Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 58, Shloka 4
Adhyaya 58 — The Kurma-Form of Narayana: Mapping Bharata through Nakshatras, Regions, and Planetary Afflictions
मार्कण्डेय उवाच प्राङ्मुखो भगवान् देवः कूर्मरूपी व्यवस्थितः ।
आक्रम्य भारतं वर्षं नवभेदमिदं द्विज ॥
mārkaṇḍeya uvāca prāṅmukho bhagavān devaḥ kūrmarūpī vyavasthitaḥ | ākramya bhārataṃ varṣaṃ navabhedam idaṃ dvija ||
马尔甘德耶说道：至福之主以龟形安住，面向东方。涵摄婆罗多界（Bhārata-varṣa），此处被安排为九重分区，噢二次生者。
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FAQs
The ‘east-facing’ posture aligns the divine body with auspicious directionality (prāg-diś), reflecting the Purāṇic habit of reading space as value-laden. The ethical undertone is that right orientation—literal and symbolic—supports right living.
Sthiti (ordering of the world) expressed through cosmographic description; it supports Purāṇic world-structure rather than narrative genealogy.
The tortoise is a symbol of steadiness and containment. ‘Encompassing Bhārata’ suggests the land as a microcosm within a divine body—implying that dharma practiced in Bhārata is situated within a sacralized cosmic anatomy.