śrī-śuka uvāca
etāvān eva bhū-valayasya sanniveśaḥ pramāṇa-lakṣaṇato vyākhyātaḥ.
Translation
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: I have thus far described the form of the circular earth surface with dimensions.
Commentary
etena hi divo maṇòala-mānaṁ tad-vida upadiśanti yathā dvi-dalayor niṣpāvādīnāṁ te antareṇāntarikṣaṁ tad-ubhaya-sandhitam.
Translation
By the dimensions of Bhū-maṇòala experts indicate the dimension of the sky about the earth. They are like two halves of a bean seed. Antarikṣa joins the two together.
Commentary
Niṣpāva is a type of been, ādīnām indicates less specific seeds. Just as by seeing the dimension of one of the halves of the seed one can understand the dimension of the other half, one should consider the dimension of the earthly sphere1 and the heavenly sphere to be the same. Between them is the antarīkṣa, measuring 200,000 yojanas. It is joined to them on both its sides.
yan-madhya-gato bhagavāṁs tapatāṁ patis tapana ātapena tri-lokīṁ pratapaty avabhāsayaty ātma-bhāsā sa eṣa udagayana-dakṣiṇāyana-vaiṣuvata-saṁjñābhir māndya-śaighrya-samānābhir gatibhir ārohaṇāvarohaṇa-samāna-sthāneṣu yathā-savanam abhipadyamāno makarādiṣu rāśiṣv aho-rātrāṇi dīrgha-hrasva-samānāni vidhatte.
Translation
Situated in the middle of the antarīkṣa, the sun, master of heat, heats up and lights up the three worlds by its light. The sun moves slowing during uttarāyaṇa, ascending, moving through six zodiac signs starting from Capricorn, making the days long and the nights short. It moves quickly during dakṣiṇāyana, descending, moving through six zodiac signs starting with Cancer, making the days short and the nights long. It move at medium speed during the equinoxes, neither between ascending and descending, moving through Aries and Libra, making the days and nights equal.
Commentary
The sun is situated in the middle of the antarīkṣa. During uttarāyaṇa (udagayana), by slow speed while ascending in the sky and passing time, the sun moves through six zodiac signs starting from Capricorn, making the days gradually longer and the nights shorter. During dakṣiṇāyana, moving with quick speed and descending, the sun moves through six zodiac signs starting from Cancer, making the days shorter and the nights longer. By moving at medium speed during the equinox periods, with days and nights equal, the sun moves through Aries and Libra.
yadā meṣa-tulayor vartate tadāho-rātrāṇi samānāni bhavanti yadā vṛṣabhādiṣu pañcasu ca rāśiṣu carati tadāhāny eva vardhante hrasati ca māsi māsy ekaikā ghaṭikā rātriṣu.
Translation
When the sun is Aries and Libra, the days and nights are equal. When the sun moves in Taurus and the five following signs, the days increase in length and then decrease every month by a ghaṭikā.
Commentary
This verse further explains. Because there is no extreme difference in the day and night during this time, it is called equal. Complete equality will only take place on one day and night of the month. When the sun is in Taurus and Gemini the days increase in duration, and when the sun is in Cancer and the following months, the days become shorter, whereas the nights become longer. When the nights increase in duration, the days become shorter. But actually, starting from Capricorn the days become longer and starting from Cancer, the days become shorter. This will later be clearly explained. The statement that the days increase by ghaṭikā each month is a general statement, since the increase and decrease is different each month.
yadā vṛścikādiṣu pañcasu vartate tadāho-rātrāṇi viparyayāṇi bhavanti.
Translation
When the sun passes through the five signs beginning with Scorpio, the duration of the days decreases until Capricorn, and then gradually it increases month after month, until day and night become equal in Aries.
Commentary
Viparyayāni means that the days become shorter and the nights become longer. This will be explained later also.
yāvad dakṣiṇāyanam ahāni vardhante yāvad udagayanaṁ rātrayaḥ.
Translation
Until the sun travels on the southern course, the days grow longer, and until it travels to the northern course, the nights grow longer.
Commentary
Yāvad dakṣiṇāyanam means from uttarāyaṇa until dakṣiṇāyana.
evaṁ nava koṭaya eka-pañcāśal-lakṣāṇi yojanānāṁ mānasottara-giri-parivartanasyopadiśanti tasminn aindrīṁ purīṁ pūrvasmān meror devadhānīṁ nāma dakṣiṇato yāmyāṁ saṁyamanīṁ nāma paścād vāruṇīṁ nimlocanīṁ nāma uttarataḥ saumyāṁ vibhāvarīṁ nāma tāsūdaya-madhyāhnāstamaya-niśīthānīti bhūtānāṁ pravṛtti-nivṛtti-nimittāni samaya-viśeṣeṇa meroś catur-diśam.
Translation
The wise teach about the city called Devadhānī, east of Mount Sumeru, possessed by King Indra; a place known as Saṁyamanī, possessed by Yamarāja, to the south of Meru; a place known as Nimlocanī, possessed by Varuṇa, to the west of Meru; and a place named Vibhāvarī, possessed by the moon-go to the north of Meruwhich are on the path of the suns revolution on Mānasottara Mount whose circumference is 95,100,000 yojanas. They teach about the sunrise, noon and sunset and midnight in these cities for the purpose of engaging and disengaging people in work according to particular times. They teach about the four directions of Meru.
Commentary
The circular path is 95,100,000 yojanas The distance from Meru to Mānasottara in both directions (diameter of Mānasottara) 31,500,000 yojanas.2 The path of the suns chariot is 200,000 yojanas wide. Thus the total is 31,700,000 yojanas. Multiplying by three3 one gets 95,100,000 as the circumference. Experts teach about the city of Indra, east of Meru, on the circumference of Mānasottara Mountain measuring 95,100,000 yojanas in circumference. They teach about the sunrise, noon and sunset in these cities, being in the four directions from Meru. This means the following. Those who reside to the south of Meru (perceive sunrise, and consequently other directions) starting from the east (or eastern city of Indra), those residing in the west perceive sunrise (and the eastern direction) starting from the south, those in the north perceive sunrise starting from the west, and those residing to the east of Meru perceive sunrise starting from the north. It is stated in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa that sarveṣāṁ dvīpavarṣāṇāṁ meruruttarataḥ sthitaḥ: all the inhabitants have Meru in the north (relatively speaking).4
tatratyānāṁ divasa-madhyaḍgata eva sadādityas tapati savyenācalaṁ dakṣiṇena karoti; yatrodeti tasya ha samāna-sūtra-nipāte nimlocati yatra kvacana syandenābhitapati tasya haiṣa samāna-sūtra-nipāte prasvāpayati tatra gataṁ na paśyanti ye taṁ samanupaśyeran.
Translation
For the people on Meru, the sun give heat at all times, being situated at midday. The sun keeps Meru to the left and to the right. When it rises in one city, it sets at the city diametrically opposite. When it shines with perspiration at noon, it is midnight at the city diametrically opposite. Those who see the sun set and rise do not see where it has gone in the interim.
Commentary
Tatrāyānām means those situated on Meru. Though the sun keeps Meru on its left (savyena) with relation to the moving constellations,5 being turned by the parvartaka- pravaha wind, it keeps the sun to the right on a daily basis, under the control of the zodiac belt. The sunrise means seeing from far off apparently in contact with the earth, because of the suns rotational movement. Seeing the sun apparently in the middle of the sky is noon. Sunset is not seeing the sun, because it apparently enters the earth. Midnight is the sun in a very far position from the observer. Thus the following śruti statement when one is standing on the ocean shore is conventional, not actual. Adbhyā vā eṣa prātar udety apaḥ sāyaṁ praviśati: the sun rises from the ocean in the morning, and enters it in the evening.
The arrangements for rising, setting, midday and midnight according to the different varṣas are next described. Viṣṇu Purāṇa says yair yatra dṛśyate bhāsvān sa teṣām udayaḥ smṛtaḥ: wherever the sun is seen by particular persons, they call that the sunrise. First sight of the sun is called sunrise. Nimlocati means sets. Where the sun rises, simultaneously it sets at a point exactly opposite. When, after a period of thirty ghaṭikās6 after sunrise, the sun is in the middle of the sky, causing perspiration (syandena), at the opposite point it is midnight (prasvāpayati), after thirty ghaṭikās. Persons who see the sun set and then rise, do not see where the sun has gone. That is the meaning when it is said that they sleep. Amongst the four directions around Meru, wherever the sun is seen to rise, it is noon in the varṣa to the east, midnight to the varṣa in the west, and sunset in the varṣa to the north. And when it is noon, it is sunset in the eastern varṣa, sunrise in the western varṣa and midnight in the northern varṣa. When one sees sunset, it is noon in the western varṣa, midnight in the eastern varṣa and sunrise in the northern varṣa. All the people situated in all the varṣas consider themselves situated to the south of Meru and simply see sunrise, noon and sunset in their own varṣa, and know the events of the sun in other varṣas by the previously mentioned conception.
In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa it is said:
śakrādīnāṁ pure tiṣṭhan spṛśaty eṣa pura-trayam
vikarṇau dvau vikarṇa-sthas trīn koṇān dve pure tathā
Situated in one city, the sun touches three other cities and two intermediate places. Situated at an intercardinal city, the sun touches three intercardinal cities and two cardinal cities.
Situated in any of the cardinal cities, the sun touches three cardinal directions and two intercardinal directions. Situated in the eastern varṣa at noon, there is sunrise in the southern varṣa, sunset in the northern varṣa. This is the meaning of touching three cardinal directions. And in the southeast varṣa it is the first yāma7 and in the northeast varṣa it is third yāma of the day. This is the meaning of touching two intercardinal points (dva vikarṇau). If the sun is situated in an intercardinal varṣa then one touches three intercardinal points and two cardinal points. If the sun is situated in the southeast varṣa at noon, it is sunrise in the southwest varṣa, sunset in the northeast varṣa. It is the first yāma in the southern varṣa and the third yāma in the southern varṣa. Thus two cardinal points are touched. The same follows for being situated at any other intercardinal or cardinal point.
yadā caindryāḥ puryāḥ pracalate pañcadaśa-ghaṭikābhir yāmyāṁ sapāda-koṭi-dvayaṁ yojanānāṁ sārdha-dvādaśa-lakṣāṇi sādhikāni copayāti.
Translation
When the sun travels from Devadhānī, the residence of Indra, to Saṁyamanī, the residence of Yamarāja, it travels 23,775,000 yojanas8 in fifteen ghaṭikās (six hours).
Commentary
Sādhikāni means 25,000 yojanas.
evaṁ tato vāruṇīṁ saumyām aindrīṁ ca punas tathānye ca grahāḥ somādayo nakṣatraiḥ saha jyotiś-cakre samabhyudyanti saha vā nimlo-canti.
Translation
From the residence of Yamarāja the sun travels to Nimlocanī, the residence of Varuṇa, from there to Vibhāvarī, the residence of the moon-god, and from there again to the residence of Indra. In a similar way, the moon, along with the other stars and planets, becomes visible in the zodiac belt and then sets.
Commentary
Saha vā means saha eva.
evaṁ muhūrtena catus-triṁśal-lakṣa-yojanāny aṣṭa-śatādhikāni sauro rathas trayīmayo 'sau catasṛṣu parivartate purīṣu.
Translation
Thus the chariot of the sun-god, meant for worship, travels through the four residences mentioned above at a speed of 3,400,800 yojanas in a muhūrta.9
yasyaikaṁ cakraṁ dvādaśāraṁ ṣaṇ-nemi tri-ṇābhi saṁvatsarātmakaṁ samāmananti tasyākṣo meror mūrdhani kṛto mānasottare kṛtetara-bhāgo yatra protaṁ ravi-ratha-cakraṁ taila-yantra-cakravad bhraman mānasottara-girau paribhramati.
Translation
The chariot of the sun-god has only one wheel, which is known as the year. The wheel has twelve spokes, six rims, and three hubs. One side of the axle carrying the wheel rests upon the summit of Mount Sumeru, and the other rests upon Mānasottara Mountain. Affixed to the outer end of the axle, the wheel continuously rotates on Mānasottara Mountain like the wheel of an oil-pressing machine.
Commentary
The spokes of the wheel of the chariot (yasya) are the twelve months. The six rims are the six seasons. The three hubs are the three sets of four months. It is fixed on the lower portion of Meru. It is compared to the wheel of an oil pressing machine. Śrīdhara Svāmī explains that it rotates on Mānasottara at a height of 50,000 yojanas on a surface made flat by the wind. Because Mānasottara is only 10,000 yojanas high, the total height at which the wheel rotates is 60,000 yojanas. The distance (from Meru) is a little less than 15,700,000 yojanas.10
tasminn akṣe kṛtamūlo dvitīyo 'kṣas turyamānena sammitas taila-yantrākṣavad dhruve kṛtopari-bhāgaḥ.
Translation
As in an oil-pressing machine, the first axle is attached to a second axle, which is one fourth as long. The upper end of this second axle is attached to Dhruvaloka.
Commentary
There is a second axel bound to first part of the first axel (kṛtamūlaḥ) with the wheel at its end. Its length is one quarter of the first axel or 3,937,500 yojanas.11 It is bound to the first exactly opposite to the salt water ocean. Because the second axel is shorter than the first axel, its other end is bound to Dhruvaloka by a rope of wind.
ratha-nīòas tu ṣaṭ-triṁśal-lakṣa-yojanāyatas tat-turīya-bhāga-viśālas tāvān ravi-ratha-yugo yatra hayāś chando-nāmānaḥ saptāruṇa-yojitā vahanti devam ādityam.
Translation
O King! The carriage of the sun-god's chariot is estimated to be 3,600,000 yojanas long and one-fourth as wide (900,000 yojanas). The chariot's horses, which are named after Gāyatrī and other Vedic meters, are harnessed by Aruṇadeva to a yoke that is also 900,000 yojanas wide. This chariot continuously carries the sun-god.
Commentary
Niòāḥ is the enclosure on the chariot. It is 3600,000 yojanas high and 900,000 wide. The sun god is situated in the enclosure at a place 40,000 yojanas above the wheel. It is yoked by Aruṇa and pulled by horses named after the Vedic meters like Gayatrī.
purastāt savitur aruṇaḥ paścāc ca niyuktaḥ sautye karmaṇi kilāste.
Translation
Although Aruṇa sits in front of the sun-god and is engaged in driving the chariot and controlling the horses, he looks backward toward the sun-god.
Commentary
Though seated in form, he faces backwards. Vāyu Purāṇa describes the horses:
saptāśva-rūpa-cchandāṁsi vahante vāmato ravim
cakra-pakṣa-nibaddhāni cakre vākṣaḥ samāhitaḥ
The seven horses are the seven Vedic meters. They carry the sun from the left and are bound to the side of the wheel. The axel is connected with the wheel.
tathā vālikhilyā ṛṣayo 'ḍguṣṭha-parva-mātrāḥ ṣaṣṭi-sahasrāṇi purataḥ sūryaṁ sūkta-vākāya niyuktāḥ saṁstuvanti.
Translation
Sixty thousand sages named Vālikhilyas, each the size of a thumb, located in front of the sun-god, offer him eloquent prayers.
Commentary
Sūkta-vākāya means with well-spoken prayers.
tathānye ca ṛṣayo gandharvāpsaraso nāgā grāmaṇyo yātudhānā devā ity ekaikaśo gaṇāḥ sapta caturdaśa māsi māsi bhagavantaṁ sūryam ātmānaṁ nānā-nāmānaṁ pṛthaḍ-nānā-nāmānaḥ pṛthak-karmabhir dvandvaśa upāsate.
Translation
Similarly, other sages, Gandharvas, Apsarās, Nāgas, Yakṣas, Rākṣasas and devatās, in fourteen groups in some months and pairing up to make seven groups in other months, assume different names every month and continuously perform different ritualistic ceremonies to worship the Supreme Lord as Sūrya, who has many names.
Commentary
In one month, fourteen groups form pairs to make seven groups. In other months the groups act singly as fourteen groups and perform worship.
lakṣottaraṁ sārdha-nava-koṭi-yojana-parimaṇòalaṁ bhū-valayasya kṣaṇena sagavyūty-uttaraṁ dvi-sahasra-yojanāni sa bhuḍkte.
Translation
In his orbit through a circumference of 95,100,000 yojanas on the circle of the earth, the sun travels 2,000 yojanas and two krośas in a moment.12
Commentary
Gavyūti is two krośas (half a yojana).
Thus ends the commentary on the Twenty-first Chapter of the Fifth Canto of the Bhāgavatam for the pleasure of the devotees, in accordance with the previous ācāryas.
In the Twenty-first Chapter the suns movement through the zodiac signs, its rising, setting and its speed are described.