Text 12]
Instructions by Mahārāja Pṛthu
827
TEXT 12
सर्वत्रास्वलितादेशः सप्तद्वीपैकदण्डधृक् । अन्यत्र ब्राह्मणकुलादन्यत्राच्युतगोत्रतः ॥१२॥
sarvatrāskhalitādeśaḥ sapta-dvīpaika-daṇḍadhṛk anyatra brāhmaṇa-kulād anyatrācyuta-gotrataḥ
sarvatra—every where; askhalita—irrevocable; ādeśaḥ—order; sapta-dvīpa—seven islands; eka—one; daṇḍa-dhṛk—the ruler who holds the scepter; anyatra—except; brāhmaṇa-kulāt—brāhmaṇas and saintly persons; anyatra—except; acyuta-gotrataḥ—descendants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead (Vaiṣṇavas).
TRANSLATION
Mahārāja Pṛthu was an unrivalled king and possessed the scepter for ruling all the seven islands on the surface of the globe. No one could disobey his irrevocable orders but the saintly persons, the brāhmaṇas and the descendants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead [the Vaiṣṇavas].
PURPORT
Sapta-dvīpa  refers to the seven great islands or continents on the surface of the globe: (1) Asia, (2) Europe, (3) Africa, (4) North America, (5) South America, (6) Australia, and (7) Oceania. In the modern age people are under the impression that during the Vedic period or the prehistoric ages America and many other parts of the world had not been discovered, but that is not a fact. Pṛthu Mahārāja ruled over the world many thousands of years before the so-called prehistoric age, and it is clearly mentioned here that in those days not only were all the different parts of the world known, but they were ruled by one king, Mahārāja Pṛthu. The country where Pṛthu Mahārāja resided must have been India because it is stated in the eleventh verse of this chapter that he lived in the tract of land called Brahmāvarta, which consists of what is known in the modern age as portions of Punjab and northern India. It is clear that the kings of India once ruled all the world and that their culture was Vedic.