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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
Hindu cosmography—a vast science of rather complicated nature—has quite recently been made accessible to European scholars by the meritorious efforts of Professor Kirfel, who, in his excellent work Die Kosmographie der Inder nach den Quellen dargestellt (Bonn and Leipzig, 1920), has first of all given us a systematical treatise on this subject, based upon all available sources belonging to Brahmin, Buddhist, and Jain lore. At the beginning of each of the three chief sections of his work Professor Kirfel has mentioned his European predecessors; from these summaries we gather that, while Buddhist cosmography has often been dealt with, though never hitherto in a thoroughly systematic way, and Jain cosmography has scarcely ever been made the subject of profound research, no author except Wilford and Pullé has ever tried to deal exhaustively with the entire domain of Brahmin conceptions of the universe. It seems, indeed, remarkable that this large and interesting subject, which is, besides, of great importance for the study of Hindu religion, literature, etc., should have attracted the attention of so very few scholars; and although the present writer does not, in the main, venture or wish to dissent from the highest living authority on the subject, he would like to draw attention, in brief, to some earlier notices on Hindu cosmography occurring in European literature of centuries preceding the date when the literature of India began to be a subject of truly scientific research in the Western world.
1 Cf. this Bulletin, II, 731 sqq.Google Scholar
2 Cf. loc. cit., p. 737.
1 Altīrūnī's India, translated by Sachau, , 1888, i, 213 seq.Google Scholar
2 Extracts from Jesuit letters concerning these topics have been collected by Dr. De Jong in his edition of Baldœus, pp. viii–xvii.Google Scholar
3 Cf. this Bulletin, II, 741, 745.Google Scholar
1 Published by Father Hosten in the Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, iii, 513–704Google Scholar; a translation of the text by Messrs. Hoyland and Banerjee (Oxford University Press, 1923) is far behind what might have been expected of it (cf. this Bulletin, III, 191 seq.).Google Scholar
2 The letter is edited, together with several other ones, in a well-known letter of Father Nicolas Pimenta of 1600 that was translated into various languages (cf. De Backer-Sommervogel, Bibliothèque des écrivains de la Compagnie de Jésus, vi, 757 seq.); it is, perhaps, most easily accessible in the collection of Hayus (John Hay of Dalgetfcy), De rebus Japonicis, Indicis, and Peruanis epistulœ recentiores (Antwerp, 1605), p. 803 seq.Google Scholar
3 The number and consistence of the oceans is correct, though they do not follow in the Purāṇic order. Mel is meant for Skt. surā “liqueur”; Tairum, of course, is Tamil tayir “curds”. The world-elephants ought to be eight or four, not seven. What is meant by the words “terram novem constare angulis”, etc., is not clear to me.
1 A short cosmogonical passage from one of the letters of Father Fenicio and repeated from there by Purchas, His Pilgrimage, p. 549Google Scholar, has been quoted in Bulletin, II, 748 seq. Concerning Fenicio it should be mentioned here that in the work of Manoel, J. P. A. da Camara, Missōes dos Jesuitas no Oriente (Lisbon, 1894)Google Scholar, is mentioned, amongst the missionaries going to India in 1583, “Ir. Joam fenicio italiano”; I was not aware of this when writing my former article.
2 Of this Fenicio has told us in Book i, ch. 1; he calls the cosmic egg andexamotta, which is not quite clear to me; it seems to contain Skt. aṇḍa “an egg, the universe”, as well as Tamil muṭṭäi “an egg”.
1 Cf. Kirfel, , Die Kosmographie der Inder, p. 58.Google Scholar
2 This is Tamil tāmaräi “lotus” + pū “a flower”.
3 The usual figure is 32,000, cf. Kirfel, , loc. cit., p. 93.Google Scholar
1 This story is known also from other South Indian sources, cf. e.g. Wilson, , Catalogue of the Mackenzie Collection, ii, p. 254Google Scholar, etc. It is quoted from Ildephonsus (cf. Bulletin, II, 731Google Scholar seq.) by Bartholom, Paulinus A S.æo, Codices Musœi Borgiani, p. 108.Google Scholar
2 In Book V, chap. ii.
3 The author gives the continents and oceans in the usual order, except that he has exchanged the Śāka and Śālmalidvīpa (cf. Kirfel, , loc. cit., p. 57).Google Scholar
4 Tamil tayir.
1 This enumeration does not tally with any one of those given by Kirfel, , loc. cit., p. 144 seq.Google Scholar, from Purāṇic and other sources. Though Sadelam could scarcely mean anything but Satala, it is probably a corruption of Rasātala.
2 This treatise has been translated into Dutch by ProfessorCaland, in Verslagen en Mededeelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afdeeling Letterkunde, 5Google ScholarReeks, 3Google ScholarDeel, 1918, p. 308Google Scholar seq. Some remarks and corrections to this translation were given by Professor Zacharife in his very important review of Caland, 's work in Goettingische gelehrte Anzeigen, 1921, p. 160Google Scholar seq. (this review has been translated into English with some additional remarks by the Rev. Father Hosten in the Journal of Indian History, ii, 1923, 127 seq.).Google Scholar
1 These two names make difficulties; the first one ought to be rendered Māloka = Mahāloka, but there is no such name known to me. According to its position in the series, Manalougão ought to be read Maha° = Maharloka.
2 This name has been left uninterpreted by Caland and Zachariæ; as far as I understand, it must be something like Ādhāraśakti (or possibly °satī).
3 New edition with notes by Professor Caland in 1915; it must be read together with the extremely important review by ProfessorZachariæ, in Goettingische gelehrte Anzeigen, 1916, pp. 561–615.Google Scholar
4 Ed. Caland, , pp. 88Google Scholar seq. and 106 seq.
1 In a correct enumeration Vāyuloka (North-West) should come before Kuberaloka (North), cf. Caland, , loc. cit., p. 89, n. 1.Google Scholar
2 The chief authority of Roger, the Brahmin Padmanābha, was a Vaiṣṇava, and, accordingly, considered the heaven of Viṣṇu to be the highest one.
3 Cf. Dahlmann, Father J., Die Sprachkunde und die Missionen, p. 18Google Scholar; Indische Fahrten, ii, 246Google Scholar; Hosten, Father H., Jesuit Missionaries in Northern India, p. 6Google Scholar; and, above all, ProfessorZacharise, , VOJ. xxii, 86 seq.Google Scholar (reprinted in Kleine Schriften, 1920, p. 17Google Scholar seq.); Goettingische gelehrte Anzeigen, 1919, p. 52 seq.Google Scholar
4 Cf. Zachariæ, , VOJ. XVGoogle Scholar, 313 seq. (reprinted in Kleine Schriften, p. 1 seq.).
1 This would correspond to Sanskrit Svādu, Kṣīra, Dadhi, Sarpis, Lavaṇa, Ikṣu, Surā; even if, as seems most probable, Kircher began his enumeration from the periphery of the cosmos, the order is, of course, an impossible one.
2 This seems also to be a Hindu conception, cf. Bulletin, II, 743, 748 seq.; Caland, , Ontdekkingsgeschiedenis van den Veda, p. 265Google Scholar, n. 1, and above, p. 322.
3 A similar notion already seems to underlie the words in Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upanisad, ii, 1. 20 (cf. JAOS. xlii, 8)Google Scholar; I hope to deal with this myth in another connexion.
4 The one thing of some interest is the mention of the name Someire, which shows that Bernier's authority was conversant with the form Sumeru.
1 Cf. Drie oude Portugeesche Verhandelingen over het Hindoeïsme (Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam, Afdeeling Letterkunde, Nieuwe Reeks, Deel xvi, No. 2)Google Scholar, Amsterdam, 1915 (to be read with the review of ProfessorZachariæ, in Goett. gel. Anzeigen, 1916, p. 561 seq.)Google Scholar, and Twee oude Fransche Verhandelingen over het Hindoeïsme (ibid., Deel xxiii, No. 3), Amsterdam, 1923.Google Scholar
2 This date was ascertained by ProfessorZachariæ, , VOJ. xxiv, 340Google Scholar, n. (reprinted in Kleine Schriften, p. 44Google Scholar, n. 1); cf. also Goett. gel. Anzeigen, 1916, p. 581 seq.Google Scholar Professor Caland in his Inleiding, p. vi, had overlooked this and dates the book in 1670, having got from Elphinstone, 's History of India, 5th ed., p. 621Google Scholar, the year 1654 for the conquest of Jāolī by Sivājī. It should be added that Burnell, , Tentative List, p. 27Google Scholar, describes this text as being “perhaps from the seventeenth century”.
3 Apparently pradhān “minister”.
1 Cf. Imperial Gazetteer, xxi, 76Google Scholar; Caland, , loc. cit., p. 126, n. 1.Google Scholar
2 Kālidāsa, , Meghadūta, 48.Google Scholar
3 According to the Preface of the Portuguese edition (1812) this and the preceding treatise were accompanied by some twenty-eight coloured drawings, amongst which were pictures of the ten acatāras of Viṣṇu. Eleven of these are still in the Public Library of Evora, bound up with a manuscript of the second treatise, cf. the Catalogo dos Manuscritos da Bibliotheca publica Eborense, i, 346 (Lisbon, 1850)Google Scholar: “O nosso MS. traz no firn onze desenhos, representando as oito [sic] incarnazões, que no impresso faltam.” Through the kindness of Dr. F. W. Thomas I tried to get them lent to the India Office Library in 1921, but this was refused by the Director of the Evora Library.
1 Cf. Twee oude Fransche Verhandelingen, p. vii seq.Google Scholar
2 Latin would certainly have been the language if the original were to be found in the work of de' Nobili quoted by Kircher, , China Illustrata, 1667, p. 152Google Scholar, under the title “De Brachmanum Theologia” (cf. Zachariæ, , Goett. gel. Anzeigen, 1921, p. 164, n. 1)Google Scholar; but this need not be the case.
3 Ed. Caland, , p. 37 seq.Google Scholar
4 “La seconde (mer) de sucre candy” (Skt. ikṣurasa).
1 According to Brahminical tradition the Meru, has different colours on different sides (east white, south yellow, west black, north red) and is itself of pure gold. But the colours given in our text tally better with those found in the tradition of the Buddhists (cf. Kirfel, , Die Kosmographie der Inder, p. 187).Google Scholar Brahmins, Buddhists, and Jains all alike seem to ascribe to Mount Meru the height of 100,000 yojanas.
2 In Brahmin tradition Mālyavān does not belong to the four ranges surrounding Mount Meru; but, according to the Jains, one of the four vakṣara-mountains is called Mālyavān (cf. Kirfel, loe. cit., p. 233). The Brahmins call the mountain range dividing Ilāvṛta from Ketumāla, by this name.
3 Tanpagāo stands for Skt. campaka “Michelia champaka”, tanpadinu for campa (ka)dvīpa, a name that does scarcely occur in Brahmin tradition (cf., however, Kirfel, , loc. cit., p. 58).Google Scholar
4 Read Vipadāo, probably = Vipula. The author has mixed up this mountain and the Gandhamādana, as, according to Purāṇic tradition, the aśvattha-tree should grow on Vipula and the jambū-tree on Gandhamādana (Kirfel, , loc. cit., p. 93).Google Scholar
1 śṛṅgī, according to the common tradition, is a varṣaparvata in the Jambūdvīpa (Kirfel, , loc. cit., p. 57).Google Scholar
2 Though Xaitrāo and Xaitradiuu should apparently render a Skt. caitra and caitradvīpa, probably caitya is meant. There are several caityavṛkṣa's in Jain cosmography.
3 This tallies with Purāṇic tradition (Kirfel, , loc. cit., p. 166).Google Scholar
4 The names of these rivers do not correspond with those given by Kirfel, , pp. 105–6Google Scholar, from Purāṇic tradition. There can be little doubt concerning the correct ness of the identifications given in brackets above, but no rivers with those selfsame names are known to me (with the exception of Kāñcī and Sarasvatī). Manipara may mean something like Maṇivaprā (Kirfel, , p. 106)Google Scholar, while nothing can be got from the words Samartij and Uituhana.
5 Most of these names I am, unfortunately, unable to identify. The whole of this and of the passage that now follows is extremely unclear to me.
6 Kāloda(ka) seems only to be known from the tradition of the Jains (cf. Kirfel, , loc. cit., p. 249 seq.).Google Scholar
1 In Jain tradition there is a river called Raktā or Raktodā (cf. Kirfel, , loc. cit., p. 222, etc.).Google Scholar
2 According to the Purāṇas Garuḍa dwells in a silk-cotton tree (Skt. śālmali, Salmalia malabarica) that grows in the Śālmalidvīpa (cf. Kirfel, , loc. cit., p. 115)Google Scholar; for similar traditions cf. Charpentier, , Die Suparṇasage, p. 350 sqq.Google Scholar
3 This word is not clear; it seems to contain something like °carālaya, but cannot identify the first syllable.
4 Although this word seems to correspond to a Sanskrit form Kṛṣṇavedabhavana it very probably means Kṛṣṇavāhabhavana “the dwelling-place of Kṛṣṇa's vehicle ( = Garuda)”.
5 “The Lord with six faces” = Skanda.
6 Although the formal identification seems fairly incontestable, no such tree is known in Hindu tradition.
7 What is meant by iddenão (dd probably means ḍ) wholly escapes me.
8 No such country seems to be known in Hindu tradition.
1 Ilāvṛta is the part of Jambūdvīpa that forms the nearest surroundings of Mount Meru; the description of its inhabitants does not quite tally with Purāṇic tradition (cf. Kirfel, , loc. cit., p. 105).Google Scholar
2 Generally called Harivarṣa; but this text always uses khaṇḍa instead of varṣa.
3 Viz. Viṣṇu as man-lion (narasiṃha); exactly what holy place is meant here escapes me.
4 India. The following description, which is partly traditional and partly geographical, is extremely confused; nothing at all is said about the North of India and Hindūstān proper.
1 This name I am not able to identify; the reading is not quite clear.
2 Some of these names cannot be identified; it is not clear what mountain is meant by the author.
3 With this name cf. the story told above on p. 333 ssq. about the Asuras preying upon the shadows of human beings.
4 This, of course, means Cape Comorin.
5 This word could scarcely represent anything but a Tamil word Çoṇakam; but I know of no country of that name.
1 This does not seem to tally with Purāṇic tradition (cf. Kirfel, , loc. cit., p. 108).Google Scholar
2 These names are not familiar in Brahmanical lore; Suvarṇaparvata “the golden mountain” is generally a name of Mount Meru. The two following names are quite uncertain.
3 It is by no means clear what is meant by the “ten thousand sons of Brahmā”.
4 This word, as well as tamarapoiga, cannot be identified.
1 Apparently the kalpavṛkṣa.
2 The vaḍavāmukha, the submarine fire, is, according to Brahmin cosmography, situated at the South Pole.
3 This note contains a slightly deviating version of the description of the Northern regions.
4 Indra Sahasrākṣa.
5 This is apparently a slip, as Yama is not himself like a buffalo, but has a buffalo for his vehicle.
6 Or rather a noose (Skt. pāśa).
1 This apparently corresponds to a Tamil pl. iyakkanmār.
2 This is one of the general characteristics of demoniac beings in Hindu mythology.
3 This corresponds to the general tenets of Hindu cosmography (cf. Kirfel, , loc. cit., p. 57)Google Scholar; the following figures are, however, not quite coincident with those usually quoted.
4 This identification is not incontestable.
1 This passage contains a curious jumble, as the cakravāla belongs to Buddhist, the lokāloka again to Brahmin tradition. That the mountains Mandara and Suvarṇa surround the universe does not, as far as I know, occur in Brahmin or other sources.
2 What is here called Kṣititala as a rule goes under the name Tola or Atala (cf. Kirfel, , loc. cit., p. 144 sq.).Google Scholar I cannot identify the name of its king, Mahèu.
3 Śaṅkukarṇa, according to the common tradition, resides in the first of the pātālas, and Takṣaka, as a rule, has his place in the second one (cf. Kirfel, , loc. cit., p. 145).Google Scholar
1 Virocana and Hiraṇyākṇa are, of course, two different individuals; according to the Kūrmapurāṇa (Kirfel, , p. 146)Google Scholar they reside in this same pātāla.
2 What individual is meant by this description is not quite clear; that Bali and Mucukunda reside in this deepest pātāla is the general tradition of the Brahmins.
3 The names of the heavens, as given in the following passage, do not tally with those familiar to the current Brahmanical tradition as quoted by Kirfel, , loc. cit., p. 128 sqq.Google Scholar
1 Port. o ceo do mar, a curious translation of the Sanskrit word.