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Shloka 1

Jambūdvīpa Orientation: Meru-Centered Varṣas, Dvīpas, Kulaparvatas, Rivers, and Janapadas

Devanagari script

नाम चतुः पञ्चशत्तमो ऽध्यायः हरिरुवाच / मध्ये त्विलावृतो वर्षो भद्राश्वः पूर्वतो ऽद्भुतः / पूर्वदक्षैणतो वर्षो हिरण्वान्वृषभध्वज

Transliteration

nāma catuḥ pañcaśattamo 'dhyāyaḥ hariruvāca / madhye tvilāvṛto varṣo bhadrāśvaḥ pūrvato 'dbhutaḥ / pūrvadakṣaiṇato varṣo hiraṇvānvṛṣabhadhvaja

Translation

အခန်း ငါးဆယ့်ငါး စတင်၏။ ဟရိက ပြောတော်မူသည်– «အလယ်၌ အီလာဝෘတ (Ilāvṛta) ဟူသော ဝဿ (ဒေသ) ရှိ၏။ အရှေ့ဘက်၌ အံ့ဖွယ် ဘဒြာရှွ (Bhadrāśva) ရှိ၏။ အရှေ့တောင်ဘက်၌ ဟိရဏ္ဝန် (Hiraṇvān) ဟူသော မြေဒေသ ရှိ၏၊ နွားတံဆိပ်တော်ကို ဆောင်သောသူယေ»။

Word by Word
नाम(the) title/name
नाम:
Adhikarana/Heading (अधिकरण/शीर्षक)
TypeNoun
Rootनामन् (प्रातिपदिक)
Formनपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; अत्र शीर्षक-रूपेण (as ‘name/title’)
चतुःfour
चतुः:
Visheshana (Adjectival/विशेषण)
TypeAdjective
Rootचतुर् (प्रातिपदिक)
Formअव्ययवत् संख्याशब्द-रूप; अत्र समासाङ्ग (four)
पञ्चशत्तमःfifty-fifth
पञ्चशत्तमः:
Visheshana (Adjectival/विशेषण)
TypeAdjective
Rootपञ्चाशत् (प्रातिपदिक) + तम (तद्धित)
Formपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; क्रमवाचक (ordinal) ‘fifty-fifth’ (पञ्चाशत् + तम)
अध्यायःchapter
अध्यायः:
Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
TypeNoun
Rootअध्याय (प्रातिपदिक)
Formपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन
हरिःHari
हरिः:
Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
TypeNoun
Rootहरि (प्रातिपदिक)
Formपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन
उवाचsaid
उवाच:
Kriya (Predicate/क्रिया)
TypeVerb
Rootवच् (धातु)
Formलिट्-लकार (Perfect), प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; परस्मैपद
मध्येin the middle
मध्ये:
Adhikarana (Location/अधिकरण)
TypeNoun
Rootमध्य (प्रातिपदिक)
Formनपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी-विभक्ति (7th/Locative), एकवचन
तुindeed/but
तु:
Discourse particle (निपात)
TypeIndeclinable
Rootतु (अव्यय)
Formअव्यय; विरोध/विशेषार्थक (but/indeed)
इलावृतःIlāvṛta (name of a region)
इलावृतः:
Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
TypeNoun
Rootइलावृत (प्रातिपदिक)
Formपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन
वर्षःregion/land (varṣa)
वर्षः:
Apposition (विशेष्य-सम्बन्ध)
TypeNoun
Rootवर्ष (प्रातिपदिक)
Formपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन
भद्राश्वःBhadrāśva (region/name)
भद्राश्वः:
Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
TypeNoun
Rootभद्र + अश्व (प्रातिपदिक)
Formपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; समासः—भद्र + अश्व (कर्मधारय/‘भद्रः अश्वः’)
पूर्वतःto the east; on the eastern side
पूर्वतः:
Adhikarana (Directional/अधिकरण)
TypeIndeclinable
Rootपूर्वतः (अव्यय)
Formअव्यय; दिक्/स्थानवाचक (from the east/on the east side)
अद्भुतःmarvelous
अद्भुतः:
Visheshana (Adjectival/विशेषण)
TypeAdjective
Rootअद्भुत (प्रातिपदिक)
Formपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; विशेषण
पूर्वदक्षैणतःfrom the southeast
पूर्वदक्षैणतः:
Adhikarana (Directional/अधिकरण)
TypeIndeclinable
Rootपूर्व + दक्षैणतः (अव्यय/प्रातिपदिक)
Formअव्ययीभाव-समास; दिक्-निर्देशार्थक अव्यय (from the southeast/east-southern side)
वर्षःregion/land (varṣa)
वर्षः:
Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
TypeNoun
Rootवर्ष (प्रातिपदिक)
Formपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन
हिरण्वान्Hiraṇvān (name; ‘golden’)
हिरण्वान्:
Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
TypeNoun
Rootहिरण्वत् (प्रातिपदिक)
Formपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; वत्-प्रातिपदिक (possessing gold)
वृषभध्वजO Vṛṣabhadhvaja (one whose banner is a bull)
वृषभध्वज:
Sambodhana (Address/सम्बोधन)
TypeNoun
Rootवृषभ + ध्वज (प्रातिपदिक)
Formपुंलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन-विभक्ति (8th/Vocative), एकवचन; समासः—वृषभस्य ध्वजः (षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष)
Speaker

Lord Vishnu (Hari)

Philosophical Teaching

Concept: Cosmic order (dik-vibhāga) and sacred geography as a contemplative map of dharma and creation.

Vedantic Theme: Loka-vyavasthā (ordered worlds) as an expression of Īśvara’s cosmic intelligence; the center-periphery schema supports meditative worldview.

Application: Use cosmographic descriptions as contemplative aids: reflect on one’s place in a larger order; cultivate humility and orientation toward the sacred center (axis mundi symbolism).

Verse Rasa

Primary Rasa: adbhuta

Secondary Rasa: shanta

Geographic Context

Type: varṣa (cosmic continent-region)

Cross References

Related Themes: Garuda Purana 1.55 (cosmography of varṣas and directions continues)

Characters & Entities
H
Hari (Vishnu)
G
Garuḍa (Vṛṣabhadhvaja)
I
Ilāvṛta
B
Bhadrāśva
H
Hiraṇvān

FAQs

This verse places Ilāvṛta at the center, indicating its role as a key middle region in the Purāṇic map of the world (varṣa divisions).

It does not directly describe the soul’s post-death journey; instead, it establishes cosmological geography, which later Purāṇic discussions use as a framework for locating realms and regions.

Use it as a reminder that Garuda Purana includes both afterlife teachings and broader cosmology—encouraging study with context rather than reducing the text only to death-ritual topics.

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