The institutes of Vishnu (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1880)

4

VISHWU.

I, 16.

and the seven oceans, and fixed their several
limits2.
16. (He created) the rulers of the (seven) Dvipas
and the (eight) guardians of the world (Indra and
the rest), the rivers, mountains, and trees, the seven
7?zshis, who know (and practise) the law, the Vedas
together with their Angas, the Suras, and the
Asuras.
17. (He created) Pi^a/c’as (ogres), Uragas (ser-
pents), Gandharvas (celestial singers), Yakshas
(keepers of Kubera’s treasures), Rakshasas (goblins),
and men, cattle, birds, deer and other animals, (in
short) all the four kinds of living beings1, and clouds,
rainbows, lightnings, and other celestial phenomena
or bodies (such as the planets and the asterisms),
and all kinds of sacrifices.
18. Bhagavat, after having thus created, in the
loka; the seven Dvipas or divisions of the terrestrial world are,
(7ambu, Plaksha, .Salmali, Kuja, Kraun^a, 5aka, and Pushkara;
each Dvipa is encircled by one of the seven oceans, viz. the seas
of Lavazza (salt-water), Ikshu (syrup), Sarpi^ (butter), Dadhi (sour
milk), Dugdha (milk), Svadhu (treacle), and Udaka (water), (Nand.)
The enumerations contained in the Vishzzu-purazza and other works
differ on two or three points only from that given by Nand.—
2 Besides the interpretation followed in the text, Nand. proposes
a second explanation of the term ‘ sthanani,’ as denoting Bharata-
varsha (India) and the other eight plains situated between the
principal mountains.
16. The eight ‘guardians of the world’ (Lokapalas) are, Indra,
Agni, Yama, Shrya, Varuzza, Pavana, Kubera, and Soma (M. V, 96).
The seven 7?zshis, according to the Natapatha-brahmazza, are,
Gotama, Bharadvaga, VBvamitra, Gamadagni, Vasish/^a, Kayyapa,
and Atri. The six Vedahgas are, Yiksha (pronunciation), AAandas
(metre), Vyakarazza (grammar), Nirukta (etymology), Kalpa (cere-
monial), and Gyotisha (astronomy). See Max Muller, Ancient
Sanskrit Literature, p. 108, &c.
17.1 See 1.