Adhyaya 57 — The Ninefold Divisions of Bharata: Mountains, Rivers, and Peoples
कृतत्रेतादिकश्चात्र चतुर्युगकृतो विधिः । एतत्तु भारतं वर्षं चतुः संस्थानसंस्थितम् ॥
kṛtatretādikaś cātra caturyugakṛto vidhiḥ | etat tu bhārataṃ varṣaṃ catuḥ saṃsthānasaṃsthitam ||
Di sini, ketetapan yang berkenaan dengan Kṛta, Tretā dan yuga-yuga yang lain ditegakkan sebagai aturan bagi empat yuga. Dan Bhārata-varṣa ini ditetapkan dalam empat susunan (empat “saṃsthāna”).
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Bhārata is presented as the stage where time’s moral rhythms (yuga-dharma) are operative; human life is shaped by cyclic conditions, yet remains accountable to vidhi (normative order).
This aligns with manvantara/yuga-related cosmological structuring, supporting the Purāṇic account of time (kāla) and its dharmic modulation.
The ‘fourfold configuration’ can be read as a symbolic ordering of space mirroring the fourfold ordering of time (four yugas), implying a correspondence between geography and temporality.