Varaha Purana 75.76: Adhyaya 75, Shloka 76
Description of Jambūdvīpa: its regions, mountains, measurements, and cosmic structure
Pūrva Bhāga · Cosmography and Sacred Geography (Meru-varṇana)
नैकरत्नसमावासे मणितोरणमन्दिरे । मेरोः सर्वेषु पार्श्वेषु समन्तात् परिमण्डले ॥ ७५.७६ ॥
naikaratnasamāvāse maṇitoraṇamandire | meroḥ sarveṣu pārśveṣu samantāt parimaṇḍale || 75.76 ||
naikaratnasamAvAse maNitoraNamandire | meroH sarveShu pArshveShu samantAt parimaNDale || 75.76 ||
नानारत्नसमृद्धे निवासस्थाने मणितोरणविभूषिते मन्दिरे, मेरोः सर्वेषु पार्श्वेषु समन्तात् परिमण्डले विस्तीर्णे।
Sandhi Notes
- naika- इति न + एक (समास-पूर्वपद) । अन्यत्र स्पष्ट-संधिः नास्ति।
Varāha
Curious
The cosmos is an ordered sacred geography, not random space; divine presence is encoded as structure and symmetry.
Contemplate the world as a dhārmic maṇḍala—cultivate inner steadiness (Meru-like) amid surrounding multiplicity.
Meru encircled by jeweled habitations functions as the Purāṇic axis-mundi: a ritualized cosmos where divine realms are arranged concentrically, suggesting the world as a consecrated maṇḍala rather than mere terrain.
The ‘maṇi-toraṇa-mandira’ and ‘parimaṇḍala’ evoke a yajña-maṇḍapa with gateways and circumambient enclosure; Meru stands like a central yūpa/axis around which realms are ordered.
Cosmic order (ṛta/dharma) is presented as a structured manifestation (vyavahāra) around a single stabilizing principle; Meru symbolizes the unshaken support (adhiṣṭhāna) around which names-and-forms are arranged.
Varāha Purāṇa 75 (Meru/cosmography sequence)
FAQs
It reflects a standard Purāṇic cosmographic idiom in which Mount Meru is framed as a central axis surrounded by idealized, gem-like architecture—useful for studying how early Sanskrit texts map sacred space through poetic material culture.
Mount Meru (Meru) is identified; in scholarship it is generally treated as a mythic-cosmological axis mundi rather than a single empirically fixed mountain, though it is sometimes compared (non-identically) with Himalayan or Central Asian highland imaginaries.
No direct ethical injunction is stated in this fragment; its primary function is descriptive, contributing to a broader Purāṇic worldview where ordered space and cultural heritage imagery (mandiras, toraṇas) symbolize cosmic harmony.
Ask anything about this verse
Answers come straight from the texts, with the shlokas they draw on. Ask in your own words.
A free sign-in with Google or Apple keeps your chat saved across web and the app.
Read Varaha Purana in the Vedapath app
Scan the QR code to open this directly in the app, with word-by-word meanings, Sanskrit recitation where available, and more.
