Chapter 848

[←835]

In the Vishnu Purâna, with careful reading, may be found many corroborations of the same (Book II, chaps, iii, iv, et seqq.). The reigns of Gods, lower Gods, and Men are all enumerated in the descriptions of the seven islands, seven seas, seven mountains, etc., ruled by Kings. Each King is invariably said to have seven sons, an allusion to the seven sub-races. One instance will do. The King of Kushā-Dvîpa had seven sons ... “after whom the seven portions or Varsha of the island were called.... There reside mankind, along with Daityas and Dânavas, as well as with spirits of heaven [Gandharvas, Yakshas, Kimpurushas, etc.] and Gods.” (Wilson’s Trans., ii. 195.) There is but one exception in the case of King Priyavrata, the son of the first Manu, Svâyambhuva—who had ten sons. But of these, three—Medha, Agnibâhu, and Putra (ibid., ii. 101)—became ascetics, and refused their portions. Thus Priyavrata divided the Earth again into seven continents.