. The Vayu§ is most circumstantial. According to that authority, Mahar, which is so called from a mystical term, Maha, is the abode of the Ganadevas-the Yamas and others, who are the * 'And beyond Janaloka, at fourfold the aforesaid altitude, is the world known as Tapas': चतुर्गुणोत्तरे चोर्ध्वं जनलोकात्तपः स्मृतः । The height of Tapoloka above Dhruva is eighty million yojanas. †The commentaries have it that the distance is forty-eight kotis or 480.000.000 of yojanas; i. e., six times as far as Tapoloka lies from Janaloka. Subjoined are the words of the smaller commentary: कापेक्षयैव षङ्गणेन द्वादशकोट्युच्छ्रयेण तपोलोकादनन्तरं सत्यलोकः । ननु तपोलोकापेक्षयेति मन्तव्यम् । तथा सत्यष्टचत्वारिंशत्कोट्युच्छ्रयत्वेन ब्रह्माण्डे तस्यावकाशाभावात् । The original here adds that Satyaloka has another designation, that of Brahmaloka: ब्रह्मलोको हि संस्मृतः. § Chapter XC.: महेति व्याहृतेनैवं महर्लोकस्ततो ऽभवत् । यामादयो गणाः सर्वे महर्लोकनिवासिनः । The probability is, that, by a common Paúráńik and Epic licence,which, for instance, converts स इति into सेति, &c. &c., - महेति, in the first of the preceding lines, represents fa, i. e., Ħg: rfa, where would be the nominative of Я, ‘a festival', 'a solemnity'. The other statements from the Vayu-purána given in the note here annotated occur not far below the foregoing extracts. Wherever earthy substance exists, which may be traversed by the feet, that constitutes the sphere of the regents or rulers of the Kalpa, the Kalpádhikárins. They are so designated also in the Kúrma.* The Kásí Khanda† refers the name to Mahas, ‘light'; the sphere being invested with radiance (महसावृत). Its inhabitants are also called lords of the Kalpa. But the commentator explains this to denote Bhrigu and the other patriarchs, whose lives endure for a day of Brahma. The different accounts agree in stating, that, when the three lower spheres are consumed by fire, Mahar-loka is deserted by its tenants, who repair to the next sphere, or Jana-loka. Jana-loka, according to the Váyu, is the residence of the Rishis and demigods during the night of Brahmá, and is termed Jana, because the patriarchs are the progenitors of mankind. The Káśí Khanda § agrees with the Vishnu in peopling it with Sanandana and the other ascetic sons of Brahma, and with Yogins like themselves. These are placed, by the Váyu, in the Tapo-loka; and they, and the other sages, and the demigods, after repeated appearances in the world, become, at last, Vairájas in the Brahma or Satya-loka. After many divine ages of residence there with Brahmá, they are, along with him, absorbed, at the end of his existence, into the indiscrete : एतस्मिन्ब्रह्मलोके तु कल्पे वैराजके गते । * Part I., Chapter XLIV., 1: + XXII., 3: ध्रुवादूर्ध्वं महर्लोकः कोटियोजनविस्तृतः । द्विजो ऽथ लोकं तं वीच्य सर्वतो महसावृतम् । † The MS. that I have used of the Káśikhanda speaks, — XXII., 6not of “lords of the Kalpa”, but of those who live for a kalpa : कल्पायुषो वसन्त्यत्र तपसा धूतकल्मषाः । § XXII., 8, 9: निवसन्त्यमला यत्र मानसा ब्रह्मणः सुताः । earth, the dimensions of which I have already recounted to you. The region that extends from the earth to the The commentator on the Káśí Khanda explains Vairája to mean ‘relating to, or derived from, Brahmá or Viráj' : * हिरण्यगर्भेणोत्पादिता वैराजाः । The Vairájas are, there,† as in the Vishnu Purana, placed in the Tapo-loka, and are explained to be ascetics, mendicants, anchorets, and penitents, who have completed a course of rigorous austerities : इत्यादिसुतपःक्लिष्टकर्माणो ये तपोधनाः । ब्रह्मायुषस्तपोलोके ते वसन्त्यकुतोभयाः ॥ It may be doubted, however, if the Pauráńiks have very precise notions regarding these spheres and their inhabitants. The Puránas of a decidedly sectarial character add other and higher worlds to the series. Thus, the Kúrma § identifies Brahma-loka * Literally, ‘produced by Hiranyagarbha'. f Rámanátha, in his commentary on the Käsikhanda, the Kāsikhandadipiká, explains the Vairájas to be those who are freed from rajoguńa: वैराजा अवगतरजोगुणा:. This explanation has no scientific value. See, also, Vol. I., p. 104, note 2. † Kāsikhanda, XXII., 10 – 21. The last of these stanzas is that which Professor Wilson quotes just below. In the MS. which I have consulted, instead of °क्लिष्टकर्माणः, the reading is, far preferably, • क्लिष्टवमीणः, the meaning of which, according to a marginal gloss, is तपोभिर्लेषिताङ्गाः· § Part I., XLIV., 8-14: सूर्यकोटिप्रतीकाशं परं तस्य दुरासदम् । * sun, in which the Siddhas and other celestial beings move, is the atmospheric sphere, which also I have described. The interval between the sun and Dhruva, extending fourteen hundred thousand+ leagues, is called, with Vishnu-loka, and has a Rudra-loka above it. The Śiva places Vishnu-loka above Brahma-loka, and Rudra-loka above that. In the Kási Khanda we have, instead of those two, Vaikuntha and Kailása, as the lofty worlds of Vishnu and Śiva; whilst the Brahma Vaivarta has, above all, a Go-loka, a world or heaven of cows and Krishna. These are, all, evidently, additions to the original system of seven worlds, in which we have, probably, some relation to the seven climates of the ancients, the seven stages or degrees of the earth of the Arabs, and the seven heavens of the Mohammedans, if not to the seven Amshaspands of * a¤ à enfa fayar fgor â aganftu: 1 'Celestial beings" is to render muni; and Bhuvoloka is represented by "atmospheric sphere". C + Niyuta. This distance is brought out as follows: And so the correction is confirmed which I have made in my second note at p. 226, supra. See, further, the Bhagavata-puráňa, V., XXII., 16, where Saturn is said to be two hundred thousand yojanas beyond Jupiter. For these celestial councillors, of whom there are discordantly said to be six and thirty-three, see Dr. Spiegel's Avesta, die Heiligen Schriften der Parsen, Vol. III., pp. 20 and 4. |