Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 53, Shloka 30
Adhyaya 53 — Rudrasarga and the Measure of the Manvantaras: Svayambhuva Manu, Priyavrata’s Line, and the Seven Dvipas
आनन्दञ्च शिवञ्चैव क्षेमकञ्च ध्रुवन्तथा ।
प्लक्षद्वीपादिभूतेषु शाकद्वीपान्तिमेषु वै ॥
ānandañ ca śivañ caiva kṣemakañ ca dhruvan tathā /
plakṣadvīpādibhūteṣu śākadvīpāntimeṣu vai
(They are named) Ānanda, Śiva, Kṣemaka, and likewise Dhruva—such names are found among the lands beginning with Plakṣadvīpa and extending to the last, Śākadvīpa.
FAQs
Purāṇic geography is not merely cartographic; the toponyms (Ānanda, Śiva, Kṣema, Dhruva) encode ideals—bliss, auspiciousness, security, and steadfastness—implying that ordered worlds are sustained by stable dharmic qualities.
Primarily ‘Sthāna’ (cosmic arrangement/locations) via dvīpa-varṣa naming; secondarily supports ‘Vaṃśa/vaṃśānucarita’ context as the chapter transitions toward dynastic genealogy.
The repeated ideal-names across dvīpas suggest archetypal ‘states’ of being: bliss (ānanda), auspicious clarity (śiva), protected wholeness (kṣema), and inner steadiness (dhruva), read as inner cosmology mapped onto outer space.