Varaha Purana 77.3: Adhyaya 77, Shloka 3
Measurements of Mount Meru, the Boundary Mountains, and the Four Directional Great Trees
Pūrva Bhāga · Sacred Geography and Cosmographic Boundaries (Maryādā-parvata Narratives)
तेषां गिरिसहस्राणामनेकानां महोच्छ्रयः । दिगष्टौ च पुनस्तस्य मर्यादापर्वताः शुभाः ॥ ७७.३ ॥
teṣāṃ girisahasrāṇām anekānāṃ mahocchrayaḥ | dig-aṣṭau ca punas tasya maryādā-parvatāḥ śubhāḥ || 77.3 ||
teShAM girisahastrANAmanekAnAM mahochChrayaH | digaShTau cha punastasya maryAdAparvatAH shubhAH || 77.3 ||
हज़ारों पहाड़ हैं वहाँ, सब बहुत ऊँचे हैं। आठ दिशाओं में भी पहाड़ हैं जो सीमा बनाते हैं।
Sandhi Notes
- दिगष्टौ = दिक् + अष्टौ (sandhi; often written dig-aṣṭau)
- मर्यादापर्वताः = मर्यादा + पर्वताः (compound)
Varāha
Stability and auspiciousness arise from boundaries and orientation (maryādā + dik).
Cultivate maryādā in life—ethical limits, disciplined conduct, and directional awareness in ritual/travel—mirroring cosmic order.
The ‘boundary-mountains’ (maryādā-parvata) encode the idea of cosmic order (ṛta/dharma) as spatial delimitation: the world is stabilized and made inhabitable by divinely set limits in the eight directions.
Maryādā (limit) parallels yajña’s prescribed boundaries (vedi/rekhā): as ritual space is protected by lines and directions, so the cosmos is protected by directional mountain-bounds.
Implied niyati (cosmic law) and loka-saṃsthāpanā (world-ordering): form and directionality are expressions of Īśvara’s sustaining power rather than random geography.
Varāha Purāṇa 77.77.4-7 (enumeration and measures of boundary-mountains and Meru supports)
FAQs
It reflects a Purāṇic mode of describing space through cosmographic features—especially mountains functioning as natural boundaries—useful for studying premodern South Asian geographic imagination and regional delimitation.
No single named location is specified in this verse; it refers generally to a region/world-system whose limits are marked by boundary-mountains in the eight directions. Identification requires adjacent verses naming specific ranges or regions.
The verse does not state an explicit ethical injunction; its philosophical instruction is descriptive—presenting the world as ordered and bounded—supporting a cultural framework in which landscapes (mountains and directions) are treated as significant and worthy of careful delineation.
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