Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.16.12

bhadrāśvam ketumālam ca

bhāratam cottarān kurūn

kimpurushādīni varshāni

vijitya jagrihe balim

SYNONYMS

bhadrāśvam — Bhadrāśva; ketumālam — Ketumāla; ca — also; bhāratam — Bhārata; ca — and; uttarān — the northern countries; kurūn — the kingdom of the Kuru dynasty; kimpurusha-ādīni — a country beyond the northern side of the Himalayas; varshāni — parts of the earth planet; vijitya — conquering; jagrihe — exacted; balim — strength.

TRANSLATION

Mahārāja Parīkshit then conquered all parts of the earthly planet — Bhadrāśva, Ketumāla, Bhārata, the northern Kuru, Kimpurusha, etc. — and exacted tributes from their respective rulers.

PURPORT

Bhadrāśva: It is a tract of land near Meru Parvata, and it extends from Gandha-mādana Parvata to the saltwater ocean. There is a description of this varsha in the Mahābhārata (Bhīshma-parva 7.14-18). The description was narrated by Sañjaya to Dhritarāshtra.

Mahārāja Yudhishthira also conquered this varsha, and thus the province was included within the jurisdiction of his empire. Mahārāja Parīkshit was formerly declared to be the emperor of all lands ruled by his grandfather, but still he had to establish his supremacy while he was out of his capital to exact tribute from such states.

Ketumāla: This earth planet is divided into seven dvīpas by seven oceans, and the central dvīpa, called Jambūdvīpa, is divided into nine varshas, or parts, by eight huge mountains. Bhārata-varsha is one of the above-mentioned nine varshas, and Ketumāla is also described as one of the above varshas. It is said that in Ketumāla varsha, women are the most beautiful. This varsha was conquered by Arjuna also. A description of this part of the world is available in the Mahābhārata (Sabhā 28.6).

It is said that this part of the world is situated on the western side of the Meru Parvata, and inhabitants of this province used to live up to ten thousand years (Bhīshma-parva 6.31). Human beings living in this part of the globe are of golden color, and the women resemble the angels of heaven. The inhabitants are free from all kinds of diseases and grief.

Bhārata-varsha: This part of the world is also one of the nine varshas of the Jambūdvīpa. A description of Bhārata-varsha is given in the Mahābhārata (Bhīshma-parva, Chapters 9 and 10).

In the center of Jambūdvīpa is Ilāvrita-varsha, and south of Ilāvrita-varsha is Hari-varsha. The description of these varshas is given in the Mahābhārata (Sabhā-parva 28.7-8) as follows:

nagarāmś ca vanāmś caiva

nadīś ca vimalodakāh

purushān deva-kalpāmś ca

nārīś ca priya-darśanāh

adrishta-pūrvān subhagān

sa dadarśa dhanañjayah

sadanāni ca śubhrāni

nārīś cāpsarasām nibhāh

It is mentioned here that the women in both these varshas are beautiful, and some of them are equal to the Apsarās, or heavenly women.

Uttarakuru: According to Vedic geography the northernmost portion of Jambūdvīpa is called Uttarakuru-varsha. It is surrounded by the saltwater ocean from three sides and divided by Śrińgavān Mountain from the Hiranmaya-varsha.

Kimpurusha-varsha: It is stated to be situated north of the great Himalaya Mountain, which is eighty thousand miles in length and height and which covers sixteen thousand miles in width. These parts of the world were also conquered by Arjuna (Sabhā 28.1-2). The Kimpurushas are descendants of a daughter of Daksha. When Mahārāja Yudhishthira performed a horse sacrifice yajña, 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 Kimpurusha-varsha, or sometimes the Himalayan provinces (Himavatī). It is said that Śukadeva Gosvāmī was born in these Himalayan provinces and that he came to Bhārata-varsha after crossing the Himalayan countries.

In other words, Mahārāja Parīkshit conquered all the world. He conquered all the continents adjoining all the seas and oceans in all directions, namely the eastern, western, northern and southern parts of the world.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness