SECTION XII

“Sanjaya said, ’O Kauravya, that which is heard about the islands in the north, I will recount to thee, O Great king.  Listen to me now. (Thither in the north) is the ocean whose waters are clarified butter.  Then is the ocean whose waters are curds.  Next cometh the ocean whose waters are wine, and then is another ocean of water.  The islands, O king, are double in area of one another as they proceed further and further towards the north.  And they are surrounded, O king, by these oceans.[69] In the island that is in the middle, there is a large mountain called Goura made of red arsenic; on the western island, O king, is the mountain Krishna that is the favourite (abode) of Narayana.  There Kesava guardeth celestial gems (in profusion), and thence, inclined to grace, he bestoweth happiness on creatures.  Along with the kingdoms there, O king, the (celestial) clump of Kusa grass in Kusadwipa, and the Salmali tree in the island of Salmalika, are adored.  In the Krauncha island also, the mountain called Maha-krauncha that is a mine of all kinds of gems is, O king, always adored by all the four orders of men. (There), O monarch, is the mountain called Gomanta that is huge and consists of all kinds of metals, and whereon always resideth, mingling with those that have been emancipated, the puissant Narayana, otherwise called Hari, graced with prosperity and possessed of eyes like lotus leaves.  In Kusadwipa, O king of kings, there is another mountain variegated with corals and called after the name of that island itself.  This mountain is inaccessible and made of gold.  Possessed of great splendour, O Kauravya, there is a third mountain there that is called Sumida.  The sixth is called Harigiri.  These are the six principal mountains.  The intervening spaces between one another of these six mountains increaseth in the ratio of one to two as they proceed further and further towards the north.  The first Varsha is called Audhido; the second is Venumandala; the third is called Suratha; the fourth is known by the name of Kamvala; the fifth Varsha is called Dhritimat; and the sixth is named Prabhakara; the seventh Varsha is called Kapila.  These are the seven successive Varshas.  In these, gods and Gandharvas, and other creatures of the universe, sport and take delight.  In these Varshas the inhabitants never die.  There, O king, are no robbers, nor any tribes of Mlecchas.  All the residents are almost white in complexion, and very delicate, O king.

“’As regards the rest of the islands, O ruler of men, I will recount all that hath been heard by me.  Listen, O monarch, with an attentive mind.  In the Krauncha island, O great king, there is a large mountain called Krauncha.  Next to Krauncha is Vamanaka; and next to Vamanaka is Andhakara.  And next to Andhakara,[70] O king, is that excellent of mountains called Mainaka.  After Mainaka, O monarch, is that best of mountains called Govinda;