Shloka 17
भारतवर्षमहात्म्यम् — कर्मभूमित्वम्, नवभेदाः, कुलपर्वताः-नद्यः-जनपदाः, युगचक्रविशेषः, यज्ञपुरुषविष्णुपूजा
कारूषा मालवाश् चैव पारियात्रनिवासिनः सौवीराः सैन्धवा हूणाः साल्वाः शाकलवासिनः
kārūṣā mālavāś caiva pāriyātranivāsinaḥ sauvīrāḥ saindhavā hūṇāḥ sālvāḥ śākalavāsinaḥ
There are the Kārūṣas and the Mālavas; those who dwell along the Pāriyātra range; the Sauvīras and the Saindhavas; the Hūṇas; the Sālvās; and those whose abode is Śākala—such are the peoples named in this region.
Sage Parāśara (to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Continuing the geographic catalogue: peoples tied to mountain ranges and frontier tracts
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: authoritative
Cosmic Hierarchy: Varshas (regions)
Vishnu Form: Narayana (cosmic)
FAQs
This verse participates in the Purana’s sacred geography, mapping human communities onto a divinely ordered world, showing Bharata-varsha as an organized realm within Vishnu’s cosmic governance.
Parāśara answers Maitreya by systematically naming mountains, regions, and peoples, presenting geography as part of the Purāṇic cosmological framework rather than a purely political list.
Even when Vishnu is not named in the verse, the ordered enumeration reflects the Purana’s premise that the universe—including lands and peoples—rests within Vishnu’s sustaining sovereignty and dharmic structure.