Shloka 51
सप्तद्वीप-समुद्र-प्रमाणम्: प्लक्षादि-द्वीपवर्णनं, लोकालोक-सीमा, चन्द्र-समुद्र-वृद्धिक्षयः
दिवावृत् पञ्चमश् चात्र तथान्यः पुण्डरीकवान् दुन्दुभिश् च महाशैलो द्विगुणास् ते परस्परम् द्वीपा द्वीपेषु ये शैला यथा द्वीपानि ते तथा
divāvṛt pañcamaś cātra tathānyaḥ puṇḍarīkavān dundubhiś ca mahāśailo dviguṇās te parasparam dvīpā dvīpeṣu ye śailā yathā dvīpāni te tathā
Here are also named the fifth mountain, Divāvṛt, another called Puṇḍarīkavān, and the great peak Dundubhi. Each range is twice the extent of the one before it; and as the dvīpas increase in measure from one to the next, so too do the mountains within those dvīpas increase accordingly.
Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Sacred geography and proportional measures of dvīpas and their mountain-ranges
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: authoritative
Cosmic Hierarchy: Dvipas
Concept: Cosmic space is structured by intelligible proportion (dviguṇa-krama), reflecting an ordered universe rather than randomness.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Contemplate order and scale in nature to cultivate reverence and steadiness of mind.
Vishishtadvaita: The universe’s graded order is meaningful as the well-arranged body of the Lord, governed by His sovereignty.
Vishnu Form: Narayana
FAQs
This verse states that mountain ranges increase successively by a factor of two, mirroring the proportional expansion of the dvīpas; it presents the cosmos as an ordered, measurable system rather than a random landscape.
Parāśara teaches that the mountains in each dvīpa correspond in scale to that dvīpa—‘as the dvīpas are, so are the mountains’—emphasizing proportional structure across cosmic regions.
Even in geographic enumeration, the Purāṇa’s intent is to show a cosmos governed by intelligible order—an expression of Vishnu’s supreme sovereignty that sustains and structures the worlds.