Page 73 (part 2)

Besides which, Taradaitya, a demon, cannot be placed on the seventh zone if the latter is identified with the "white" Island, which is Sveta-dwipa, for reasons given in the foot-note. ( Vide infra. ) Wilford accuses the modern Brahmans "of having jumbled them (islands and countries) all together" (A.R. III . 300); but he jumbled them still more. He believes that as the Brahmanda and Vayu Puranas divide the old continent into seven dwipas, said to be surrounded by a vast ocean, beyond which lie the regions and mountains of Atala ( ibid ), hence "most probably the Greeks divided the nation of Atlantis, which, as it could not be found after having once been discovered, they conceived to have been destroyed by some shock of nature." Finding certain difficulties in believing that the Egyptian priests, Plato, and even Homer, had all built their notions of Atlantis on Atala -- a nether region located at the Southern pole -- we prefer holding to the statements given in the secret books. We believe in the seven "continents," four of which have already lived their day, the fifth still exists, and two are to appear in the future. We believe that each of these is not strictly a continent in the modern sense of the word, but that each name, from Jambu down to Pushkara,* refers to the geographical names given (i.) to the dry lands covering the face of the whole earth during the period of a Root-Race, in general; and (ii.) to what remained of these after a geological (race) Pralaya -- as "Jambu," for instance: and (iii.) to those localities which will enter, after the future cataclysms, into the formation of new universal "continents," peninsulas, or dwipas** -- each continent being, in one sense, a greater or smaller region of dry land surrounded with water. Thus, that whatever [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Jambu, Plaksha, Salmali, Kusa, Krauncha, Saka, and Pushkara. ** Such as Saka and Pushkara, for instance, which do not yet exist, but into which will enter such lands as some portions of America, of Africa, and Central Asia, with the Gobi region. Let us bear in mind that Upadwipas means " root " islands, or the dry land in general. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 405 FUTURE CONTINENTS, SYMBOLIZED. "jumble" the nomenclature of these may represent to the profane, there is none, in fact, to him who has the key. Thus, we believe we know that, though two of the Puranic "islands" -- the sixth and seventh "continents" -- are yet to come, nevertheless there were, or there are , lands which will enter into the composition of the future dry lands, of new earths whose geographical faces will be entirely changed, as were those of the past. Therefore we find in the Puranas that Saka-dwipa is (or will be) a continent, and that Sankha-dwipa, as shown in the Vayu Purana, is only "a minor island," one of the nine divisions (to which Vayu adds six more) of Bharata Varsha. Because Sankha-dwipa was peopled by "Mlechchhas (unclean foreigners), who worshipped Hindu divinities," therefore they were connected with India.* This accounts for Sankhasura, a King of a portion of Sankha-dwipa, who was killed by Krishna; that King who resided in the palace "which was an ocean shell, and whose subjects lived in shells also," says Wilford. "On the banks of the Nile** (?) there were frequent contests between the Devatas (divine beings, demi-gods) and the Daityas (giants); but the latter tribe having prevailed, their King, Sankhasura, who resided in the Ocean, made frequent incursions in the night" ( As. Res., Vol. III . 225.) It is not on the banks of the Nile, but on the coasts of Western Africa, south of where now lies Morocco, that these battles took place. There was a time when the whole of the Sahara desert was a sea, then a continent as fertile as the Delta, and then, only after another temporary submersion, it became a desert similar to that other wilderness, the desert of Shamo or Gobi. This is shown in Puranic tradition, for on the same page as above cited, it is said: "The people were between two fires; for, while Sankhasura was ravaging one side of the continent, Krauncha (or Cracacha), King of Kraunch, used to desolate the other; both armies . . . thus changed the most fertile regions into a savage desert. " That not only the last island of Atlantis, spoken of by Plato, but a large continent, first divided, and then broken later on into seven peninsulas and islands (called dwipas ) , preceded Europe, is sure. It covered the whole of the North and South Atlantic regions, as well as portions of the North and South Pacific, and had islands even in the Indian Ocean (relics of Lemuria). The claim is corroborated by Indian Puranas, Greek writers, and Asiatic, Persian, and Mohammedan traditions. Wilford, who confuses sorely the Hindu and the Mussulman legends, shows this, however, clearly. ( See Vol. VIII., X. and XI. of [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * They were called demons, Asuras, giants, and monsters, because of their wickedness; and thus their country was likened to Atala -- a hell, because of that. ** Not on the river Nile, surely, but near the Nila mountains of the Atlas range. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 406 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. Asiatic Researches. ) And his facts and quotations from the Puranas give direct and conclusive evidence that the Aryan Hindus and other ancient nations were earlier navigators than the Phoenicians, who are now credited with having been the first seamen that appeared in the post- diluvian times. This is what is given in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, III., pp. 325, et seq.: - - "In their distress the few nations who survived (in the war between Devatas and Daityas) raised their hands to Bhagavan, 'Let him who can deliver us . . . be our King'; using the word I'T (a magic term not understood by Wilford, evidently) which re-echoed through the whole country." Then comes a violent storm, the waters of the Kali are strangely agitated, "when there appeared from the waves . . a man, afterwards called I'T, at the head of a numerous army, saying abhayan, no fear" . . . and scattered the enemy.