SB 1.16.12 (1965)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 12
- Bhadraswam ketumalam cha bharatam chottaran kurun
- Kimpurusndini varsani vijitya jagrihe valim.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Bhadraswam—country of the name, Ketumalam—country of the name, Cha—also, Bharatam—country of the name, Chottaran—northern countries, Kurun—kingdom of the kuru dynasty, Kimpurushadini—country beyond the northern side of Himalaya, Varsani—parts of the earthly planet, Vijitya—conquering, Jagrihe—exacted.
TRANSLATION
Maharaj Parikshit then conquered all parts of the earthly planet of the names Bhadraswa, Ketumala, Bharat, Northern portion of Kurujangal, Kimpurusha etc. and thus exacted tributes from the respective rulers.
PURPORT
Bhadraswa: It is an island near about the Meru Parvat. And about this island there is a description in the Mahabharata (Bhisma Parva7.16-18). The description was narrated by Samjaya to Dhritarastra.
Maharaj Yudhisthir also conquered this island and thus the province was included within the jurisdiction of his empire. Maharaj Parikshit was formerly declared to be the emperor of all lands ruled by his grand father but still he had to establish his supermacy while he was out of his capital for exacting tributes from such states.
Ketumala: This earth planet is divided into seven parts and according to others it is divided into nine parts. This earth is called Jambudwipa and is divided into nine Varsas. Bharat Varsa is one of the above mentioned nine varsas. Such Varsas are known as continents in the modern geographical context. Ketumala is described to be one of the above Varsas. It is said that in this varsa the women as a class are the most beautiful species of fair sex and it was conquered by Arjuna also. Description of this part of the world is available in the Mahabharata (Sabha 28.6)
It is said that this part of world is situated on the western side of the Meru Parvat and inhabitants of this province used to live up to ten thousands of year (Bhisma Parva 6.16.31-32) Human being living in this part of the globe are of golden colour and the women resemble the angels of heaven. The inhabitants are free from all kinds of diseases and berievements.
Bharatavarsa: This part of the world is also one of the nine Varsas of the Jambudwipa earthly planet. Each planet is also sometimes called as Dwipa on account of its being an island in the fathomless outer space. Each planet is factually an island in the airy ocean of outer space. Jambudwipa is one of such countless islands in the airy ocean of the outer space. Description of Bharatvarsa is given in the Mahabharata (Bhisma Parva chapters 9 to 10)
Uttaran-According to Sridhar Swami these parts of the world is called Ilavrita Varsa or the Meditarian countries of Europe. The description of the Ilavritavarsa is given in the Mahabarata (Sabha 28.6-7) as follows;-
- Nagarascha vanamcha va nadischa vimalodakah
- Purushan deva kalpanscha Narishca priyadarshanah
- Adristapurvan subhagan sa dadarsa dhananjayah
- Sadanamcha subhrani Narischa apsasasamnibha
It is twice mentioned here about the women as all beautiful and some of them equal to the Apsaras as the heavenly women. Therefore the countries mentioned are round about the Meditarian coasts.
Kimpurisavarsa: Is stated to be situated beyond the northern side of Darjeeling Dhavala Giri and probably may be the countries like Nepal Bhutan Tibet and China. These parts of the world was also conquered by Arjuna (Sabha 28.1-2). The Kimpurusas are descendants of the daughter of Daksha. When Maharaj Yudhisthir performed a horse sacrifice Yajna the inhabitants of these countries were also present to take part in the festival and they paid tributes to the emperor. This part of the world is called Kimpurusavarsa or sometims the Himalayan provinces (Haimavat) It is said Sukdeva Goswami was born in these Himalayan provinces and he came to Bharatvarsa after crossing the Himalayan countries.
In other words Maharaj Parikshit conquered all over the world namely all the continents adjoining all the seas and oceans in all directions namely the east, west, north and southern parts of the world.