Shloka 15
भारतवर्षमहात्म्यम् — कर्मभूमित्वम्, नवभेदाः, कुलपर्वताः-नद्यः-जनपदाः, युगचक्रविशेषः, यज्ञपुरुषविष्णुपूजा
तास्व् इमे कुरुपाञ्चाला मध्यदेशादयो जनाः पूर्वदेशादिकाश् चैव कामरूपनिवासिनः
tāsv ime kurupāñcālā madhyadeśādayo janāḥ pūrvadeśādikāś caiva kāmarūpanivāsinaḥ
In those lands dwell the Kurus and the Pāñcālas; the peoples of Madhyadeśa and other central tracts; those of the eastern regions and their adjoining countries; and likewise the dwellers of Kāmarūpa—each abiding in its appointed quarter.
Sage Parāśara (addressing Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Enumeration of Bhārata-varṣa’s peoples by region (central, eastern, etc.)
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: authoritative
Cosmic Hierarchy: Varshas (regions)
Vishnu Form: Narayana (cosmic)
FAQs
It situates Bhārata-varṣa within the Purāṇic sacred geography, showing human society as part of an ordered world-system where regions and communities have defined places.
He presents it descriptively by naming janapadas and broad directional zones (central and eastern tracts), indicating a structured territorial map rather than a mythic abstraction alone.
Even when Vishnu is not named in the verse, the Vishnu Purana frames such world-ordering as sustained by the Supreme Reality—Vishnu—whose governance underlies the stability and intelligibility of the cosmos and its human domains.