and after Govinda, O king, is the mountain called Nivida.  O multiplier of thy race, the intervening spaces between one another of these mountains increaseth in the ratio of one to two.  I will now tell thee the countries that lie there.  Listen to me as I speak of them.  The region near Krauncha is called Kusala; that near Vamanaka is Manonuga.  The region next to Manonuga, O perpetuator of Kuru’s race, is called Ushna.  After Ushna is Pravaraka; and after Pravaraka is Andhakaraka.  The country after Andhakaraka is named Munidesa.  After Munidesa the region is called Dundubhiswana teeming with Siddhas and Charanas.  The people are almost white in complexion, O king.  All these countries, O monarch, are the habitations of gods and Gandharvas.  In (the island of) Pushkara is a mountain called Pushkara that abounds with jewels and gems.  There always dwelleth the divine Prajapati himself.  Him all the gods and great Rishis always adore with gratifying words and worship reverently, O king.  Diverse gems from Jamvudwipa are used there.  In all these islands, O king, Brahmacharyya, truth, and self-control of the dwellers, as also their health and periods of life, are in the ratio of one to two as the islands are more and more remote (northwards).  O king, the land in those islands, O Bharata, comprises but one country, for that is said to be one country in which one religion is met with.  The Supreme Prajapati himself, upraising the rod of chastisement, always dwelleth there, protecting those islands.  He, O monarch, is the king.  He is their source of bliss.  He is the father, and he is the grand-father.  He it is, O best of men, that protecteth all creatures there, mobile or immobile.  Cooked food, O Kauravya, cometh there of itself and the creatures eat it daily.  O mighty-armed one.  After these regions is seen a habitation of the name of Sama.  It is of a starry-shape having four corners, and it hath, O king, thirty-three mandalas.  There dwell, O Kauravya, four princely elephants adored by all.[71] They are, O best of the Bharatas, Vamana, and Airavata, and another, and also Supratika.[72] O king, with rent cheeks and mouth, I do not venture to calculate the proportions of these four elephants.[73] Their length, breadth and thickness have for ever remained unascertained.  There in those regions, O king, winds blow irregularly from all directions.[74] These are seized by those elephants with the tips of their trunks which are of the complexion of the lotus and endued with great splendour and capable of drawing up everything in their way.  And soon enough after seizing them they then always let them out.  The winds, O king, thus let out by those respiring elephants, come over the Earth and in consequence thereof creatures draw breath and live.’

“Dhritarashtra said,—­’Thou hast, O Sanjaya, told me everything about the first subject very elaborately.  Thou hast also indicated the positions of the islands.  ‘Tell now, O Sanjaya, about what remains.’