VCA: Appendix 1: Vaṁśīdhara on Bhū-maṇḍala and the Earth Globe

Appendix 1

Vamsidhara on Bhū-manḍala and the Earth Globe

In this appendix we will discuss a commentary on verse 5.20.38 of the Fifth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, written in the 17th century by Vamsidhara. It is included in his Bhagavatam commentary, entitled Bhavartha-dipika-prakasa, which appears in the compilation of eleven Bhagavatam commentaries used by Srila Prabhupada when writing his purports. (Bhavartha-dipika is the title of Sridhara Svami's commentary.) This commentary explicitly discusses the relationship between Bhū-manḍala, as described in the Fifth Canto, and the small earth globe of our experience.

We will summarize his commentary here, since it sheds some light on how Vedic cosmology and astronomy were regarded by Vaisnavas in India before the widespread introduction of modern Western ideas. It shows that the cosmology of the Fifth Canto was controversial during the period of the 1600's, when Vamsidhara was active. It also shows that the astronomical literature known as jyotisa sastra was accepted as valid by Vaisnavas, and it discusses the apparent contradiction that exists between the cosmology of the Fifth Canto and this system of astronomy.

Vamsidhara tries to resolve this contradiction, and we should state clearly here that we do not think that his analysis is entirely correct. However, our own understanding is certainly far from perfect. At the present time in history, when much ancient Vedic knowledge has been lost, it is difficult to reconstruct many important aspects of ancient astronomical science. Thus it is best for us to carefully consider the information that is available to us and see what insights may gradually emerge.

We begin by quoting Srila Prabhupada's translation of SB 5.20.38:

Learned scholars who are free from mistakes, illusions, and propensities to cheat have thus described the planetary systems and their particular symptoms, measurements, and locations. With great deliberation, they have established the truth that the distance between Sumeru and the mountain known as Lokaloka is one fourth of the diameter of the universe-or, in other words, 125,000,000 yojanas [1 billion miles].

The first section of Vamsidhara's commentary on this verse is also stated in the commentary of Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, and Srila Prabhupada reproduces it in Sanskrit in his purport. This section begins by pointing out that the word bhū-golasya in the verse means "of the egglike sphere connected with the earth." This egglike sphere is the inner shell of the universe and has a diameter of 500 million yojanas. According to the Fifth Canto, the earth has the same diameter, and thus it should touch the universal shell on all sides. However, Vamsidhara and Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura point out that the earth actually should be assigned a diameter of 496,600,000 yojanas. This figure is twice the sum of the following distances in lakhs (or 100,000s) of yojanas: (1) 157.5 from Mount Meru to Manasottara Mountain, (2) 96 from there to the outer shore of the clear-water ocean, (3) 157.5 for the width of the inhabited land, (4) 822 [or 4 x 157.5 + 2 x 96] for the width of the golden land bounded by Lokaloka Mountain, and (4) 1,250 for Aloka-varsa, which lies beyond Lokaloka Mountain.

As a result of this revised value for the diameter of the earth, there is a gap of 17 lakhs of yojanas between the earth and the universal shell on all sides. The commentators point out that this gap makes it possible for the earth to move within the universal shell. This makes it meaningful for the earth to be supported by Ananta Sesa, and it also allows the earth to be immersed in the Garbhodaka Ocean in the Caksusa manvantara and be lifted by Lord Varaha. We can understand from this that the earth lifted by Lord Varaha is the complete Bhūmanḍala of approximately 500 million yojanas in diameter and not the small earth globe of our experience (see also Chapter 3.c).

In the next section of his commentary, Vamsidhara confronts the apparent conflict between the size of the earth given in the Bhagavatam and the size given in the jyotisa sastra. From jyotisa sastra, he cites a value of 4,967 yojanas for the circumference of the earth globe. In fact, this figure is given in verse 3.52 of the Siddhanta-siromani of Bhaskaracarya, along with a value of 1,581 1/24 yojanas for the earth's diameter (SSB1, p. 122). As we have pointed out in Chapter 1, this agrees closely with our present figure for the circumference of the earth, using 5 miles per yojana. Vamsidhara does not indicate that he thinks this figure is wrong. Rather, he accepts it without question and suggests various ways of reconciling it with Puranic cosmology. These are as follows:

(1) Sri Nilakantha, in his commentary on the Bhisma-parva of the Mahabharata, gives a description of Jambūparvan as a square with its diagonals oriented north-south and east-west. This square is also described as a lotus with a perimeter of 18,600 yojanas and an inner diameter of 3,300 yojanas. Nilakantha argues that since one side of such a square is 4,650 yojanas in length, the size of Jambūparvan agrees in a crude "order of magnitude" fashion with the size of the earth globe given in the jyotisa sastra. In addition, since Bharata-varsa corresponds to the southern part of the Jambūparvan square and is bounded by the Himalaya Mountains on the north, it follows that Bharata-varsa must be triangular. This agrees with ordinary experience, whereas the idea that Bharata-varsa is bow-shaped does not. (The idea that Bharata-varsa is bow-shaped follows from the Puranic description of Bharata-varsa as the southern part of the disc of Jambūdvipa.)

Here, a rough agreement is achieved between Jambūparvan and the earth globe of the jyotisa sastra, but at the same time a contradiction is introduced between this account of Jambūparvan and the Jambūdvipa of the Srimad-Bhagavatam. In Chapter 3 we argued that Jambūdvipa is inherently higher-dimensional and that it can be seen in different ways, depending on one's level of consciousness.

(2) Rather than introduce this idea, Vamsidhara suggests that the apparent contradiction posed by the 500-million-yojana earth diameter in the Puranas can be resolved by resorting to the principle of inexplicability (anirvacaniyavada). According to this principle, "One should not try to establish by logic or argument those things that are beyond imagination."

(3) Then he suggests that whatever measure is mentioned in the Puranas, one should take 1/20 of that, and thus in place of 500 million one should accept 25 million yojanas as the measure of the earth. In place of one lakh, one should accept 5,000 yojanas as the diameter of Jambūdvipa, and in place of 9,000, one should accept 450 yojanas as the measure of Bharata-varsa. We note that 9,000 yojanas is the width of Bharata-varsa from north to south, according to the Bhagavatam. (This distance is roughly 1,600 miles on a modern map.)

(4) To justify these reductions in scale, Vamsidhara observes that the yojana is defined on the basis of the human body. Thus a yojana is 32,000 hastas (or cubits), and a hasta is 24 finger-widths. Also, a hasta can be defined as one fifth the height of a man standing with his arms stretched up. As the bodies of infants, children, and adults vary greatly in size, so the yojana also varies, and in this way one can explain differences between various estimates of distance.

After offering these arguments, Vamsidhara sums up his position in the following words:

Not indeed has the jyotisa sastra, or science of luminaries, started contravening the Puranic statement that "Vyasa is Narayana himself." Nor could Vyasa also have proceeded in contravention of the science of luminaries, which is the very eye of Veda, as expressed in the statement "Astronomy is declared to be the eye [of the Veda]." Therefore, at different places, statements as to yojanas may be inferred to mean these various measures of finger, hand, etc. Moreover, it appears that Vyasadeva himself speaks contrary to astronomy, as it were, in order to curb the tendency on the part of asuras toward the study of the sastras. But truly speaking, he is not doing so. Otherwise, it may be contemplated by the well-intentioned that there would be darkness [i.e., ignorance] as to Veda on the part of Vyasa. This is the proper understanding.

The statement that astronomy is the eye of the Veda may refer to verse 1.4 of the Narada-samhita: "The excellent science of astronomy comprising siddhanta, samhita, and hora as its three branches is the clear eye of the Vedas" (BJS, p. xxvi). "Siddhanta," of course, refers to works such as the Sūrya-siddhanta.

Vamsidhara is not satisfied with the explanations that he has given thus far. He goes on to give a sharper formulation of the basic problem:

Well, then how can one explain the contradiction between the Bhagavata and the jyotisa sastra, or astronomical science? In the Bhagavata, Jambudvipa is said to measure 100,000 yojanas, whereas the astronomical science states the entire earth to be measuring only 5,000 yojanas. The solution is given in the Goladarsa. According to that text, some brief explanation is given below:
The earth has two forms. One is the particular [visesa] form of big measure, and the other is the smaller, spherical form given in the jyotisa sastra. In this regard Pariksit asked Sri Suka, the great yogin, and he replied [in SB 5.16.4]: "We shall explain the particular description of bhūgola by name, form, measure, and characteristics." In the jyotisa sastra the word bhūgola refers to the earth as an egg of clay, and the word visesa, or "particular," refers to the round golden egg described in the Puranas.

Here a clear distinction is made between the earth of our experience, which is described in the jyotisa sastra as having a diameter of 5,000 yojanas, and another earth "of big measure," described by Sukadeva Gosvami. The figure of 5,000 yojanas is a simple approximation of the 4,967-yojana diameter of the earth given in the Siddhanta-siromani. The earth of big measure can be thought of as either the spherical inner shell of the universe or the disc-shaped Bhū-manḍala. Both are made of the earth element, and both have a diameter of about 500 million yojanas. However, since Bhū-manḍala contains the seven dvipas and oceans, it is clear that the big earth really should correspond to Bhū-manḍala.

Vamsidhara then cites a number of verses from the Bhagavatam to illustrate his point concerning the existence of two earths:

It is stated in the Second Canto, the yoginiryana [SB 2.2.28], "then reaching the particular, or visesa, one becomes fearless." It is also said in the Fifth Canto [5.20.35], "There is another land, made of gold, with a mirrorlike surface," etc. Also, in the Third Canto [3.26.52] it is stated, "This universal egg is called particular or manifest [visesa], with tenfold increasing coverings." In the Fifth Canto [5.25.2]: "This great universe [ksiti-manḍalam, or earth-manḍala], situated on one of Lord Anantadeva's thousands of hoods, appears just like a white mustard seed." Thus, by the illustration of a mustard seed it is known to be spherical. It is also said in the Kardama-vihara [3.23.43], "After showing his wife the globe [golam] of the universe [bhuvaḥ] and its different arrangements, full of many wonders, the great yogi Kardama Muni returned to his own hermitage." In the Tenth Canto [10.8.37] it is stated, "She [Yasoda] saw within His mouth all moving and nonmoving entities, outer space, and all directions, along with mountains, islands, the surface of the earth [bhū-golam], the blowing wind, fire, the moon, and the stars." By such proofs one should accept that there are two earths.

Some of these verses illustrate the meaning of the term visesa used by Sukadeva Gosvami to describe the universe. Srila Prabhupada clarifies the meaning of visesa by translating it in SB 3.26.52 as "the manifestation of material energy." The reference to visesa in SB 2.2.28 stresses the subtle aspects of this manifested energy, since it refers to the attainment of a subtle form by a yogi who has reached Satyaloka.

Verses 5.25.2 and 3.23.43 refer to the globe of the universe, and 10.8.37 refers to Mother Yasoda's seeing the earth globe within Krsna's mouth. Since Vamsidhara takes these texts to refer to the two earths, he is clearly thinking of the earth as having a spherical form. He does not seem to make a clear distinction between the disc-shaped Bhū-manḍala and the shell of the universe.

The reference to verse 5.20.35 introduces the golden land that lies within the ring of Lokaloka Mountain in Bhū-manḍala. This golden land is said to reflect light like the surface of a mirror, so that any object that falls on it cannot be seen. This turns out to be the key to Vamsidhara's solution of the dilemma of the two earths. He continues,

Well, this earth is the smaller one, so where is the other, bigger one? The answer is: The bigger one is indeed a form of reflection [pratibimba-rūpa] up above the orbit of the asterisms. Its measure, according to SB 5.21.19, is "the 95,100,000-yojana circumference of the sun's orbit around Bhū." Thus, roughly speaking, it comes out to be the upper portion of the orbit of the asterisms.

Here Vamsidhara proposes that the small earth is the one we live on, whereas the big earth of the Puranas is a form of reflection, or pratibimba-rūpa. The term bimba means "a mirror," and pratibimba means "a reflection." Bimba can also indicate the disc of the sun or moon, and pratibimba can thus indicate the sun or moon reflected from water. On a more abstract level, bimba means "an original object," and pratibimba means "a counterfeit" or "an object with which the original is compared." The term "asterism" (or naksatra) means "star constellation," and the orbit of asterisms is the orbit followed by the stars as they circle the earth.

Vamsidhara then explains the idea of the big earth as a reflection:

Then how does the reflection appear, and how does it have this form? It is like this: On all sides of the earth of 5,000 yojanas' circumference, separated at a distance of one yojana, there is the fire sphere [anala-golaḥ]. Thereby, above the orbit of asterisms that seems small in the distance, the golden land of pure form creates a screen of light. Therein, on all sides, is the great reflection.
From a distant place a big thing looks small, and from another place a small thing looks big. Likewise, external objects of the universe such as the moon, look small, whereas the earth-globe, which is close by, looks big.

The Sanskrit in this passage is difficult to translate. However, the general sense seems to be that the big earth is a reflection from the golden land mentioned in SB 5.20.35. There, the golden land is described as being like a mirror, and one can imagine the earth being reflected from a vast, spherical mirror centered on the earth and situated beyond the orbit of the stars. One should note, however, that the Bhū-manḍala described in the Fifth Canto is inhabited, and it is therefore hard to see how it can be interpreted as a reflection.

Vamsidhara then discusses the fire-sphere, and also introduces a water-sphere. We have not seen any reference to these structures in the Bhagavatam or in the available jyotisa sastras. However, Vamsidhara gives a reference to the water-sphere from the Pulisa-siddhanta (a work that unfortunately seems to be lost):

What is the evidence for the existence of the fire sphere, or anala-gola? The evidence is that from the surface of the earth up to the limit of the orbits of the planets, there are eight divisions of winds, beginning with avaha, and at the conjunction of the two [the earth and the winds], there is the water sphere, or jala-golaḥ. It is mentioned in the Pulisa-siddhanta that "the grasslike watersphere is at the conjunction of the earth-air [bhu-vata] and the udvaha wind, and by it the rays of the sun and other luminaries are seen to be separated and joined together.
The Sūrya-siddhanta [12.46] says, "Owing to closeness, the sun's rays are vehement in summer [in the devas' regions]." Here "closeness" and "farness" could not exist without the reflection of the fire sphere.

The water-sphere and the fire-sphere seem to serve as specific mechanisms for reflecting and refracting light. According to the Siddhanta-siromani (SSB1, p. 127), the following seven winds are listed: avaha (or atmosphere), pravaha, udvaha, samvaha, suvaha, parivaha, and paravaha. The atmosphere is 12 yojanas thick, and the pravaha wind envelops the fixed stars and planets, sweeping them westward at a uniform rate. This indicates that the water-sphere must be above the stars and planets, since it is connected with the udvaha wind.

Vamsidhara then argues that Sukadeva Gosvami followed Puranic tradition by describing the big earth and giving only brief hints of the small earth of 5,000 yojanas:

In accordance with the Puranas, Sukadeva Gosvami has spoken of the big measure of the earth, and only suggested the small measure; thus is the contradiction avoided by some. In the same way, although there is a contradiction involving the sphere of the sky, it is removed.

As far as we can see, this seems to be a valid point. The Bhagavatam generally refers to Bhū-manḍala when it speaks of the earth. References to Bhū-gola, or the earth-globe, generally seem to refer to the globe of the universe, and there is no specific mention of an earth-globe 5,000 yojanas in circumference. However, there are some references to Bhū-gola, such as SB 10.8.37, quoted above, which may refer to this earth. Also, the idea of the earth as a sphere is strongly suggested by the description in SB 5.21.8-9 of how the sun rises at a point opposite to where it sets.

However, it is hard to see why Sukadeva Gosvami would elaborately describe a reflection, while only indirectly hinting at the real earth. We would suggest that "the big earth" corresponds to the reality directly perceived by persons on the level of consciousness of Sukadeva Gosvami, while "the small earth" corresponds to the reality perceived at an ordinary level of human consciousness. The two earths are both aspects of one underlying reality, and the relation between them is higher-dimensional: it cannot be understood in terms of the bending of light in ordinary, three-dimensional space. According to this idea, both earths are reflections, in an abstract sense, of the underlying reality.

In the remainder of his commentary, Vamsidhara uses the idea of reflection to interpret a number of verses in the Fifth Canto. First, he explains SB 5.21.2, where outer space, or antariksa, is compared to the empty space between two halves of a bean or a grain of wheat. In this analogy, the lower half of the bean corresponds to the hemisphere of the universe containing Bhū-manḍala and the Garbhodaka Ocean, and the upper half corresponds to the hemisphere containing the higher planetary systems. The space between the two halves of the bean corresponds to a thin, flat disc of space between the lower and upper hemispheres. This space, or antariksa, is bounded below by the plane of Bhū-manḍala and above by the parallel plane of Bhuvarloka.

After explaining this verse, Vamsidhara turns to SB 5.21.3:

SB 5.21.3 states, "In the midst of the middle region [antariksa] is the most opulent sun." This means that the water-sphere is the seeming middle of antariksa. Just as antariksa lacks a center, so also the water-sphere lacks a center (middle) due to its sphericity. Thus the sun, which goes there, is established with the form of a reflection [pratibimba-rūpena]. But the real sun disc [bimba-rūpena] is within 125,000 yojanas of the center of the earth.

SB 5.21.3 states that the sun is in the midst of the disc-shaped region of antariksa, between the parallel planes of Bhū-mandala and Bhuvarloka (see also SB 5.20.43). However, Vamsidhara argues that space can have no middle, and goes on to say that the apparent presence of the sun in mid-space is an illusion due to reflection from the water-sphere. He then states that the real sun is within 125,000 yojanas of the earth globe.

The Sanskrit here is terse and difficult to translate, but the import of Vamsidhara's statement seems to be as follows: The earth is a small globe, and the sun orbits it at a distance of no more than 125,000 yojanas. A process of reflection gives the impression that it is at a much greater distance.

Srila Prabhupada indicates that the height of the sun above Bhū-manḍala is 100,000 yojanas (SB 5.23.9p). However, one cannot conclude from this that the sun circles the center of the earth globe in an orbit with a radius of 100,000 yojanas. The reason for this is that SB 5.21.7 states that the circumference of the sun's orbit is 95,100,000 yojanas. Actually, Bhū-manḍala is a plane rather than a globe, and the Bhagavatam states that the sun moves in a large orbit parallel to this plane and very close to it. In Chapter 3 we argued that this plane corresponds to the ecliptic.

Vamsidhara goes on to suggest that SB 5.21.7 is not to be taken literally:

SB 5.21.7 says [in paraphrase]: "The learned say the circumference of Manasottara Mountain is 95,100,000 yojanas." The meaning is: manasas means "the moon." Uttaraḥ means "others beyond the moon, up to Saturn." In accordance with jyotisa sastra, the measure of its orbit, combined with the part of Saturn, comes to 126,800,000 yojanas.

Here the circular Manasottara Mountain defining the sun's orbit is interpreted indirectly to refer to the moon, Saturn, and, by implication, the planets in between. In the jyotisa sastra the standard order of the planets is as follows: the moon, Mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. (In Chapter 4 we have explained the relation between this and the order given in the Bhagavatam.) Also, in the Sūrya-siddhanta the circumference of the orbit of Saturn is given as 127,668,255 yojanas (SS, p. 87).

Vamsidhara then considers SB 5.20.43:

According to SB 5.20.43, "The distance between the sun in the middle and the circumference of rhe universe [anḍagola, or "egg-sphere"] is 250 million yojanas." The meaning is: "Of the sun" means "of the reflected sun." "Eggsphere" means "the circumference of the golden egg." The distance between the two would be 250 million yojanas.
SB 5.20.43 also says, "The sun is situared [vertically] in the middle of the universe, in the area between dyaus and bhūmi [Bhuvarloka and Bhūrloka, or heaven and earth], which is called antariksa, outer space." The meaning of this is: Dyav-abhūmyoḥ refers to the orbit of the asterisms and the earth. Yad antaram means "in the middle of the egg (i.e., the golden egg). "The sun therein is rhe sun of the water-sphere reflection. Thus it should be understood.

This verse states that the sun is situated vertically halfway between the top and bottom of the universal egg-sphere. It lies within the region of antariksa, between the planes of Bhūrloka (or Bhū-manḍala) and Bhuvarloka. Vamsidhara interprets the sun referred to in this verse to be a reflection of the actual sun. However, we have suggested that it can be understood as the real sun orbiting in the plane of the ecliptic. In this connection, we should note that the radius of the sun's orbit according to modern astronomy (interpreted geocentrically) is 93 million miles. For comparison, the 15,750,000-yojana radius of the sun's orbit around Manasottara Mountain is about 79 million miles using 5 miles per yojana, and 126 million miles using 8 miles per yojana.

In summary, the commentary of Vamsidhara on SB 5.20.38 shows that the interpretation of the Fifth Canto was a topic of doubt and controversy among Vaisnavas in the 17th century. The source of doubt lay in an apparent contradiction between the Puranic cosmology represented by the Fifth Canto and the jyotisa sastra. The jyotisa sastra was regarded as the "eye of the Vedas," and it seemed to correspond to observable reality. Yet its description of the earth seemed totally at variance with the "big earth" of 500 million yojanas described in the Fifth Canto.

In this book we have argued that the contradiction between Puranic cosmology and jyotisa sastra can be resolved, and that both are integral parts of an original Vedic tradition. This was also the basic point of Vamsidhara's argument. He concludes,

Thereby it is undoubtedly indisputable that by meaningful justification as to truth, the sacred Bhagavata, being the statement of the supreme apta [authority], is a means of proof, unrefuted, being in conformity with the conclusions of all sciences.

It follows that in Vamsidhara's day, as today, an argument showing the irrefutability of the Bhagavatam needed to be made. We would suggest that the material knowledge of the ancient Vedic civilization has been in disarray for a long time, and this would also be true of Vedic spiritual knowledge, were it not for Lord Caitanya and the acaryas following Him. However, this does not mean that we should denigrate the Vedic material knowledge as unrealistic and then similarly doubt the Vedic spiritual knowledge. A close examination of Vedic cosmology and astronomy suggests the presence of a deep and elaborate body of knowledge, even though today it is coming down to us in a fragmentary form.

Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/vca/vca-appendix-1