58 ESSAY ON THE . '. 



diva. According Xq> the context of the Piirdnas, ihe White . Islmid ^Vas 

 called ^Sdcam from the ^Sd£as,. vjho coaicjiiemd th^t isknd, and settled 

 in it, 



.I;n the Vardha-purdri'a, as we observed before, S'weta is called S'dca^ 

 and is also said to be part of S'dca in a more extensive acceptation. Theii 

 afterwards both ""Swetam and S'dcam are put in the sixth place , 

 where they are to be considered as one : otherwise there v/ould be 

 eight islands, which is an heretical assertion, 



I These isjantis ai-jS thps placed: Jamhu, Cusha, Gdmeda or Gomdyam^ 

 '^Sdlmala.Craunchat-'S'wetav'Sdca mid Pxishcara. In order to save the 

 orthodoxy of this passage, two must be joined, and considered as one. 

 This is easily done, from the -above passages of the Vardha-purdn'a 

 itself, and from the Matsya-purd?i'a. A few lines after, 'Sivctam and 

 ''Sdcam seem indeed to be considered as two distin61 islands. Vishnu is 

 introduced saying, " whatever man in Jamhu, or India, has attached him- 

 " self to me by the pradice of religious duties, for the space of twelve 

 *' years, will be born again in the dwipa of Cusha, in the house of a rich 

 ** man; and the gods will bow to him. From this dwipa he will trans- 

 Jif migrate Into Gomdy am or Gdme'da^dwtpa, or Placshardwipa, and there 

 ** will be king for as many years ^ as there are paces in the whole length 

 •^^ of that dwipa. He will then be translated, for a certain time, into 

 " heaven: from heaven he will be born again in ^Sdlmala^ where he will 

 «* enjoy every pleasure for eleven thousand, and eleven hundred years: 

 :;f* and then will be a king for twelvp thousand nuor.e. He will then return 

 ** to.Gowzi^izmvand afterivards gointomy own heaven, among the Vishmi- 

 'f^ -Ideas, where he will remain for as many years, as there are drops of 

 •** water falling from the body of a man, v.'lien bathing. From thence he 



