Cosmographic Ordering of the Southern and Western Quarters: Valleys, Forest-Plateaus, and Sacred Sites
तत्र चादित्यस्य देवस्य महदायतनम् । समासे मासे च भगवानवतारति सूर्यः प्रजापतिः । कालजनकं देवाऽऽदयो नमस्यन्ति । तथा च पञ्चकूटस्य कैलासस्य चान्तरे सहस्रयोजनायामं विस्तीर्णं शतयोजनं हंसपाण्डुरं क्षुद्रसत्त्वैरनाधृष्यं स्वर्गसोपानमिव भूमण्डलम् ॥७॥
tatra cādityasya devasya mahadāyatanaṃ | samāse māse ca bhagavān avatarati sūryaḥ prajāpatiḥ | kālajanakaṃ devādayo namasyanti | tathā ca pañcakūṭasya kailāsasya cāntare sahasrayojanāyāmaṃ vistīrṇaṃ śatayojanaṃ haṃsapāṇḍuraṃ kṣudrasattvair anādhṛṣyaṃ svargasopānam iva bhūmaṇḍalam ||7||
Tam znajduje się wielka świątynia bóstwa Ādityi. Przy złączeniu pór roku i w każdym miesiącu Błogosławiony, Sūrya, Prajāpati, Pan stworzeń, objawia się. Bogowie i inne istoty oddają mu cześć jako rodzącemu czas. Ponadto, pomiędzy Pañcakūṭą a Kailāsą leży region ziemi, tysiąc jojan długości i sto jojan szerokości, biały jak łabędź w wyglądzie, niedostępny dla małych stworzeń, jak schody do nieba na sferze ziemskiej.
Varāha (default dialogic frame; speaker not explicit in the excerpt)
The verse preserves a Purāṇic model of sacred geography in which solar worship (Āditya/Sūrya) is linked to calendrical time (kāla) and to mapped pilgrimage landscapes described with yojana-based dimensions, reflecting early medieval Indian textual cartographies.
A region described as lying ‘between Pañcakūṭa and Kailāsa’ is indicated; Kailāsa is traditionally associated with the trans-Himalayan sacred complex, while ‘Pañcakūṭa’ likely denotes a nearby multi-peaked massif/toponym attested in Purāṇic and later pilgrimage literature, though exact modern identification varies across scholarly proposals.
Rather than a direct moral injunction, the passage advances a philosophical instruction of reverent orientation toward cosmic order: Sūrya as ‘generator of time’ is honored, and the landscape is framed as a protected, elevated heritage space—implicitly encouraging respectful conduct toward sacred environments.
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